From about 1530 to the early 1600s, Basque whalers from
France and Spain annually visited Labrador to hunt right and bowhead whales.
Their station at Red Bay, the whaling capital of the time, was proclaimed a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.
Following small-scale traditional hunts by American and
local crews, modern whaling arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1898 with the establishment
of a processing plant in Snookâs Arm, Notre Dame Bay, and ended at South Dildo
and Williamsport in 1972 when the government of Canada placed a moratorium on
the non-indigenous hunt.
During that period, twenty-seven companies supported by some
sixty vessels sporadically operated from twenty-one stations to catch almost
20.000 whales in local waters.
After the Basques: The
Whaling Stations of Newfoundland and Labrador offers readers a
comprehensive account of the stations, vessels, companies, and personnel
involved.
Anthony Dickinson and Chesley Sanger have put together a
well illustrated, very readable, and highly informative book which is a must
for anyone interested in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador.
