94 CHARLES H. 



not above seeking expert advice ; in October, 1662, being 

 about to send some vessels to the fisheries in the North 

 Isles, they wrote to the Privy Council, stating their fear 

 ''that the way of the Hollanders making and dressing of 

 these fishes" was not well understood by them, and asked 

 that they might be allowed to include a Dutchman in their 

 company who might teach them the best method of treating 

 the fish. The Lords of the Council, taking a sensible view of 

 the situation, considered the petition a reasonable one, and 

 granted it. 1 



In 1660, therefore, as in 1630, jealousy of the success 

 of the Dutch sea fisheries was the moving factor in the 

 attempt to develop the British fishing industry. Charles II., 

 like his father, was establishing fishery companies, in the 

 hope that he might thus succeed in taking away some 

 considerable part of that fishing trade from which the Dutch 

 still derived so great a portion of their national wealth. 

 Anxious to have as reliable information as possible concerning ' 

 the Dutch fisheries, he had sent Dr. Benjamin Worsley, 

 Secretary of State for the Department of Trade and Planta- 

 tions, into Holland. On his return, he announced to the 

 king that the value of the Dutch herring fishery, at the 

 lowest estimation, was three million pounds sterling per 

 year, a sum exceeding the produce of the manufacturers 

 of England or of France ; he pointed out that this valuable 

 fishery, together with her own home manufactures and her 

 East Indian trade, made Holland the richest state in Europe, 

 and deprecated the relinquishing of such a source of wealth 

 to the Dutch, since to do so was to abandon for ever the 

 supremacy of the sea. He was convinced that, owing to 

 the great sums of money which had already been lost by those 

 who had entered this fishing industry, it would be impossible 

 to raise funds to carry on the fishery, unless it was made 

 clear that it was the intention of the government to help 



1 Reg. Privy Council, Scotland, vol. i. (3rd series) p. 271. 



