inc. type subsidiary industry food processing founded 1849 ; 167 years ago 1849 headquarters gloucester massachusetts united states key people judson reis ceo products frozen seafood parent nippon suisan kaisha website http www.gortons.com 128 rogers street gloucester massachusetts gorton s of gloucester is a subsidiary of the japanese seafood conglomerate nippon suisan kaisha ltd. producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the united states . gorton s also has a north american food service business which sells to fast food restaurants such as mcdonald s and an industrial coating ingredients operation . it has been headquartered in gloucester massachusetts since 1849 . contents 1 history 2 whaling 3 gorton s fisherman 4 references 5 external links 5.1 whaling history edit the company traces its roots to a fishery called john pew & sons . william pew son of john pew picked up fishing after serving as a colonial soldier in the french and indian war . while most people moved west after the war pew turned eastward and arrived in gloucester massachusetts in 1755 . the father and son fishery business emerged as an official commercial company john pew & sons in 1849 . when nearby rockport s chief industry the annisquam cotton mill burned down slade gorton the mill s superintendent was out of a job . at his wife s urging he began a fishing business in 1874 known as slade gorton & company and began to pack and sell salt codfish and mackerel in small kegs . this company was the first to package salt dried fish in barrels . in 1899 the company patented the original gorton fish cake . in 1905 the slade gorton company adopted the fisherman at the helm of a schooner the man at the wheel as the company trademark . today he is known as the gorton s fisherman . in 1906 slade gorton & company and john pew & sons and two other gloucester fisheries merged into the gorton pew fisheries . they made gorton s codfish cakes a household name in new england . the company offices were located at 372 main street gloucester in the same building where gorton s main office is located today . the company went into the fish freezing business in the early 1930s . in 1949 gorton pew made headlines when it drove the first refrigerator trailer truck shipment of frozen fish from gloucester massachusetts to san francisco california a trip that took eight days . in 1953 the company was the first to introduce a frozen ready to cook fish stick gorton s fish sticks which won the parents magazine seal of approval . in 1957 gorton pew fisheries name was changed to gorton s of gloucester ; in 1965 it became the gorton corporation and it is now known as gorton s. in 1968 gorton s merged with general mills inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary . in may 1995 unilever bought gorton s from general mills . in august 2001 unilever sold gorton s and bluewater seafoods to nippon suisan usa inc. a subsidiary of nippon suisan kaisha ltd. for us 175 million in cash . in 2005 nissui acquired king & prince seafood of brunswick georgia . whaling edit in 2005 gorton s came under attack from the environmental investigation agency the humane society of the united states hsus and greenpeace due to their parent company s involvement in whaling in the southern ocean whale sanctuary . these groups hoped that international companies owned by nippon suisan kaisha such as gorton s would persuade their parent company to stop supporting whaling if they were put under enough pressure . 1 eventually nippon suisan kaisha agreed to divest its ownership in the company that owned the whaling fleet . greenpeace hailed this as a victory 2 and the boycott of gorton s ended . gorton s fisherman edit the iconic slogan trust the gorton s fisherman produced in 1978 and the familiar yellow slicker and beard has made the gorton s fisherman a recognizable pop culture icon . in particular the gorton s fisherman has been featured on the late show with david letterman numerous times and as a response on jeopardy . references edit greenpeace.org greenpeace.org external links edit official retail website bluewater seafoods gorton s subsidiary in canada see food differently an august 2004 trade magazine story about gorton s unilever sells seafood business an august 2001 article gorton s on protecting their resources america s oldest seaport a short film about gorton s and gloucester whaling edit environmental investigation agency s report on gorton s link to japan s whale hunt . v t e unilever subsidiaries current alberto culver hindustan unilever maille unilever australasia unilever bangladesh unilever ghana unilever indonesia unilever nepal unilever philippines unilever pakistan former elizabeth arden inc. bifi calvin klein fragrances only faberg gorton s of gloucester mac fisheries palm line united africa company brands beverages brooke bond lipton pg tips scottish blend selecta food becel ben & jerry s bertolli except olive oil and u.s. frozen foods birds eye bovril chicken tonight colman s conimex continental cornetto country crock cup a soup findus flora gb glace golden gaytime grom hellmann s best foods hertog i can t believe it s not butter iglo imperial margarine kibon knorr mac fisheries maille marmite mattessons paddle pop peperami pot noodle pot rice rafhan rag sana selecta spry squirrel stork talenti unox vermonster heartbrand ice cream division calippo cornetto gb glace glidat strauss hb kibon kwality wall s langnese magnum ol selecta solero streets viennetta wall s hb wall s good humor breyers good humor breyers klondike choco taco popsicle dickie dee home products bio tex cif comfort closan domestos finitex lever 2000 neutral omo persil persil power & persil service brand owned by henkel probat rinso sunlight surf except for north america personal care axe lynx bed head brylcreem clear degree dove faberge helene curtis impulse lakm lifebuoy lux noxzema pears soap pepsodent pond s prince matchabelli q tips radox rexona salon selectives signal simple suave sunsilk sure timotei tresemm twink vo5 except the united states vaseline zendium predecessors lever brothers margarine unie w. h. burford & son places colworth house lever brothers factory lever house lipton institute of tea port sunlight unilever house unilever research & development port sunlight laboratory people antonius johannes jurgens william lever 1st viscount leverhulme paul polman morris tabaksblat samuel van den bergh sidney j. van den bergh simon van den bergh category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title gorton % 27s of gloucester & oldid 743566729 categories food manufacturers of the united statesfrozen food brandscompanies based in gloucester massachusettsfood and drink companies established in 18491849 establishments in massachusettshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran aissimple english edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 06 28 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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