From about 1530 to the early 1600s, Basques whalers from France and Spain annually visited Red Bay, Labrador, to hunt right and bowhead whales. Modern whaling arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1898 with the establishment of a processing plant at Snook’s Arm, Notre Dame Bay, and ended at South Dildo and Williamsport in 1972 when the federal government 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. Authors Anthony Dickinson and Chesley Sanger have put together a well-illustrated, very readable and highly informative book which is a must for everyone interested in the history of this province.