74 CHARLES I. 



Sending in his report on August 16th, 1636, from his 

 flagship, The Triumph, then lying before Scarborough, 

 Northumberland reported that he had not seen so many 

 Dutch vessels as had been expected. He had, in fact, 

 arrived at the fishing grounds so late in the season that 

 the greater number of the Dutch had left for home. He 

 had, however, found all the Dutch with whom he spoke 

 very willing to pay the required tax and accept the license, 

 being " most desirous of the King's protection," and had 

 distributed about 200 licenses. Only two or three Dutch- 

 men-of-war were with their fishing fleet, and these were 

 small vessels meant as a protection against attacks from 

 the Dunkirkers. 1 



In Scottish waters, the Duke of Lennox 2 was to levy the 

 duties from foreigners, the king having written to him on 

 17th August, 1636, that this would be part of his duty 

 as High Admiral of Scotland, since strangers coming into 

 ports had always paid " one acknowledgement to our 

 Admiral there." The Council in Scotland, however, seem 

 to have found the levying of the tax a difficult task ; nearly 

 a year afterwards, on 20th June, 1637, they were still con- 

 sidering " of the best and most faisable way to uplift the 

 said dewtie." 3 



Northumberland himself was finding it a more difficult 

 task to collect the duty and to distribute the licenses than he 

 had found it at first. His next reports, dated September 

 16th and October 6th, stated that he had fallen in with 

 a Dutch fishing fleet of about 400 vessels, accompanied by 



1 Col. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 330, No. 41. 



2 The Duke of Lennox was also one of the Council for the Fishing. In 

 1636 the Council included : For the English : the Lord Treasurer, the 

 Earl Marshal, the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, Lord Cottington, 

 and Secretaries Coke and Windebank ; for the Scots : the Duke of Lennox, 

 the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earl Morton, the Earls of Roxburgh and 

 Stirling, and Sir John Hay. 



3 Beg. Privy Council, Scotland, vol. vi. (2nd series) p. 457. 



