While these developments excited Wilfred, in his mind they were only the beginning. The Albert was a sturdy vessel, but she was dependent on the right wind conditions for power. Wilfred thought that a steam-powered launch would be a much more versatile craft in a variety of weather conditions. He envisioned doctors and nurses manning the hospitals while he steamed up and down the coast, stopping in on the Liveyeres and tending to the immediate needs of the fishing fleet.
Finally, after the meetings were over and the ship was restocked, it was time to set out across the Atlantic for England. On November 8 half of the population of St. John’s turned out to see the Albert off. As Wilfred waved from the bow he yelled to the people, “I promise we’ll be back. God bless you all till we meet again.”
Soon they were out in the open water of the Atlantic Ocean. The waves were high, but by now the crew of the Albert worked seamlessly together, and they encountered only one problem on the twelve-day passage to England. On day six of the voyage, when all of the maintenance work was completed for the day, Wilfred started a game of cricket on deck with several other crew members. By now they were down to only one cricket ball, the others having been batted overboard during previous games.
About ten minutes into the game, Wilfred watched in dismay as the last ball sailed past him and splashed into the ocean. He looked down at it bobbing on the surface. There would be no more cricket games on board during the voyage. In an instant Wilfred kicked off his shoes and yelled over his shoulder, “Tell the captain to tack back and pick me up.” With that he climbed over the railing and dived into the water. The sudden cold of the ocean took his breath away, but he surfaced and began swimming toward the ball. As he did so, he watched the Albert tacking away from him!
Wilfred recovered the ball and stuck it in his pocket, but it was another twenty minutes before the ship tacked back and came alongside him. He treaded water and waited patiently for it to arrive. When the Albert had finally maneuvered close enough to him, he grabbed the rope ladder that dangled over the side and climbed back aboard. Once he was safely on deck, Wilfred learned that the captain had been so shocked when he dived overboard that he had tacked in the wrong direction. Wilfred laughed at the mistake. Treading icy cold water was just the kind of challenge he loved. He went below and changed his clothes, and then the cricket game continued.
The remaining six days of the voyage were uneventful, and soon the ship was docking in Yarmouth. Everyone, including the mission council, was eager to hear about the crew’s experiences in Newfoundland. Within days of arriving back in England, Wilfred was off to London to give a report to the council. He told the gathered council members about all he had seen and the small ways they had been able to help the people of Labrador on both land and sea. He painted a picture for them of what could be done with more medical missionaries and resources.
In return the council filled Wilfred in on what had been happening in the mission during the six months he had been away. They now had eleven ships and had extended their ministry to fishermen on the south and west coasts of England and to Ireland. Obviously, they explained, the mission had spread out, and they were not sure whether there was enough momentum to fund a work overseas. The voyage of the Albert had cost two thousand pounds, and they could not commit to spending that amount on a regular basis.
Such talk only served to challenge Wilfred, who set out with Captain Trezisse on a speaking tour of England to raise money for mission work on the Labrador coast. Everywhere he went, Wilfred captivated audiences, and the money flowed in. Many local committees were formed, each one undertaking to sponsor one bed in the new hospitals the committee in St. John’s had promised to provide. When Wilfred spoke to the boys at Mostyn House School in Parkgate, they enthusiastically offered to sponsor a bed as well. When he told the boys the story of playing cricket on the Albert’s deck and losing the ball overboard, one of them suggested Wilfred drill a hole through the ball and tether it to the ship’s railing. Wilfred thought this was an interesting idea and promised to report back on how well it worked.
Based on Wilfred’s success in fundraising, the board of the National Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen voted in February 1893 to continue and extend the work in Labrador, with Wilfred heading it up. Nothing could have delighted Wilfred more. He longed to be back among the Liveyeres and the fishermen, bringing them the message of hope and healing their bodies.
It was a warm day in May when the Albert was once again towed out of the River Yare. On board were three doctors: Wilfred Grenfell, Eliot Curwen, and Wilfred’s old friend, the Australian, Arthur Bobardt. Two nurses, Celia Williams and Ada Carwardine, would soon set sail for St. John’s aboard an Allen Line steamer.
Wilfred grinned from ear to ear as he watched the commotion around him. The fishermen’s brass band played energetically on the Albert’s deck, the other mission ships in port were rigged with fluttering flags, and the sound of the cheering crowd was punctuated with signal guns saluting the crew and their mission. In the ship’s hold, thousands of pounds of donated goods—clothing, books, and supplies to equip the hospitals—were packed away in bales.
As the Albert was towed out into the open ocean, Wilfred watched the crowd slowly fade into the distance. The brass band and other visitors who had been aboard transferred to the tugboat, and then the towline was let go. Once again they were on their way. This time, though, they planned to stop at many ports along the south coast of England, where Wilfred and Captain Trezisse intended to speak at as many churches and halls as possible. As they informed people about their proposed work in Labrador, Wilfred prayed that somehow God would provide them with the steam launch they desperately needed to work between the two hospitals.
About halfway through their coastal tour, Wilfred’s prayer was answered. The London office sent the wonderful news that money had been given to buy a steam launch. And Wilfred knew exactly where to find one. He had seen a forty-five-foot river launch in Chester that he had admired when he was visiting his brother Algernon nearby in Parkgate. The vessel was for sale for 250 pounds, less than half the cost of building her. The Albert continued on the tour without Wilfred, who headed north by land to see if the launch was still for sale. Thankfully it was, and he bought it on the spot. Algernon helped him to quickly outfit it for ocean work, and then Wilfred convinced the Allen Line to carry the small craft to St. John’s aboard one of its large steamships at a bargain price.
By the time the Princess May, as the launch was called, was finally stowed in the hold of an Allen Line ship, the Albert was in Queenstown, Ireland. Wilfred rejoined the vessel there, and they headed out across the Atlantic Ocean on June 7, 1893.
Wilfred spent his time reading medical texts, conducting Bible studies, and learning more about navigation from Captain Trezisse. He was interested to learn that they were taking a more northerly route to St. John’s this time, a route called the Great Circle course. About halfway through the voyage, the Albert was surrounded by towering icebergs. Soon fog engulfed the ship, and it was all hands on deck to watch out for the looming white shapes that could rip the hull open and sink the ship.
Thanks to Captain Trezisse’s skill, the Albert reached the safety of St. John’s Harbor on June 26. As the Albert was towed in through the narrow, rock-walled channel to the harbor, the people of St. John’s gathered to welcome the vessel back. Wilfred and the crew disembarked to huge cheers and an invitation to dine with the governor that night.
Over the next few days, Wilfred spoke at every church in town. He was thrilled to learn that the committee had gone ahead with plans to outfit two hospitals, and the local community had collected fifteen hundred dollars for the mission to spend helping fishermen. The Allen Line steamer also arrived, bringing with it the two nurses and the Princess May. The nurses were welcomed with open arms, as they were the only two registered nurses in Newfoundland. The local people begged them to stay and work in St. John’s, but Wilfred was determined that they should serve those who had for so long been beyond the reach of medical help. He promised to recruit more nurses to be stationed in St. John’s.
When the Princess May was slung out of the cargo hold and into the water, her funnel was missing and her propeller shaft was bent. No one was sure what had happened to the launch, and Wilfred had to wait while a new funnel was made and the shaft was straightened.
Finally, on July 6, the Princess May was christened and commissioned for her work along the Labrador coast. With that formality over, Wilfred, Arthur, an engineer, and one other crew member set out in the Princess May on the journey north to Battle Harbor. The Albert set out on the same day for Battle Harbor, but an ocean swell soon separated the two vessels. Wilfred skillfully guided the Princess May through driving wind and fog banks and around icebergs to make it safely to the sheltered water of Battle Harbor. The Albert had managed to make it to the harbor the day before, and Wilfred tied up alongside her. As soon as he could, Wilfred went ashore to inspect progress on the hospital.
Chapter 8
A Growing Mission
Wilfred was delighted with the progress he saw. The old house that served as the new hospital was a sturdy, two-story structure tucked close into a rocky cliff. It looked strong enough to endure even the most severe winter. Inside the building Dr. Curwen and the two nurses were working hard to set up the sixteen beds and equipment the Albert had brought with her. Wilfred’s friend Arthur liked what he saw, too, and was eager to open the hospital doors to the fishermen and coastal people. Within a week everything was ready, and Wilfred conducted a ceremony to open the Battle Harbor Hospital.
With the new hospital open, Wilfred continued on up the Labrador coast in the Princess May with just one crew member, an engineer from St. John’s named Paul Legget. Arthur stayed behind to help man the new hospital.
Wilfred’s plan was to weave his way up through the rocky bays and inlets, going as far north as one hundred miles beyond Hopedale. He had heard of only one other steamer that had made it that far north. Along the way he would take notes on the condition of the people he met and any possible ways they could be helped to lead better lives.
One of Wilfred’s first stops was Sandwich Bay, where in the 1790s an Englishman, Major Cartwright, had established a small settlement. Major Cartwright had brought four hundred people from Devon and Cornwall in England to the community to live and catch fish and trap seals. Their catches were sent back to England for sale to provide income for the community. All went well until the first years of the nineteenth century, when Britain and the United States had gone to war against each other. American privateers had captured the ships laden with goods from Sandwich Bay, and the year’s earnings for the community were lost. At that time all but the most stubborn settlers returned to England, and now Wilfred visited the descendants of those who had remained to eke out a living for themselves. The people lived in a few scattered huts, having little contact with the outside world. Wilfred brought them news and medical help.
From Sandwich Bay Wilfred steamed on to Indian Harbor, where he found the Albert lying at anchor. Dr. Curwen and Nurse Williams were hard at work treating the injuries and ailments of the fishermen whose boats were anchored around the Albert. Because of the number of fishermen who had to be treated, the work of preparing the new Indian Harbor Hospital had fallen behind schedule, and Wilfred could see that the hospital would not be completed before the ice packs formed. Everyone decided it would be best to delay the official opening of the second hospital until the following year. It was decided that, instead, the Albert would continue sailing up and down the Labrador coast, working among the fishing fleet.
