1617.] SUCCESSFUL FISHING. 31 



by's prior discovery of Spitzbergeii. An uncom- 

 mon quantity of ice, with foggy weather, so pes- 

 tered the fishers this season, that the English got 

 entangled, and lay fourteen days beset. They re- 

 turned home, as before, half laden ; while the 

 Dutch made a successful fishery *. 



Captain Edge, in the Russia Company's service, 

 had eight ships and two pinnaces under his com- 

 mand, in 161 6. " This year," says Edge, in his 

 account of the English and Dutch Discoveries 

 to the North f, " it pleased God to bless their la- 

 *' hours, and they filled all their ships, and leji a 

 *' surplus behifid, which they could not take in." 

 They had 1200 or 1300 tons of oil by the 14th of 

 August ; and all the ships arrived in tlie Thames 

 in September in safety. The Dutch had four ships 

 in the country, which kept together in obscure 

 places, and made an indifferent fishing. 



Fourteen sail of ships, and two pinnaces, were 

 equipped for the fishery, by the Russia Company, 

 in the year following. They killed 150 whales; 

 from whence they extracted 1800 or 1900 tons of 

 oil, besides some blubber left behind, for want of 

 casks ; and all their ships returned without acci- 

 dent +. 



* Purchas, vol. iii. p. 467. ; and Anderson's Commerce, a. u. 

 I6l5. 



t Idem. 



X Idem. 



