Locale/encoding problem/question

Hello all,

I somehow managed to stuff up the encoding (or locale or something) in a
transfer of a database from one machine to another (also different linux
distribution).

The problem is this: the origional database was created and populated
with data using whatever default locale/encoding was installed on the
first machine.

Words would appear correctly, as in: Hoë

After dumping the database and restoring on a different one, the word
incorrectly appears as: Hoë

Before I do any more damage or waste time, I'd appreciate any ideas or
pointers on correctly performing the initdb -E<encoding>
--locale=<locale>... (or any other ideas on resolving this issue) , before
I try and restore the data again.

Thanks
henk