JAMES I; MARE LIBERUM 15 



the last, 1 they must make much more than the sum of one 

 million of pounds sterling yearly : "A most worthy sight 

 it were, if they were my own countrymen, yet have I taken 

 pleasure in being amongst them, to behold the neatness of 

 their ships and fishermen, how every man knoweth his own 

 place, and all labouring merrily together, whereby the 

 poorest sort of themselves, their wives and children, are 

 well maintained, and no want seen amongst them." 



He remarks upon their commencing the fishing at the 

 Isle of Shetland, " which is his Majesty's Dominion," and 

 says that as many as forty ships of war have been seen with 

 the fishing fleet to guard them from their enemies, and 

 particularly from the privateers from Dunkirk, the terror 

 of the North Sea at this time. 2 



Arrived at Shetland, the vessels put into " Bracy's Sound," 

 where the fishermen made holiday until the legal date in 

 June for the commencing of the fishing : " There they frolic 

 it on land, until that they have sucked out all the marrow 

 of the malt and good Scotch ale, which is the best liquor 

 that the island doth afford." 



The fishing once started, the Hollanders continued to 

 follow the shoals of herring as far as Yarmouth, the herring 

 fleet being attended by " Herring-yagers," which brought 



1 Herrings are measured in Scotland by the cran. A cran contains 

 36 gallons and holds from about 800 to 1000 herrings. A barrel of full 

 herrings contains 700 to 750 fish. 



In Ireland and the Isle of Man, herrings are measured by the mease, 

 which contains 525 fish. 



In England, herrings are usually sold by the last, each last nominally 

 containing 10,000, but in reality 13,200 fish. 



The Last, a German word, is computed in this way : 



4 herrings - - 1 warp. 

 33 warps 1 hundred. 



10 hundreds - - 1 thousand. 



Keymore's Observations. 



2 Dutch records of the early seventeenth century are full of accounts 

 of regular naval battles between the convoying vessels of the Dutch fleet 

 and the privateers. Beaujon's Essay, p. 59. 



