THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



now proved to be unabated. As it was, a few vessels only 

 were sent, a few shipowners made handsome profits, and 

 the trade's decline was not for a moment retarded by the 

 event of 1753. The market was not entirely lost ; in 1768 

 Hamburg and Bremen were still markets for Dutch brand- 

 herring.* But the shower of gold which used to be poured 

 down upon the Dutchmen who landed the first herring was 

 now, if not transferred to, at least shared by, others. Ham- 

 burg had grown accustomed to see British vessels first in 

 the market, and even when competition was brought on a 

 square footing in 1753, Holland could not regain what was 

 lost. 



The herring fishery's general history now takes us forty 

 years back, after the above disgression relative to the 

 Hamburg affairs. 



Some renovations and ampliations of the placards 

 against exporting herring barrels, staves, nets, and fishing 

 implements in general, which were enacted in 1719 and 

 1725^ first show that even after the peace of Utrecht the 

 fishery's extension was not such as to open a sufficient 

 inland market for the industry of those who fabricated 

 fishing materials. No such renovations were required at 

 the time when Holland wanted all the barrels and nets she 

 could produce ; and if the supply now exceeded the 

 demand, the herring legislation certainly was one of the 

 causes. The trades of coopering and net-making might, in 

 virtue of the renown of Dutch barrels and nets, have 

 survived the fishery's greatness if the former's produce 

 had now been allowed to be exported. But such a 

 departure from the established rules was against the 

 legislators' views, and the prohibition once made in order to 



* Den. Koopman, i. p. 237. 



t Groot Placaetboek, v. 1580, and vi. 1433. 



