304 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



another source of livelihood than such sea fishing as may 

 be carried on in vessels having no keel, and liable to be 

 put ashore on the beach at every tide. 



Sea fishing has accordingly been mentioned as a means 

 of existence of the inhabitants of these countries by the 

 very earliest writers. The early history of the Dutch sea 

 fisheries is, however, fragmentary for lack of documents. 

 Some writers mention herring to have been first caught 

 and eaten by the Dutch in the year 1163.* But this 

 statement can scarcely be exact, for it is likewise stated 

 that fishermen from Kampen and Harderwijk, being two 

 small seaports on the Zuider Zee, used to fish for herring 

 "off Sconen," i.e. on the shores of the Baltic, before the 

 end of the twelfth century, f and the trade must have been 

 carried on for a considerable time before so far developing 

 itself as to be exercised at such a distance from home. 

 The first document on record relative to Dutch trade on 

 the Baltic shore is a privilege granted to the men of 

 Amsterdam by the Lords of the Germanic Order of Livonia 

 in 1277, and confirmed by the Bishop of Livonia in 1495.$ 



This privilege, indeed, does not especially mention the 

 right of fishing ; it contains simply a general promise of 

 protection to merchants from Amsterdam in the Livonian 

 dominions. But it has probably, judging by the unre- 

 stricted terms in which it is drawn up, been of avail to 

 fishermen as well as to traders, inasmuch as a similar 

 privilege granted to the men of Amsterdam, Enkhuizen 

 and Wieringen by King Albert of Sweden, in I368, 



* Semeyns' Corte beschrijoinghe over de Haringvisscherije in 

 Hollandt, p. i. The same date is mentioned by a writer in the 

 periodical called Den Koopman, vol. i. p. 349. 



f Boxhorn, Tooneel van Hollandt, p. 234. 



\ Luzac, Hollands Rijkdom, vol. i. Appendix B. 



Ibid. Appendix C. 



