DOmNIUM MARIS 75 



some fifteen men-of-war. The Dutch vessels had, as 

 Northumberland expressed it, shown some unwillingness 

 to come near the Enghsh fleet, and this " found them enter- 

 tainment for eight days together in following them, but now 

 very few of them are unprovided with His Majesty's 

 License." ^ Northumberland's voyage had lasted from loth 

 May to 9th October ; his journal during this time shows 

 him to have collected £999 of convoy money, and 

 £501 15s. 2d. of " acknowledgment money from the Dutch 

 fishermen." ^ 



In spite of Northumberland's success, it had not been the 

 intention of the Dutch authorities to submit, without 

 resistance, to aU these demands of Charles. In August, 

 1636, they sent a fleet of fifty-seven warships under Admiral 

 Van Dorp, to the North Sea, with the significant orders to 

 protect the fishing fieet " against the Spaniards and all 

 others inclined to molest them." Van Dorp, upon his 

 arrival at the fishing grounds, found that he had been 

 forestalled by the British Admiral, Northumberland, who 

 declared that he likewise had been sent by his government 

 to protect the fishermen. Unfortunately for Van Dorp, 

 the Dutch fishermen had submitted to the demands of the 

 British Admiral for pajTnent of the stipulated price for 

 protection ; they had without question accepted the 

 hcenses and paid the duty. Northumberland's sailing orders 

 directed him to fight if any obstructed him. Van Dorp, 

 who had no such definite orders, hesitated as to his course 

 of action, and finally sailed away. Upon returning to 

 Holland in the foUoTving year, he was so severely censured 

 by his government for his failure to sufficiently protect 

 the fishermen from the exactions of the Enghsh, that he 

 retired from the navy. The Enghsh people, however, 

 claimed that a precedent had now been estabhshed, and 



1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 333, No. 26. 

 - Ibid. vol. 343, No. 72. 



