THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 561 



but their control was not now more efficient than it was in 

 former centuries, when we have seen foreign dealers fre- 

 quently complain of bad herring being sold under Dutch 

 prime brands. 



Such were the principal reasons which in the first ten 

 years after the legislative reform counteracted actual im- 

 provement, the progress of which shall now be described. 



Cotton nets had been first used in bum-boats, as said 

 above, about 1857, and were in a keeled vessel in 1861. 

 In 1865 about one-third of the fleet had some cotton nets 

 on board, but not a vessel could use many of them ; for on 

 account of their lightness they did not sufficiently steady 

 the clumsy "hookers" while lying before the fleet. The 

 virtue which increased the catching power of the nets 

 was a defect as regards navigation ; and whenever 

 a fleet chiefly composed of cotton nets was tried, the 

 vessel was apt, as soon as part of the nets was got on 

 board, in rough weather to drift across the rest The 

 evil might have been stopped by enlarging the fleets ; 

 but there is, of course, a limit to the surface of net that can 

 be managed in one ship of a given size. Experience soon 

 showed that light vessels were required to get the full avail 

 out of cotton fleets ; and this seems to have been the reason 

 why they were at first principally used in bumboats, two 

 of which, belonging to Mr. Maas, tried the Shetland seas in 

 1862, being the first Dutch flat-bottomed vessels ever seen 

 in those waters. But if bum-boats were light, they on the 

 other hand afforded too little stowage for an abundant 

 catch. The point to be gained was to have a vessel at 

 once light enough to manage a cotton fleet in all weathers, 

 and capacious enough to carry as much herring as could be 

 caught in such a fleet. 



Mr, Maas, now as formerly ahead in fishery innovation, 

 vol. IX. E. 8. 20 



