This was fine news. Not only were there large
fishery stations at both Battle Harbor and Indian Harbor, but both
were regular stopping places for the fishing schooners when going
north and again on their homeward voyage. With two hospitals on the
coast a splendid beginning for the work would be made.
But there was still one necessity lacking,--a little steamer in which
Doctor Grenfell could visit the folk of the scattered harbors. At
Chester on the River Dee and not far from his boyhood home at Parkgate
Grenfell discovered a boat one day that was for sale and that he
believed would answer his purpose. It was a sturdy little steam
launch, forty-five feet over all. It was, however, ridiculously
narrow, with a beam of only eight feet, and was sure to roll terribly
in any sea and even in an ordinary swell.
But Grenfell was a good seaman, and he could make out in a boat that
did a bit of tumbling. He was the sort of man to do a good job with a
tool that did not suit him if he could not get just the sort of tool
he wanted, and never find fault with it either. The necessary amount
to purchase the launch was subscribed by a friend of the Mission.
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