THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 33' 



PART II. 



SEA FISHERIES UNDER THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 



THE history of the Republic of the United Netherlands 

 embraces the period of Holland's utmost political greatness. 

 It is likewise in this period that the Dutch sea fisheries 

 reached their culminating point, at which they exceeded 

 those of most foreign nations ; while in the latter days of 

 the Republic the nation's glory and the trade's prosperity 

 were both swept away by the effect of one common cause. 



In accordance with the tremendous development of the 

 fisheries, and of the herring trade especially, during the 

 first century of the Republic's existence, both literature 

 and legislation relative to them are plentiful in the course 

 of this period, and a better idea of the trade's importance 

 may be formed than before, when laws, indeed, were fre- 

 quently made, but facts on record are few. These several 

 circumstances make the republican period a peculiarly 

 interesting part of the fisheries' history. 



It is not till this period that some knowledge can be ob- 

 tained of the different branches of fishery, one of which (the 

 whaling trade) did not exist before, while as to another 

 (the cod business) only a few indications exist during 

 former centuries. The several branches of the fishing 

 business have throughout the Republic been separate con- 

 cerns, or nearly so. They were carried on under circum- 

 stances so different, that laws held necessary for one were 

 never thought of for others. It is therefore advisable to 

 divide this part of their history into several chapters, rela- 

 tive to, i, the "grand " or cure-herring fishery ; 2, whaling ; 



