Labrador 1915 & 1916

In 1915 A.P. Coleman set off for Labrador. The expedition held many attractions; the northeastern coast was largely uncharted, and little geological work had been done in the area. The Torngat Mountains were reputed to be amongst the highest in the eastern America – 8,000 to 10,000 feet. And finally, Labrador’s isolation offered a relief from the news of the war in Europe.

The trip was its own adventure. In retrospect Coleman reckoned that while the distance to Labrador was 1,300 miles by map, it probably involved 3,000 miles of journeying.

Coleman boarded a train in Toronto which took him to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. He caught the ferry from Sydney to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and crossed the island to St. Johns by railway. Next, he took a passenger steamer to Nain, the headquarters of the Moravian mission based in Labrador. Coleman then headed up the coast to Hebron, another Moravian settlement, this time taking the mail boat. In Hebron he engaged Cornelius Gustav and his son Johannes to explore the coast as far as the Komaktorvik fiord. Their skiff carried a load of boulders as ballast. The small flatbottom boat was propelled by sails and oars. (The geologist was sixty three at the time.)