176 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



subjects of other princes, and "that they ought not to have 

 fished in the said waters without some license and oversight." 

 A proclamation was thereupon issued by the king and Council 

 forbidding Scottish fishermen " to fish within sight of the land 

 of the Isle of Faeroe, but to reserve the [fishings there l ] to the 

 inhabitants of the said Isle, and to other " subjects of the King 

 of Denmark, " conform to the law of nations," under a penalty 

 of confiscation of the ships, vessels, and goods of the persons 

 offending. At the same time the Council wrote to the king 

 acquainting him with the oppressions committed by the Hol- 

 landers on the Scottish fishermen, and suggesting that his am- 

 bassador at The Hague should demand reparation and " instant 

 prohibition " by the States to their people, " that they fish not 

 within sight of his Majesty's land, but reserve these bounds to 

 his Majesty's own subjects, conform to the law of nations." 2 



Sir Dudley Carleton accordingly made a strong represent- 

 ation to the States - General on the subject in April. They 

 asked for particulars as to the persons who were alleged to 

 have been ill-treated in Scotland, and the nature of the wrongs 

 done to them ; while with respect to the limit proposed to be 

 set them in their fishery namely, not to come within sight of 

 land they said they had never heard of any such custom, 

 and did not understand how it could be put into practice. 3 

 On reporting this home, Carleton was told by the king to 

 raise the question of the fishing again before he came away, 

 and he explained to him that the custom of the land-kenning 

 was that no stranger should fish either within the creeks of 

 the land or within a kenning of the land, " as seamen do take 

 a kenning." He asked Carleton to ascertain whether the 

 Dutch claimed to fish wherever they liked, or were willing 

 to accept reasonable bounds, adding that the resolution that 

 might be taken on the subject would depend largely on this. 4 



1 Record imperfect. 2 Reg. Privy Counc. Scot., xi. 328, 330. 



3 Carleton, Letters, 259. 



4 King James to Sir D. Carleton, 4th May 1618. "For the other part, 

 which is ye ancient custom alleadged by O r Subjects that they (the Dutch) 

 should not fish within Kenning of Land, of which they make shew to be 

 ignorant, and would understand what is meant by it : you may say that 

 O r Subjects do conceave that Custom to be that no strangers should fish either 

 within the Creeks of O r Land or within a Kenning of the Land as Seamen do take 

 a kenning, and insisting upon this interpretation of O r Subjects' meaning, you 

 shall observe curiously their reply, and what scope and liberty they do limit to 



