Port Burwell, Labrador

Church and Law in the Arctic Region

---from The Gazette, Montreal, Friday, July 16, 1926

CHURCH AND LAW IN ARCTIC REGION

“Mounties” and Oblate Fathers Sail on SS Bayrupert for Northland

Ship’s Maiden Voyage

Hudson’s Bay Company’s Vessel Leaves on First Trading Trip --- Carries Thermite Supply

Canada added a new page to her history when the SS Bayrupert, of the Hudson’s Bay Company, cast off from Tarte pier in the shimmering heat of yesterday afternoon.

The departure was more than just another ship putting to sea. It was the maiden voyage of a vessel flying the house flag of a company whose record is a part of the story of the development of the Canadian northland. The Bayrupert carries men and materials to help the new nation Canada is making in the Arctic. From port in Hudson’s Bay she will bring back furs to be exchanged for more negotiable wealth in the great markets of London.

Scarlet tunic and black soutane were in vivid contrast on the promenade deck. They were worn by young men upholding the tradition of other young men of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Oblate Fathers, who for many years have kept the peace and spread enlightenment in the Dominion’s outposts.

The “Mounties” include Staff-Sergeant Joyce, an old hand in the ways of the north, and Constables SR Montague and H McMahon, men barely out of their teens. Staff-Sergeant Joyce, who is accompanied by his wife and two children, will go to Chesterfield Inlet with Constable McMahon.

Constable Montague, a thin-lipped, blonde youth from Edmonton, is detailed to the post at Port Burwell in Hudson’s Straits. He will replace another “Mountie” as the sole representative of the law at that point.

Before the ship sailed a friend said to Montague: “Pretty hard lines, old man, being shoved into that frigid country instead of enjoying the balmy breezes of the Pacific Coast.” Montague replied simply: “I’d rather go north than feel those balmy breezes. It makes feel like a real member of the RCMP”

Father Marcel Rio and Father Thibert, youthful members of the Oblate Order, come from sun-strewn France to bring the spiritual meaning of life a little nearer to a few Eskimos.

“How long will you be there?” Father Rio was asked.

“About as long as the Bon Dieu (this next line has disappeared because of a fold in the newsprint) ….master the Eskimo language. Then, as the mission has been opened only recently, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done.”

Ten charges of thermite will be carried by the Bayrupert for use in case the pressure of the ice floes becomes too great. The explosive was prepared by Professor Howard T Barnes, of McGill University.

The remainder of twenty-nine passengers include Hudson’s Bay employees and churchmen. This ship is commanded by Captain T Smellie, who has been with the company for more than a decade. His last command was the Nascopie.