CHAPTER VI. 



THE COMMONWEALTH; THE DUTCH WAR. CHARLES IL ; 

 THE NEW SOCIETIES FOR THE FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 



By the year 1639 it had become a recognised fact that 

 the Association for the Fishing had, in large measure, dis- 

 appointed the sanguine hopes which its royal founder had 

 indulged concerning it. The king had added to its privi- 

 leges ; he had caused Lent to be observed, had prohibited 

 the importation of fish by foreigners, and had even under- 

 taken to purchase from the company the necessary supphes 

 of stores and food for the Royal Navy ; ^ the management 

 of the affairs of the Association was not in the hands of men 

 who could make use of these pecuhar advantages, and aU 

 Charles' efforts were in vain. 



At the inception of the Society, the hopes of the adven- 

 turers had rested on the fishing in the isle of Lewis. Such 

 was the gross mismanagement, however, on the part both 

 of the Scotch and of the Enghsh employees of the company, 

 that, during the first two years of its existence, the Society 

 lost aU the money spent in the Lewis. ^ The adventurers 

 of the Society, unfortunately, did not take to heart the 

 lessons of these two years of failure ; they seem to have 

 been at no pains to ensure that those at the head of practical 

 affairs should be skilful either in fishing or in curing the 



1 Simon Smith, A True Narrative of the Royal Fishings of Great Britaine 

 and Ireland. 



-Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 444, No. 68. 



