UNDER THE TUDORS 97 



men, and twelve "strong lustie beggers or poore men taken 

 upp through the land." l The scheme proposed that the busses 

 should first fish for herrings on the coast of England and 

 Ireland during the fourteen or fifteen weeks this fishing lasted, 

 the herrings being cured and branded after the " Flemish " 

 fashion. The busses were also to visit Newfoundland for 

 cod and ling ; or some were to go to Iceland, " Wardhouse," 2 

 the north seas of England and Scotland, or to Ireland. It 

 was intended to employ some of them in winter in exporting 

 the surplus of cured fish to France, " or elsewhere." As for the 

 all-important question of earnings, it was calculated that each 

 buss would catch at least 50 lasts, or 600 barrels, of herrings, 

 worth 10 a last; altogether 200,000 from this item, 3 and 

 if two voyages were made, the amount would be doubled. 

 It was supposed that each buss would bring back from New- 

 foundland 20,000 of the best "wet" fish and 10,000 dried- 

 together worth 500 ; the same value was placed upon the 

 15,000 cod and 10,000 ling to be procured at Iceland, Ward- 

 house, or the north seas ; and besides the fish, each ship 

 was estimated to return with 50-60 worth of cod-liver oil. 

 Then with regard to the "vent" or sale of the fish, it was 

 assumed that about half of the herrings, or 120,000 barrels, 

 would be required for home consumption not an exaggerated 

 idea, for from other accounts it appears that London and the 

 parts around it consumed about this time 60,000 barrels. 

 Markets for the surplus herrings, it was believed, would be 

 found at Normandy, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Rochelle. The 

 profits were to be divided into shares, and besides paying 

 off the borrowed capital and the interest (at 10 per cent), 

 a stock of 8000 was to be formed at the eight chief ports, 



1 In the early MS. copy presented to the Queen the 400 vessels were to be from 

 100 to 200 tons, costing 400 each, and the crew was to consist of a master, nine 

 mariners, and thirty " rogues and lustie vagabonds " obtained in the same forcible 

 way. 



- This place, frequently mentioned in old works and papers referring to the 

 fisheries, was Vardo, or Vardiihuus, at the mouth of the Varanger fjord, Finmarken, 

 on the north-east coast of Norway, or, as it was often described, Lapland. The 

 king of Denmark had a castle on the island, and dues had to be paid for liberty to 

 fish. A number of Kn.^lish vessels went there in spring, returning towards the end 

 of summer. 



3 In France at this time, according to other records, Flemish herrings brought 

 25 per last; Yarmouth, 10; Irish, 18; "coast" herrings and Scotch, 11. 



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