He was always mentioning it. Finally, the war was over, so I thought I would go and see what it's like.

The Grenfell Mission had an office in London, where you would apply and go for an interview. They told me that a nurse was needed at St. Anthony. You could either go as a volunteer, for six months, in which case you paid your passage over and you didn't receive any salary. Or you could sign a contract, I think it was for four years. So I decided to go as a volunteer.

You were given a clothing list, a list of sensible clothes to take, and off you went. They told me in London to go to Liverpool and find the right ship and go to St. John's. It was the old S.S. Newfoundland. It was very casual. It was just, "they need you in St. Anthony, and you should go in June. It'll take you about a week crossing and there should be somebody to meet you at the other end."

It was very informal. I arrived in Liverpool without any money for the voyage. We weren't allowed to take money out of England anyway, and I was a volunteer so I wasn't going to receive a salary.

Unfortunately, when I got to St. John's, there wasn't anyone to meet me. My contact thought it was the next day I was coming. So I just sat there on the wharf by myself for a long time. I went back on the ship, and managed to get my cabin back for another night. It was all very, very easygoing.

The plan was that I would get the Kyle to St. Anthony, but the Kyle was ice-bound off St. Anthony. The ice was so long coming out that year, so I waited in the Newfoundland Hotel for many days. They gave me a little money from the office on Water Street, in St. John's.

Then I heard of a young man who was going to fly a small plane up to St. Anthony, with a part for the fishing plant there. I found him and asked him if he would take me and he said, well, alright. We took off from Quidi Vidi Lake in a very small plane. He had an enormous piece of machinery that he had to deliver to St. Anthony. It was quite a flight.