The Moravian Church Mission Ships were a series of twelve ships (five named Harmony) that made an annual voyage from London to the Moravian Church mission stations in Labrador every summer for the 156 years between 1770 and 1926. [1] [2] The purpose of the voyages was to supply provisions to the church's mission stations in Labrador and to rotate mission personnel. [1] [2] All but one were pure sailing vessels; the final ship, Harmony #5, had an auxiliary steam engine. [2]
The ships were owned and operated by the Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel among the Heathen, apparently a joint venture between the Moravian Church (the Unity of the Brethren) and the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel among the Heathen. [2]
The mission stations during the time of the ships were Nain (established 1770), Okak (1776), Hopedale (1782), Hebron at Kauerdluksoak Bay (1830–1959) serving also Napartok Bay and Saeglek Bay, Zoar (1864–1889), Ramah (1871–1908), Makkovik (1896), and Killiniq on Cape Chidley island (1905–1925). [2] Two further stations were added after this period at Happy Valley near Goose Bay (1957) and North West River (1960). [2]
| Ship's Name | From | To | Captain | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey Packet | 1770 | 1770 | Thomas Mugford [2] | A small sloop of 80 tons (bm). [2] |
| Amity | 1771 | 1776 | Francis Mugford [2] | |
| Good Intent | 1777 | 1779 | Francis Mugford [2] | Sloop of 70 tons (bm). [2] Captured by a French privateer on her return voyage during Autumn 1778 but recaptured by a British cruiser before she could reach a French port. [2] This incident led to passes being issued by both the King of France and Benjamin Franklin to prevent recurrence. [2] |
| Amity | 1780 1782 | 1781 1786 | Francis Mugford [2] James Fraser [2] | |
| Harmony #1 | 1787 | 1802 | James Fraser 1787‑? [3] | Brig of 133 tons built for the Society specifically for arctic service at Bursledon under the supervision of Thomas Mitchell, a deputy surveyor of the Royal Navy. [2] [4] |
| Resolution | 1802 | 1808 | J Fraser | |
| Hector | 1809 | 1809 | Fraser [5] | Owned by the society for less than two months. [2] |
| Jemima | 1810 | 1817 | Fraser [2] | Brig of 180 tons (bm). [2] |
| Harmony #2 | 1818 | 1831 | Fraser [2] | Brig of 126 tons (bm) built for the Society specifically for arctic service under the supervision of Brother Taylor. [2] [4] In 1830 she was accompanied by the Oliver, chartered to convey additional stores needed to establish the Hebron mission; similarly in 1831, the Venus. [2] |
| Harmony #3 | 1832 | 1860 | William Taylor 1832‑at least 1836 [2] James Sutherland [2] | Snow of about 230 tons (bm) built for the Society by Fellows and Sons of Great Yarmouth specifically for arctic service during Autumn and Winter 1831/1832 under the supervision of Brother Taylor at a cost of about £3,500 (about £332,454 at current prices). [2] [4] During the outbound voyage of 1836 she was caught in ice for eight days while approaching Labrador towards the end of July. [2] During then return voyage the same year she rescued nine survivors from Superior which, under Captain Dunn, had been thrown on her beam ends during a furious gale on 28 September 1836 bound from Miramichi to Cardiff. [2] The Harmony had herself been damaged in the same gale when a heavy sea breaking over her carried away the skiff hanging astern, stove in the cabin windows and swamped it, washed away the binnacle and the cook house, broke the wheel and nearly killed the man at it. [2] Following this voyage she was strengthened by doubling i.e. adding a second layer of planking over the bows at a cost of about £350. [2] |
| Harmony #4 | 1861 | 1896 | John White ‑1862 [2] Henry Linklater 1863‑ [2] | A barque of 251 tons register built for the Society by Fellows and Sons of Great Yarmouth specifically for arctic service and launched on 24 April 1861. [2] [4] |
| No Moravian ships | 1896 | 1900 | The Society chartered a vessel to supply the mission stations during these years. [2] | |
| Harmony #5 | 1901 | 1926 | Joseph Linklater 1901 [2] J C Jackson 1902‑1926 [2] | Ex steamship Lorna Doone (originally a barque built at Dundee in 1876 for expedition work) bought for £2,000 and re-rigged by the Society for a further £2,000 as a barque with auxiliary steam power. [2] |
In the summer of 1919, SS Harmony #5 carried Spanish flu from St John's to Hebron and Okak. [6] The resulting deaths cut the population of Hebron and the surrounding area from 220 to 70. [6] In Okak 204 of the 263 residents died, including every adult male Inuit; the survivors dismantled the community entirely, burning all houses and furniture before moving to Nain, Hopedale or Hebron. [6]
Nunatsiavut is an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The settlement area includes territory in Labrador extending to the Quebec border. In 2002, the Labrador Inuit Association submitted a proposal for limited autonomy to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The constitution was ratified on December 1, 2005, at which time the Labrador Inuit Association ceased to exist, and the new Government of Nunatsiavut was established, initially being responsible for health, education and cultural affairs. It is also responsible for setting and conducting elections, the first of which was executed in October 2006. An election for the ordinary members of the Nunatsiavut Assembly was held on May 4, 2010. The Nunatsiavut Assembly was dissolved on April 6 in preparation for the election. Its incumbent president is Johannes Lampe who assumed office in 2016.
Kuujjuaq, formerly known as Fort Chimo and by other names, is a former Hudson's Bay Company outpost at the mouth of the Koksoak River on Ungava Bay that has become the largest northern village in the Nunavik region of Quebec, Canada. It is the administrative capital of the Kativik Regional Government. Its population was 2,668 as of the 2021 census.
Nain is the northernmost permanent settlement in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, within the Nunatsiavut region, located about 370 km (230 mi) by air from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The town was established as a Moravian mission in 1771 by Jens Haven and other missionaries. As of 2021, the population is 847 mostly Inuit and mixed Inuit-European. Nain is the administrative capital of the autonomous region of Nunatsiavut.
The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren, formally the Unitas Fratrum, is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the Unity of the Brethren founded in the Kingdom of Bohemia, sixty years before Luther's Reformation.
Hebron was a Moravian mission and the northernmost settlement in Labrador. Founded in 1831, the mission disbanded in 1959. The Inuit Abraham Ulrikab and his family, exhibited in human zoos in Europe in 1880, were from Hebron.
Hopedale is a town located in the north of Labrador, the mainland portion of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Hopedale is the legislative capital of the Inuit Land Claims Area Nunatsiavut, and where the Nunatsiavut Assembly meets. As of the 2021 census it has a population of 596.
MV Northern Ranger was a Canadian ice-breaking coastal ferry operating in Newfoundland and Labrador. The ship entered service in 1986 for coastal service in Labrador. The vessel provided service between Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, stopping at points between. The ferry was owned and operated by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. At the end of 2018, the ship was taken out of service and replaced by a newer vessel on the route between Nain and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Nachvak Fjord is a deep fiord in northern Labrador nearly 2 km (1.2 mi) wide and 20 km (12 mi) long. The fjord is divided in two arms on the western end called Tallek and Tasiuyak. The Torngat Mountains that surround Nachvak Fjord are the highest in Labrador, where both Mount Razorback to the north and Mount Caubvick to the south are located.
Mikak, also known as Micoc, Mykok, or Mecock, was born in Labrador, Canada and died at Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador. She was one of several Inuit people to travel to Europe in the 18th century and return to North America, although many Inuit who had travelled to Europe subsequently died from diseases, especially smallpox, before returning.
Jens Haven was a Danish-Canadian Moravian missionary and the prime mover behind the founding of the Moravian missions in Labrador.
Makkovik is a town in Labrador in eastern Canada. It had a population of 365 persons in 2021. The main industry is fishing and there is a fishing cooperative.
Okak is a former community located on Okak Bay in northern Labrador. It was founded in 1776 by Jens Haven, a missionary of the Moravian Church. In 1918, Moravian missionaries brought an outbreak of Spanish influenza that devastated Okak, killing 204 out of a population of 263.
George River, formerly the East or George's River, is a river in northeastern Quebec, Canada, that flows from Lake Jannière mainly north to Ungava Bay.
Killiniq is a former Inuit settlement, weather station, trading post, missionary post, fishing station, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police post on Killiniq Island. Previously within Labrador, and then the Northwest Territories, it is now situated within the borders of Nunavut. The community closed in 1978.
New Britain as a historical term of limited usage referred in its day to the poorly mapped lands of North America north of 17th-century New France. The name applied primarily to today's Nunavik and Labrador interiors, though in the 18th century this had grown to include all of the mainland shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay north of the Canadas. British visitors came to sub-divide the district loosely into the territories of New South Wales, New North Wales and Labrador. The name Labrador predates mention of the other names by more than a century.
Hopedale Air Station is a General Surveillance Radar station that the USAF closed in 1968. It is located north of the community of Hopedale, Newfoundland and Labrador 147.8 miles (237.9 km) west-northwest of CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The Moravian missions in Greenland were established by the Moravian Church or United Brethren and operated between 1733 and 1900. They were operated under the auspices of the Royal Danish College of Missions until its dissolution in 1859 and were finally surrendered to the Lutheran Church of Denmark in 1900. Missionaries were allocated to the region and sometimes even sent wives who had been chosen for them and approved by the drawing of lots, a form of Cleromancy.
The Jersey Packet was a small 18th-century sloop of 80 tons burden.
Resolution was a brig built in Spain and launched in 1800 that was probably a prize. The Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel among the Heathen purchased her in 1802 for service as a Moravian Church mission ship. These vessels made an annual voyage from London to the Moravian Church mission stations in Labrador every summer bringing provisions and exchanging missionaries. The Church sold her in 1808 and she was wrecked on the coast of Africa in 1810.
Christian Frederick Ramftler (1780-1832) was a German born teacher, minister, and supporter of missionaries, serving the Moravian Church, who worked for most of his career in England. He founded the Moravian Church in Brockweir, Gloucestershire.
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