THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 79 



from the obligation to send one-fifth of the crews to serve 

 under the Republic's colours,* to which all other branches 

 of fishery were indiscriminately subjected. In the course 

 of the war, frequent deliberations on convoy by men-of-war 

 to be granted to the fisheries, at their urgent and repeated 

 request, again form the main part of the States' records 

 concerning them. An idea of the convoyers' efficiency may 

 be formed from an account of an engagement between four 

 of them and four heavy French men-of-war, in which, on 

 June 26th, 1703, the Dutch convoyers were either sunk or 

 taken, and part of the herring fleet burnt by the French in 

 the Shetland seas.f A fresh renovation in 1707 of the 

 existing laws against exporting herring barrels or nets,J and 

 a "warning," proclaimed in August, 1708, against herring 

 fishers taking passports from the enemy " whereby the foe 

 is much strengthened and our other subjects are exposed 

 to serious prejudice," are further sinister testimonies to 

 the Grand Fishery's sufferings by this war, which were only 

 terminated by the peace of Utrecht in April, 1713. 



An era of peace now dawned upon the Republic. But 

 her herring fishery was broken down by the series of wars 

 and disasters, of which the last pages contain a very rapid 

 account. It is in the nature of sea fishery as a trade to 

 require an uninterrupted rotation of capital ; for, besides 

 the stock sunk in ships being subject to deterioration, the 

 considerable floating capital annually expended in equip- 

 ment cannot of course lie idle, and must be withdrawn from 

 the trade if an interruption of any length occurs. To keep 

 a fishing vessel idle for a season is to incur a clear loss ; 



* Groot Placaetboek, v. p. 377. 



f Europische Mercurius, 1703, ii. p. 107. 



\ Groot Placaetboek) v. 1566. 



Ibid. v. 1573. 



