The coast of Labrador is still a wilderness filled with rugged seacoast, fast running rivers and breathtaking mountain ranges. here native Inuit and Innu traditions and lifestyles resist the encroachment of modern society. And it is here that the descendants of European settlers pursue the fishery.

You can reach Labrador by scheduled air service or charter and during the summer there are a couple of choices to access it by sea.

• 1. Car Ferry
  • Marine Atlantic operates a car ferry from Lewisporte on the island to Happy Valley-Goose Bay from mid-June to mid-September. the ferry makes two regularly scheduled return trips weekly. The trip takes 33 hours one way. From there you can take the unpa ved route 500 to Quebec, best if you have a four wheel drive.
• 2. Coastal Boat
  • The coastal boat from Lewisporte to Nain takes two weeks because it calls at two dozen small communities, to load and unload freight. Passenger space is limited so book early. To go on north from Nain you would have to contact one of the private operators.

Visitors travelling on the boat will see rugged scenery and old settlements, massive icebergs and a unique way of life.

Despite there isolation, most of the outports were settled two centuries ago by fishermen. Lodge Bay, became a winter station for the fishermen of Cape St. Charles in the 18th century, further north is Mary's Harbour.

Nearby Battle harbour has been fished since at least 1759 and is one of the oldest European settlements on the coast. In 1893 Dr. Wilfred Grenfell established his first hospital here. Now a summer fishing station, Battle harbour is being restored to its 1800s form.

Port Hope Simpson is one of the newer communities, founded by John Hope Simpson, who started a logging business here in the 1930s. Another new settlement founded because of the vast timber resource is Charlottetown, which dates from the middle of this cen tury. The coast is wonderful here and the thick woods are in stark contrast to the tundra you will see farther north.

The boat passes through Gannet Islands Ecological Reserve, a major seabird breeding colony for murres, puffins, and black-legged kittiwakes.

Before entering Lake Melville, the coastal boat stops at Cartwright, named for Capt. George Cartwright, a merchant adventurer who lived for a decade in the late 1700s along the coast. (Read the award winning book "The Afterlife

Saglek Fjord Mezzotint 12" x 20", 1993

By: Scott W. Goudie

of George Cartwright" by John Steffler) the community that is his namesake is a centre for the fishermen who ply their trade along the shore.

Through the narrow waterway of Hamilton Inlet that connects the ocean to Lake Melville. it is probably here that Norse rovers Thorvald Eiriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni landed. Some think that the Lake Melville area was the Markland (land of forests) of the Viking sagas. It is easy to see on the shores of Hamilton Inlet on your way to Rigolet the long history of fur trapping and fishing that continues to this day. Rigolet was first established as a fur trading centre in 1787 and the North West Company cont inues to operate a retail outlet in the town. Except when it was used as a base during World War II the place has not changed very much and visitors will glimpse the traditional way of life.

Along the way you will see a number of old sites of towns, the most important are Sheshatshit and North West River, the former Grenfell Association Headquarters in Labrador. This was the home of Donald Smith (later Lord Strathcona) who was the Hudson Bay Company's factor in the region. The present road follows the horse trail he constructed so that he could court his wife during Sunday afternoon carriage rides.

North West river is home to descendants of the Scots, French and English who came here to hunt and trap. Sheshatshit is home of the Montagnais Innu, the once nomadic tribe of caribou hunters.

After a short stop in Happy Valley-Goose Bay you will continue along to Makkovik and Postville. The former was first settled in the early 1900s by a Norwegian fur trader, Torsten Andersen and his Labrador wife Mary Thomas. By 1896, the settlement had grown enough for a church complex to be built by the Moravian Mission. Though the mission is no longer in use not very much has changed here. Hunting and fishing are central to the traditional way of life, and you can purchase duffle parkas, skin mittens and slippers as well as bone jewelry, antler buttons, grass work and other native crafts.

At the head of Kaipokok Bay is Postville, first a fur trading post in 1843 it has been home to people for 4000 years when the Dorset Eskimo stopped here.

Further north at Hopedale you can see a National Historic Site, the Hopedale Mission including a store, a church, residences and small huts. It has stood here since 1782 when the Moravian Church was granted permission by the British government to establish itself in the community.

Northern Lights Pastel on Black Arches Paper 30" x 44.5", 1991

By: Scott W. Goudie

At Davis Inlet you will meet members of the Innu nation and see the skill and charm of their native crafts that they are renowned for.

Piulimatsivik, the Nain Museum, houses a collection of Moravian and Inuit artifacts. Visitors will see kayaks and other implements of the northern way of life.

Hebron, is on the shores of Kangershutsoak Bay and has another National Historic Site, the Hebron Mission another established last century by the Moravians and abandoned in 1957.

The Torngat Mountains for the truly adventurous, experienced naturalist and mountain climbers are truly a marvel of nature.

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