THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 99 



from 158 in 1775, to 179 in 1776. But they were now 

 fishing more for the premium than for herring, and accord- 

 ingly, when after the lapse of two years the bounty was 

 reduced to fl. 400, in order to maintain equality with the 

 amount allowed to whaling vessels, the number of busses 

 sailing decreased faster than ever, as shown by Appendix 

 A. In 1780 it came down to 151, or about as low a figure 

 as had occurred before bounties were granted. 



The war declared by England to the Republic on 

 December 2Oth of that year inflicted another heavy visita- 

 tion upon the herring trade, although at the war's outset 

 the fleet, then not yet returned from the Deepwater, 

 escaped destruction by a hairbreadth. The moment the 

 declaration of war was known at the Hague, a fast-sailing 

 sloop was sent to warn the busses ; and though closely 

 chased by British cruisers, the vessels all got safe home, 

 where their return was commemorated by a day of public 

 prayer and thanksgiving, and the coining of a medal.* 

 But there was no durable occasion to rejoice. The Re- 

 public had scarce men-of-war enough to cover her coasts ; 

 convoy was therefore out of the question, and on January 

 26th, 1781, a general sailing prohibition, improperly styled 

 "embargo," was laid on all Dutch merchant and fishing 

 vessels, and not repealed even upon the fisherman's most 

 urgent request. A negotiation which the Dutch ambas- 

 sador at Brussels was directed to open with his British 

 colleague, with a view to the parties' engaging to leave 

 each other's fishermen unmolested,! led to no result. 

 Herring was now, perhaps for the first time, actually 

 imported into the Republic from Denmark, and the Danish 

 Herring Company kept an agent at Amsterdam, who tried, 



* Ned. Jaarb. 1781, p. 250. 

 t Res. St. Gen. 1781, p. 333. 



