UNDER THE STUARTS : JAMES I. : A NEW POLICY 137 



possessed were made the most of. The fishing-grounds were 

 at our doors, while the Dutch had to sail long distances. We 

 had numerous harbours and sheltered beaches for the winter- 

 ing of the busses. We had all the materials for building and 

 equipping the busses except pitch and tar, whereas the Dutch 

 had to import everything save hemp ; and abundance of men 

 to man the vessels could be got from the "decayed towns." 

 It was on the other hand admitted that we laboured under 

 one disadvantage. The Dutch fishermen were more frugal, 

 more industrious and painstaking, than the English. They 

 were content with plain fare with bread and butter, cheese 

 a little pork, and fish, while the English required beef and 

 beer, and much of both. 1 And while the Dutch worked hard, 

 " labouring merrily together," the English fishermen " sat day 

 and night drinking in the ale-houses." 2 



But any scheme for establishing a great national fishery 

 had little chance of financial support from the public unless 

 it could be shown to be profitable, and there was no lack 

 of calculations and computations to prove the great profits 

 that might be made. Gentleman estimated that the clear 

 gain from one buss, allowing for wear and tear, would amount 

 to 565 in four months, and from a pink for cod -fishing to 

 158 in two months. The author of Britaines Buss calculated 

 that the yearly profit from one herring -fishing and one cod- 

 fishing of a single buss would amount to 897, after all ex- 

 penses had been paid. This writer proposed that a corporation 

 should be formed, consisting of noblemen, gentry, and citizens 

 "of ability," each of whom should provide one buss; that 

 the corporation should receive from the king certain powers, 



1 In one of the most elaborate and detailed of the proposals for the building of 

 busses, the daily allowance of beer for each man was to be a gallon, as in the king's 

 ships : the buss was to go to sea with 56 herring barrels full of beer. E. S. 

 Britaines Bvsse, or a Computation as well of the Charge of a Bvsse or Herring fishing 

 ship as also of the Gain and Profit thereby. London, 1615. 



- Keymer, Observations on Dutch Fishing. The industrious Hollander was held 

 up as an example to the English. " If any be so weak," said one writer, " to think 

 this mechanical fisher trade not feasible to the English people, to him I may say 

 with Solomon, Go to the Pismire ! Look upon the Dutch ! Thou Sluggard ! learn 

 of them ! They do it daily in the sight of all men at our own doors, upon our own 

 coasts." "Shall we," said another, "neglect so great blessings? slothful Eng- 

 land, and careless Countrymen ! Look but on these fellows, that we call the plump 

 Hollanders ; behold their diligence in fishing and our own careless negligence." 



