DOMINIUM MARIS 67 



same year. The managers of the Fishing Association had 

 purchased a fishing vessel at Ostend, and in December 

 sent a shipmaster, Benjamin Bowden, with a crew of three 

 to bring it to London. On 15th December, while on their 

 way home, these men were attacked by a man of war of 

 Enckhuysen, belonging to the United Provinces ; the vessel 

 was seized as a prize, the men were made prisoners, stripped 

 of their clothes, thrown into irons, and carried to Flushing 

 where the vessel was declared to be a lawful prize, while 

 the prisoners were left in such destitution that they were 

 obliged for the very necessaries of life to the good offices 

 of an Englishman whom they met. 1 Such outrages as these 

 had naturally a great effect on the minds of those who learned 

 of them. It became increasingly difficult to get men to 

 venture their capital in an undertaking which seemed so 

 liable to serious loss, and it soon became apparent that many 

 who would have otherwise become adventurers were 

 holding back until they saw what satisfaction the king 

 was able to obtain from the representatives of the United 

 Provinces. 2 



On March 26th, the Council of the Society resolved to 

 secure the services of an able solicitor and to send him, 

 at the expense of the general funds, to the Low Countries, 

 where he was to reiterate the demands already made for 

 reparation on account of the captured vessels. 3 About the 

 same time Secretary Coke was instructed to write to demand 

 satisfaction for The Concord, seized by the Dunkirkers. 4 

 Little satisfaction, however, was to be had from either 

 Dutchmen or Dunkirkers, and thus it was not long before 

 the king realised that if his project of a national fishing 

 was to be successful, he must assert himself, not in the 

 law courts of the United Provinces, but on the fishing 

 grounds of the North Sea. 



1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 226, No. 40. 2 Ibid. vol. 232, No. 75. 

 3 Ibid. vol. 234, No. 59. 4 Ibid. vol. 232, No. 106. 



