182 



THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



whalers in 1612 got within nine degrees of the North Pole, 

 sighting 700 whales and bringing back 17, 1 became jealous 

 of competitors. In 1613 they procured from King James 

 a charter by which they were entitled to exclude all others, 

 foreigners as well as subjects, from sailing to Spitzbergen; 

 and in that year they dispatched thither a fleet of seven 

 armed vessels to defend their rights by force as well as 



Fig. 8. Dutch Whalers at Spitzbergen. After Van der Meulen. 



to catch whales. 2 In the seas at Spitzbergen they found 

 a number of other whalers from Spain and France, as well 

 as two Dutch ships which had returned to the fishery. The 

 English vessels immediately attacked them, and drove most 



1 Earl of Northampton to King James, August 2, 1612. State Papers, Dom., 

 Ixx. 23. 



2 Chamberlain to Carleton, 27th October 1613. Ibid., Ixxiv. 89. M'Pherson, 

 Annals, ii. 273. 



