122 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



some parts of the coast to the contour, it is due on other parts 

 to a selection of headlands, no doubt according to the custom 

 which had grown up and was recognised among the officers and 

 others concerned. Thus the great bay between Cornwall and 

 Devon would have formed a natural " chamber " by a line, not 

 so long as some of the others, between Start Point, or Prawl 

 Point, and the Lizard, and which would have formed part of 

 the girdle around the coast ; whereas three chambers are formed 

 along its shores. On the east coast the " chambers " are as a rule 

 small, 1 the largest embracing the mouths of the Humber and 

 the Thames ; they are generally large on the south coast, and 

 largest of all on the west coast, where the whole of the Bristol 

 Channel was enclosed by the line from Land's End to Milford, 

 a distance of nearly 100 nautical miles, the whole area con- 

 taining about 3400 square nautical miles. This chamber, as 

 well as those to the north of it, must have been of import- 

 ance on account of the volume of shipping which passed 

 through it. 2 



It is to be noted that the King's Chambers were confined to 

 the coast of England, and, further, that they had no reference 

 to the claim of James to property in his seas, so far at least 

 as fisheries were concerned. They were strictly limited to 

 questions of neutrality and jurisdiction, in view of the war 

 then existing between Spain and the United Provinces and 

 the frequent depredations of privateers. The chambers on 

 the east coast, where the Dutch carried on their great herring 

 fishery, were much too small to have any relation to the subject 

 of unlicensed fishing ; and at no time during the prolonged dis- 

 cussions on the fishery were the limits of the King's Chambers 

 made use of in argument. Neutral protection, moreover, was 

 strictly limited to the waters defined. It was in vain that 

 Gentilis, the Spanish advocate in the Admiralty Prize Court, 

 argued that the jurisdiction of England extended far beyond 

 the limits of the "chambers," and ought therefore to be law- 

 fully and justly applied in protecting Spanish vessels from 



1 It will be noticed from fig. 4, where the lines between the headlands are 

 shown on a modern map, that some of the "chambers" on the east coast have 

 entirely disappeared, no doubt owing to the erosion or silting up of the coast at 

 those places during the last three hundred years. 



2 In stormy weather as many as 300 or 400 sail of Hollanders took refuge in 

 St George's Channel at a time. State Papers, Dom., xlv. 23 (1609). 



