240 LABRADOR 
1894. Indian Harbour hospital was opened for the 
summer, and for the first time Battle Harbour hospital 
was kept open in winter. The doctor, with dogs and 
sledges, travelled eighteen hundred miles of coast during 
the winter. 
1895. The sailing hospital was replaced by the steamer 
Sir Donald, the gift of Sir Donald A. Smith, who had lived 
many years in Labrador. Nineteen hundred sick folk 
received treatment. Dr. Roddick, of Montreal, presented 
the sailing boat Urelia McKinnon to the Mission. 
1896. A small cooperative store was started at Red 
Bay in the Strait of Belle Isle, to help the settlers to escape 
the “truck system” of trade, and the consequent loss of 
independence and thrift. Four other codperative stores 
have since been opened, with very beneficial results to the 
poorest. The Sir Donald was carried out from her harbour 
by the winter ice, and found far at sea, still frozen in, by 
the seal hunters. She had to be sold. 
1897. The steam-launch Julia Sheridan, given by a 
Toronto lady, replaced the Sir Donald. A large Mission 
hall was attached to Indian Harbour hospital for the use 
of the fishermen. Two thousand patients were treated. 
Some orphan children were taken to America. The doctors 
were appointed magistrates for Labrador, which enabled 
them to help in several cases of right against might. 
1899. Largely through the munificence of the Mission’s 
staunch friend, Lord Strathcona, the Canadian High 
Commissioner, the steel hospital steamer Strathcona was 
built at Dartmouth, England, and fitted with every avail- 
able modern appliance. At the request of the settlers, 
a doctor wintered in north Newfoundland and travelled 
