86 THE COMMONWEALTH 



busses by both English and Dutch war vessels. The Enghsh 

 fishing fleet had to run the gauntlet not only from Dutch 

 war vessels but also from Dunkirk and Ostend privateers 

 and sea rovers ; in addition it was frequently attacked by 

 that portion of the English fleet -which still remained loyal 

 to the king and now sailed under command of Prince Rupert. ^ 

 To meet these dangers, it had been customary, in the years 

 immediately preceding the actual declaration of war, to 

 detail a number of warships to convoy the fishing fleet with 

 orders to preserve " the ancient and indubitable dominion 

 of the sea." ^ 



In 1653 the Dutch owners, seeing the impossibility of 

 securing their vessels from the attacks of the English fleet, 

 kept their fishing fleet, which still consisted of some 2000 

 vessels, at home.^ The war did no less damage to the 

 Enghsh fishing industry, such towns as Yarmouth, which 

 depended almost entirely on the fishing industry, being 

 almost ruined. In desperation, the inhabitants of Yarmouth 

 in December, 1652, made complaint to General Monk, 

 stating that they had already lost £200,000, " to the utter 

 undoing of many families," and that, if the war continued, 

 the town would be inevitably ruined, since fishing was 

 practically at a standstill. " Not three boats are now 

 preparing to go forth fishing," they declared, " where 150 

 sail used to be making ready at this season." * 



The struggle, however, was too grim, the opposing sides 

 too keenly ahve to the issues at stake, for the hearing of 

 complaints from injured individual communities. The con- 

 flict went on with unabated vigour in the North Sea, while 

 the Enghsh government also made preparations to meet the 

 Dutch in the Hebrides and in the Orkney and Shetland 



1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Commonwealth, 1649-50, pp. 128, 138, 165, 200, 201, 

 205, 263, 264, 285, 297. 



- Cal. S.P. Dom. Commonwealth, 1649-50, pp. 484-5. 



■' Eeaujon's Essay, pp. 67-68. 



■* Cal. S.P. Dom. Commonwealth, vol. 32, No. 15. 



