FISHINGS OFF THE COAST OF BRITAIN 25 



precipitation in Charles' reign of that Dutch War in which 

 the sailors of the Commonwealth gained such glory. 



Charles was not slow to recognise that to succeed in this 

 great enterprise of driving the Dutch from their position 

 in the North Sea, he must have behind him a people roused 

 to the position of affairs and at one with him in his endea- 

 vour. It became his object, therefore, to educate public 

 opinion with regard to the extent and wealth of the Dutch 

 fisheries compared with the poverty of those conducted by 

 the British. In this purpose Charles was assisted by various 

 writers, who described, more or less accurately, the manner 

 in which the fishing round the British coasts was conducted, 

 and all of whom were at one in showing the vigour and 

 industry of the Dutch as opposed to the inertia of the 

 British fishermen who were so jealous of them. The insti- 

 tution of these comparisons between the British and Dutch 

 fishing fleets, while humiliating in the extreme to British 

 national pride, had, as was to be expected, a salutary effect 

 in rousing the nation to action. One of the fullest 

 of these comparisons was that of Secretary Coke, who, in 

 a treatise entitled Propositions for Fishing, detailed the 

 various fishings carried on both by English and by Dutch 

 off the coasts of Iceland, on the west coast of Scotland, and 

 in the Narrow Seas. 1 



" Iceland itself," writes Secretary Coke, "is a great terri- 

 tory, and unknown whether it be a main continent with 

 Newfoundland or as Mariners say it is, one continent." To 

 this fishing the Dutch did not go. The English fishermen 

 who went were chiefly men from Norfolk and Suffolk, with 

 some few from Newcastle and other places. For the privi- 

 lege of fishing they paid no duty to the King of Denmark. 

 They fished, chiefly for ling and cod, until " about Bartho- 

 lomew tide " (August 24th). The town of Yarmouth sent 

 annually about fifty ships to this fishing, while other towns 



1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 229, No. 79 and No. 82. 



