Page 6 - Moravian Messenger July 2020

Finally: Arrival in Nain
Continuation of Br Hopcroft’s memories of his call to Labrador in 1971
Wendy and I found ourselves grounded in Happy Valley-Goose Bay which gave us chance to become acclimatised and visit the Labrador East Integrated School Board offices and meet all the staff there. Each day we went to the Labrador Airways office at Otter Creek to enquire about flights to Nain to be told that, even though we were basking in sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20s centigrade, there were snowstorms along the coast and flights were grounded.
We learned that Goose Bay was the site of the largest Military Air Base in North Eastern North America and was built in the early 1940s. The small town of Happy Valley grew with the arrival of construction workers from the Labrador Coast as well as engineers from across Canada. It became a base for the RCAF, the USAF and the RAF at its height and it was a base for the RAF Vulcan Bombers which, when they took off, made all the windows rattle.
After four days of delay and with the school term starting within the next few days it was decided that we should travel to Nain by boat. This would be a four- day journey calling at all points north rather than a four-hour flight direct to Nain! Tickets were booked for the following day and I, with my new wife, arrived at the dock, with our matching suitcases, and having boarded the boat asked the purser where we could find our cabin. Our hearts sank when we were informed by the purser, with a wry smile, that there were no separate cabins and that the men's cabins were on the port side of the boat and the women's on the starboard side.
In those days the Labrador coastal communities were served by two sister ships, the Bona Vista and the Nonia, whose primary function was to carry freight through open water but also
provided some passenger accommodation.
We each had a bunk in a 4-berth cabin. I shared mine with three local Inuit men, one of whom I discovered was an alcoholic, well known to everyone, and Wendy shared her cabin with three rather portly Inuit ladies who insisted on spending much of the day sitting on Wendy's bunk and chattering away in Inuktitut, leaving Wendy with nowhere to sit or rest during the day.
We set sail and the journey itself was an adventure. The boat was due to call at Rigolet, Hopedale, Postville, Makkovik, Davis Inlet and finally the most northerly settlement, at Nain. So at least we would see the Moravian Churches at Hopedale and Makkovik before reaching our destination.
We are both pretty good travellers and we enjoyed the 'cruise' out of Lake Melville and into the Labrador Sea, marvelling at the sight of the Labrador coastal mountains, almost always in view, as we sailed north. We even encountered small icebergs making their way south on the Labrador current. The only time Wendy felt sea-sick was when we were served 'fish and brewis' for breakfast on the day when the boat unloaded freight at Rigolet. The harbour was too shallow for the boat to reach the dock and so we spent the day anchored off shore in a large swell while small boats plied back and forth unloading. 'Fish and Brewis' is a meal made up of salt cod (soaked overnight), hard tack biscuits (soaked overnight), potatoes and onions, mixed together and topped with fried onions and pork fat. Even the smell, at breakfast after a rough night, was enough to put us off!
The time passed by, slowly but surely, with the constant throb and vibration of the diesel engines beating away night
and day. We were able to briefly view the Moravian settlement at Hopedale and Makkovik and at one point my inebriated cabin mate managed to fall overboard between the dock and the boat. He was swiftly rescued and put ashore. At sunrise on the fourth day we stood on deck as the village of Nain came into view approximately 250 miles as the crow flies from Goose Bay. It was to be our home, initially for a year.
Imagine our surprise and embarrassment as we stepped down the gangway to the sounds of the Nain Brass Band playing a hymn. We thought it must be for some dignitary on board but no - word had gone out through the grapevine that the two new teachers arriving were 'Moravians'. The minister Br Siegfried Hettasch and his wife Frieda were there to greet us along with members of the school staff. It was all a little overwhelming as we were still trying to find our land legs after four days at sea.
Wendy had been appointed as the Kindergarten teacher and I was to teach a combined class of Grade 7 and 8 pupils along with PE and Science for the whole school. I had been informed that a new gymnasium had been built for indoor sport and I was eager to see it.
We couldn't wait to see our promised apartment, the school in which we would be teaching, and to get to know our surroundings.
Our accommodation was a newly built teacher residence of three apartments with a communal basement, and the middle one was ours. Dick Johnson, the School Principal, with his wife Bobbie were there to greet us. They were from the USA and were 'old hands' at teaching in Labrador having served a small school at Paradise River down in Southern Labrador, before moving to the much larger Nain School.
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