The roots of Gorton’s of Gloucester go back to 1849. John Pew & Sons was the first fish packing company in the city. Slade Gorton & Co. started packing salt-dried fish in barrels in 1868. Slade was the first to advertise his product—“Absolutely Boneless Codfish”—nationally.
Gorton, John Pew, and two other firms merged in 1906 into Gorton-Pew Fisheries, becoming owners of the largest fishing fleet on the East Coast. By the 1950s, its frozen fish sticks in boxes with the distinctive man at the wheel reigned.
© Captbluefin.com
In 1923, Gorton-Pew had just shipped over $1,000,000 of salt cod to Italy when Benito Mussolini seized power. The dictator ordered the fish confiscated. Nearly bankrupted by the act, Gorton-Pew asked Clarence Birdseye to help with his new flash-freezing process. Frozen fish made Gorton-Pew one of the top ten seafood suppliers in North America.
- Gortons Jewel of a mini doc
Snappy mini documentary Director: Joe Berlinger Editor: Sloane Klevin / Union Editorial Writer/Creative Director: Mark Cacciatore Art Director/Creative Director: David Lloyd
