A very important aspect of South Dildo's history is it's involvement in the whaling industry. Many different whales were hunted, some of which you will read about as you go on. Pothead whales are usually about fifteen to twenty feet long and weighing at an average of twenty-five-hundred pounds. These kind of whales were killed mainly for mink-feed around here, in other parts of the world such as Japan or China, it was used for food. Potheads whales were killed in herds at a time. Whales would steer their ships in to the herds after being spotted and drive them in to small coves of harbours. This style of hunt is what they called "pothead drives". Whalers would usually drive the herds into Dildo, Chapel Arm, Normans Cove, New Harbour or Old Shop. On the shores while waiting for the herds to arrive, Men and young teens would be loading their boats with rocks, spears, or anything else they could throw to drive the whales ashore. Once the whales were close to shore the men would surround the herds in their boats and then begin slapping ores, throwing rocks, anything to drive them aground. In a panic the whales would fight with their tale slapping it very hard on the water, and sometimes on the sides of peoples boats, crashing it to pieces. Pothead drives usually occurred around three times a week in the fall. Hundreds of potheads would be killed at a time, thousands in a single year. Old folks described the water after a drive to be like a sea of blood which would last for hours on end. After being slaughtered the whales were hauled ashore with a wench wagon before being sliced. A successful drive meant steady work for days at the South Dildo factory or Arctic Fisheries Ltd. The meat was transformed into mink-feed whichm supplied food for mink in over a dozen farms in the area at that time.
Larger whales such as the Minki, Finback, or the Humpback were not killed in drives. Whales would be killed by what is called a harpoon gun. The harpoons weighed about fifty pounds each, and they contained an exploding head which was not common to most areas. A single shot from Trinity Bays highliner Clarence George would not always kill the whale. After the impact of a shot on a whale, it would take off, sometimes taking the boat with it depending on its size, and would tow it faster than the boat could steam. When the whale gets tired out the head whaler would wench the whale back to the boat or at least close enough to fire the killer shot to the whales lung area. After the killing, the whale is brought back to the South Dildo Factory (Arctic Fisheries Ltd.) to be processed. The factory was up and running by the early 40's, it was the doings of a Norwegian whaling skipper Captain Ivorson. In his factory the meat was sliced, packed up, and then frozen before it had to be shipped out. This meat was used as food for all parts of the world for people to enjoy. Taken from the meat were oils which were used to lubricate small machinery such as blenders, sewing machines, etc. The inside gut was used also as a mink feed which draws the conclusion that none of the whale was wasted. The whale hunt was band in the late 70's because nations considered the hunt to be inhumane and threatened the whales very existence. It also added to the demise of many mink ranches in the area who depended on the whale meat (from pothead whales) as a cheap source of food.
