578 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



is now quite extinct. Cod-fishery off Iceland, the former 

 extent of which has been spoken of in the course of the 

 present work, has shared the same fate. The last voyages 

 North with the cod-lines were made a few years after 1857, 

 and all attempts to revive the business have since been in 

 vain. 



Before closing this account of Dutch sea-fisheries I have 

 to mention a subject in which some of the men employed 

 in them are viewed in a light not altogether favourable, to 

 wit, the conduct of Dutch fishing crews towards their 

 patrons and towards their foreign colleagues. The subject 

 were perhaps best avoided ; but, as it has occasioned legis- 

 lative measures, the present work would be incomplete 

 without a brief statement of its bearings. 



It is a painful fact that ever since Dutch sea-fishery has 

 begun to increase fast, the great demand for able hands 

 has caused fishing sailors not only to raise their pretensions 

 as to wages, which is but natural, but also in many cases 

 to adopt a most unjustifiable behaviour towards their 

 employers. As trained fishermen became scarce, Dutch- 

 men and foreigners, ill-acquainted with the business, have 

 had to be intrusted with vessels and nets, and, what is 

 worse, with the cure of herring ; and many native able 

 fishermen, finding the demand for their trained labour to 

 acquire the proportions of sharp competition between 

 employers, have resorted to the baleful habit of desertion, 

 i.e., breaking contracts of service whenever they were 

 tempted from them by higher bidders, or had earned 

 enough to indulge in idleness for a time. Wages in Dutch 

 sea-fisheries uniformly take the shape of a share in the 

 raw returns, generally averaging about one-third ; and the 



