132 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



3,600,000 sterling. But the merchants who exported the 

 pickled herrings and by far the greater quantity were ex- 

 ported l are said to have charged from 16 to 36 a last, the 

 eventual value as merchandise being estimated at not less than 

 5,000,000 sterling. In his later treatise the value of the 

 herrings exported by the Dutch is placed lower, at about 

 1,768,000, the quantity being stated at from about 89,500 

 to 100,500 lasts, or from 1,074,000 to 1,206,000 barrels. Gentle- 

 man, whose work seems to have been the most trustworthy, 

 estimated the quantity of herrings taken by the Dutch in the 

 British seas at over 100,000 lasts or 1,200,000 barrels, the orig- 

 inal value at 1,000,000 sterling and the gross value at twice 

 that amount ; " while we," he says, " take no more than to bait 

 our hooks." Gentleman's estimate of the quantity may be taken 

 as approximately correct, because in the present day the least 

 effective of the vessels taking part in the Dutch herring fishery 

 namely, the old-fashioned flat-bottomed boats (bommeri) catch 

 and cure on an average in a season about 660 barrels each, so that 

 the quantity taken by a fleet of 2000 of such vessels would be 

 about 1,320,000 barrels. But the old busses were of a superior 

 type, keeled vessels (hoekers, sloepen), and the average catch of 

 their modern representatives in a season is about 1060 barrels, 

 which for a fleet of the same number would give a total yield 

 of about 2,120,000 barrels, or over 176,000 lasts. Monson 

 placed the value of the herrings exported from Holland to the 

 Baltic at 800,000, and of those sent to other countries at 

 1,000,000, 2 while Sir Nicholas Hales in 1609 estimated the 

 value of the exported herrings at 4,000,000, but raised it 

 later, in 1634, to 6,000,000, owing to information received 

 from Amsterdam. 3 Sir John Borough's estimate was still higher. 

 He said that if account was taken of all the herrings, cod, 

 ling, and other fish caught in the British seas by foreigners, 

 the gross value would exceed 10,000,000 a year. 



The larger figures above cited are unquestionably exagger- 



1 To Pomerania, Poland, " Spruceland," Denmark, Liefland, Russia, Sweden, 

 Germany, Brabant, Flanders, France, "Lukelaiid," England, Greece, Egypt, 

 Venice, Leghorn, and all over the Mediterranean, and even as far as Brazil. 



2 State Papers, Dom., xlvii. 112. 



3 To the King's most excellent Majesty : A Declaration of the fishing of Her- 

 ring, Cod, and Ling, and how much the favour or disfavour of Your Royal Majesty 

 concerneth the Hollanders. Ibid., xxxii. 30 ; cclxxix. 67. 



