St. Anthony: Iceberg Hunters and Sir Wilfred Grenfell

Prior to this cruise, all I knew about St. Anthony was from a cable television reality series from six years ago, "Iceberg Hunters." The four-episode series followed locals as they took their small boat out to the icebergs congregated offshore, shot off pieces with their rifles then hauled them back to shore for bottling as water (or perhaps as part of the distillation process of making vodka).

The town, the largest on Newfoundland's northern peninsula, remains a hub for fisheries, though the trawlers, draggers and netters based here travel as far as Greenland waters for shrimp, scallops and finfish.

St. Anthony and the region, including mainland Labrador across the Belle Isle Strait, are closely associate with Sir Wilfred Grenfell, born in the north of England, who after hearing American evangelist Dwight L. Moody in London found his calling: Grenfell joined the Royal Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen and in 1892 dispatched to Newfoundland where he devoted his life to improving the life of the people. Trained in London as a physician, in Newfound and Labrador he established hospitals, schools and orphanages. As much as he is associated with the region, he retired to Vermont where he died in 1940.

His home in St. Anthony is a historic site and is a lovely example of New England residential design executed by a Newfoundland architect.

Here are the photos of the Grenfell home.

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