28 CHARLES I. 



viously, therefore, the answer simply amounted to the 

 statement that the Dutch, determined to make their fisheries 

 a success, had provided harbours and all other things 

 necessary so that the industry might be carried out on a 

 large scale, while the Scotch, although consumed with 

 jealousy, were still pursuing the primitive fishing methods 

 of their forefathers. 



As at the beginning of the century, the great herring 

 fishery was confined to the North Sea, commencing " at 

 the north pairt of Zetland and Orknay, Murray Firth, 

 Buquhanes, Aberdeen, Montros, and so alongst the coast 

 to St. Tabhead, and so to the coast of England." l Being 

 chiefly in the hands of the Dutch, and regulated by the 

 rules of the Dutch Fishery College, the fishing here began 

 on the 24th of June and continued till the end of September. 



Coke puts it that the first fishing, to the middle of August, 

 was engaged in exclusively by the Hollanders, along with 

 some 40 sail of Frenchmen.- The Scotch contemporary 

 account, however, while admitting this to be the fishing 

 " qch is used by the fflemings," states " there is also imployed 

 about 6 score vessels betwixt 3 and 4 Tuns apiece of the 

 burrowes of Scotland 3 a statement much more in accordance 

 with the tale of continual conflict between the Dutch and 

 the native fishermen, whose chief cry it was that owing to 

 their small numbers, they could not possibly adopt the 

 violent tactics of their rivals in dealing with them. 



Scotch herring boats were also engaged at Dunbar and 

 upon the coast of Fife during August and September, 

 and in the Firth of Forth during November. Another 

 fishing took place in the "North Isles," from the 1st of October 

 to the 25th of December. From the 1st of April to the 24th 

 of June, the fishers upon the east coast of Scotland were 



1 MSS. 32.1.16, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. 



2 " Propositions for Fishing," Col. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 229, No. 78. 



3 MSS. 32.1.16, Advocates' Library. 



