90 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



ts\ W 



decrease in the twenty-four or twenty-five years of about 307 

 " ships and crayers." l A similar story of the decay of the fish- 

 eries came from the east-coast towns. At Lynn, which was 

 maintained chiefly by the Iceland and the herring fisheries, 

 and which twenty or thirty years before sent out about 

 thirty vessels to those fisheries, there were then only two Ice- 

 land barks, and no herring-smacks at all. It used to be able 

 to furnish 300 mariners for the king's service, while now it 

 could not supply more than twenty or thirty. And so at 

 Burnham (where the fishing -boats had decreased from 26 

 to nil), Wells, Clee, Cromer, Yarmouth, and other Norfolk 

 ports all had greatly decayed. The fisheries and the shipping 

 had fallen off, the " men of substance " had lost their money or 

 left, the population had diminished, and even the houses were 

 falling down. To a statesman like Cecil, who knew the value 

 of the mariners bred at the fishing ports for manning the navy 

 if need arose, and how a flourishing fishery multiplied shipping, 

 such information must have been disquieting. He calculated 

 that while within twenty years back there had been 150 ships 

 for Iceland, 220 for the north seas, and 78 for " Shetland " 

 (Shetland), the numbers had fallen when he wrote to 43 for 

 Iceland, 75 for the north seas, and 9 for Shetland; and that 

 the number of fishing vessels had decreased from 448 to 127. 2 

 In replying to Cecil's second question as to the cause of the 

 decay in the fisheries, the fishmongers said it was first of all 

 due to the diminished consumption of fish, since the fish-days 

 were not "duly observed as heretofore," which "took away 

 such hope of gain as in time past they have had" in carry - 



1 State Papers, Dom., Addenda, Edw. VI., iv. 56. The paper, which is endorsed 

 by Cecil, "The Answer of the Fishmongers," is undated, but that it belongs to the 

 reign of Edward VI. (1547-1553) is proved by the words, " the reign of our late 

 sovereign, Henry VIII." The return of 1528, referred to by the fishmongers, is 

 among the State Papers (Foreign and Domestic Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII. , iv. 

 pt. 2, No. 5101). It states that 149 vessels went to the Iceland fishing, mostly 

 from Yarmouth, Blakeney, Cromer, Dunwich, Walderswick, and Southwold ; the 

 herring-fishing in the North Sea employed 222, of which 110 belonged to the 

 Cinque Ports, while 69 went to Shetland, the total being 440. Shetland linga 

 were in those days greatly prized, and brought very high prices. 



2 State Papers, Dom., Addenda, Edw. VI., iv. 57. "The decaied Porte Townes 

 wtH nombers of good villages a longe by the sea cost of this realm, within these 

 twentie or thirtie years ; " undated, but belonging to the same period, with Cecil's 

 calculations written on the back. 



