THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 405 



seaward, and fastened by ropes to large whale's ribs set up 

 on shore as mooring stocks.* From this station the fishing 

 business was done at ease, without unmooring the vessels, 

 by boats cruising in the bay, which was uncommonly full of 

 fish. The ships were manned double, one half of the crews 

 being constantly employed in killing whales and towing 

 them ashore, and the other in cutting the blubber, preparing 

 the train oil, and rolling the full barrels into the water, 

 whence they were floated to the ships and hauled on board. 

 A fleet of merchant vessels from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, 

 Hoorn and other ports was constantly to be found along- 

 shore, the vessels from each town lying close to their own 

 blubber-boiling establishments to ship cargo ; and a vast 

 stock of blubber, oil, whalebone and whaling implements 

 was constantly to be found in the Smeerenburg warehouses, 

 to which dealers in all the commodities of life had begun 

 to repair, making existence in the Arctic Sea a tolerably 

 comfortable one. Rolls, hot from the baker's, were even to 

 be had every morning in the height of the whaling season. 



The company's halcyon days did not, however, last 

 many years. In 1633, the expiration of their charter 

 being again at hand, they, in spite of their monopoly, com- 

 plained of ill-usage by foreign competitors and the back- 

 ward state of the business, and further protectory measures 

 were taken in their behalf. It had been shown to the 

 States that, " By the act of certain unquiet persons, envious 

 of the welfare of these United Countries," sailors were 

 frequently tempted forth from the company's service, and got 

 to exercise their abilities abroad. Wherefore in the true 

 spirit of the times, when Governments were always ready 



* Such posts have been brought home as curiosities, and may still 

 be seen here and there in the Dutch pasture grounds, where they are 

 used as scratching poles for cattle. 



