48 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



\ 



afford was insufficient The plan of self-help, which had 

 been pressed upon the fisheries by Charles the Fifth's 

 lieutenants, was now once more adopted ; and by a States 

 of Holland placard, dated May I4th, 1596,* busses were 

 forbidden to sail unless either under convoy or "in admiral- 

 ship " i.e., in squadron of twenty at the least. In the latter 

 case each of the vessels was to carry a certain quantity of 

 artillery and ammunition, and the whole squadron to be com- 

 manded by an " Admiral " appointed by the captains out 

 of their number. This expedient was especially recom- 

 mended by the promise of a gratification to the fishing 

 commander who should capture or sink a vessel of the 

 enemy's. It does not appear that the premium was much 

 contended for, as the paying of ransom, or safeguard - 

 money, was at the time resorted to by numerous fishermen,! 

 until the passports delivered were denounced by the enemy 

 in 1599-t A special committee of ship-owners and Govern- 

 ment officials had meanwhile been appointed to draw a 

 plan for the fisheries' perpetual preservation ; but there is 

 no result of their deliberations on record, and in the end, 

 as the prevailing financial distress made it impossible to 

 provide sufficient convoy by Government men-of-war, the 

 States granted an extraordinary subsidy of fl. 20,000 to the 

 fisheries' commissioners in i6oo,|| out of which they were to 

 find their own convoy. The grant was repeated for a long 

 series of years, when fishermen accordingly sailed under 

 cover of convoyers equipped at their own expense. These 

 vessels, afterwards called " Direction-ships," (Directie- 



* Groot Plac. Boek, i. 711. 



f Res. Holland 1598, pp. 135, 193. 



J Ibid. 1599, pp. 27, 623. 



Ibid. 1598, pp. 128, 193. 



jj Ibid. 1600, p. 7i. 



