THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 77 



a conclusion may be drawn from v. d. Lely's * Recueil,' in 

 which (p. 45) it is recorded that from 1679 to 1689 the 

 deficits on the Herring College's accounts were replaced by 

 surpluses. The subsidies granted to them by the States 

 in these years uniformly amounted to 30,000 florins ; and 

 as their income besides these subsidies was mainly derived 

 from last-money, the revenue from which was proportioned 

 to the quantities of herring caught, the condition of the 

 College's treasury must in some measure have reflected the 

 trade's prosperity and adversity. Deficits on the books 

 accordingly recommenced in 1690, a short time after the 

 beginning of the war against France. This war was indeed 

 chiefly carried on ashore and in the Mediterranean ; but 

 for Dutch fishermen war against France meant destruction 

 by Dunkirk privateers. To keep these at bay was ac- 

 cordingly one of the principal aims of the English and 

 Dutch fleets in the course of the war ; but the impossibility 

 of sheltering the fisheries from them was once more proved, 

 though liberal grants of convoying ships were made to the 

 Fishery College by the States of Holland. These, as of 

 old, proved insufficient against the omnipresent Dunkirkers, 

 and a prohibition to sail was therefore once more resorted 

 to in 1691. Having been promulgated in the first days of 

 the year, the prohibition was indeed withdrawn, at the 

 College's request, on June 23rd, being the day before the 

 opening of the herring season ; * but on November 6th, 

 before the season's end, the fishery was again prohibited 

 and only permitted in the next years on condition of the 

 busses' steersmen delivering one-fifth of their crews to the 

 Admiralty Boards under which they resorted, to be 

 employed on the Republic's squadrons. Holland at the 

 same time interdicted the ransoming of busses captured by 

 * Res. Holl. 1691, p. 347. Gr. Plac. Boek. iv. 235, 237. 



