240 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



of certain civil obligations. They were to be free to fish for 

 sea-fish wherever they pleased " within his Majesty's seas " and 

 dominions, and at the isles pertaining thereto, as well as in 

 the "lochs, creeks, bays and estuaries" wherever herrings or 

 sea-fish were or might be taken, except in such creeks or firths 

 as might be reserved in a proclamation of the king. On the 

 trading side of the enterprise, they were to be at liberty to 

 carry the fish to any place within the kingdom, " as well with- 

 in free burghs as without them," to salt, dry, and barrel them, 

 to erect the necessary buildings and magazines, and to dispose 

 of the fish as they thought best, within the realm, or to export 

 them either in their own vessels or in others. Other clauses 

 prohibited any person not a member of the Society from ex- 

 porting, or causing to be exported, abroad any sea-fish taken 

 within, or brought within, his Majesty's dominions. Charles 

 and his advisers aimed at no less a thing than to bring the 

 whole of the sea fisheries and fish-curing industries of the 

 country, as well as the foreign exports, under the control of 

 the Council of the Society. The whole business was then to 

 be organised and developed in such a manner that the Dutch 

 fishermen would be driven from the British seas, and the nation 

 to which they belonged deprived of the commanding position 

 which, it was believed, their fisheries had been the chief means 

 of conferring. 



But the patience and perseverance of Charles in wearing out 

 the opposition of Scotland to his scheme, and in giving it the 

 semblance of a national design, were most inadequately re- 

 warded. Like almost everything to which he put his hand, 

 the fishery association failed miserably. The Scottish burghs 

 promised to equip sixty busses for the fishing in the following 

 year, but in point of fact the Scottish people took scarcely any 

 part in the operations of the Society. The London merchants, 

 canvassed personally by Sir Thomas Roe and appealed to by 

 Pembroke, also held aloof. They gave "fair answers," but 

 kept their money. The subscriptions, or stock, came almost 

 exclusively from persons about the Court, from naval officers 

 and others desirous of preferment. The first meeting of the 

 Council was called for 24th January, but so few members 

 attended that the meeting had to be adjourned until 19th 

 February, when it took place in the Star Chamber. Oaths 





