142 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



Camden's statement about Scarborough. 1 It was also said 



o 



that fishermen were compelled to pay taxes for liberty to fish 

 in Russia, at the " Shoffland " islands and other islands belong- 

 ing to the King of Sweden, in Denmark, and in Spain, where 

 the Duke of Medina Sidonia derived a large revenue from 

 the taxes on the tunny fishery. Rainsford reiterated the 

 advantages of the scheme to the nation and the navy, and 

 promised an annual revenue of 20,000 to the king, after the 

 lapse of seven years, so long as he granted to the patentees 

 the tribute on foreign fishermen. 



About this time, whether by arrangement with the London 

 merchants or independently, some influential persons addressed 

 the king in denunciation of the Dutch. Sir Nicholas Hales 

 in 1608, and again in 1609, strongly advised the king to take 

 action against them. Their fisheries in his Majesty's seas, 

 he said, were worth more than the mines of gold and silver 

 in the Indies ; in one year they had sold fish in England alone 

 to the value of 1,200,000 ; by their means they maintained 

 100,000 men with their wives and families. Then their 

 immense shipping was a menace to the security of the realm. 

 They came into our roads and harbours with their guns and 

 ordnance on board : sometimes three or four hundred sail 

 of Hollanders sheltered in St George's Channel, where our 

 fleet, if need were, could always strike them. The whole 

 trade of Christendom appeared to be going into their hands. 

 Sir Nicholas was afraid they might join with the "Turks" 

 against us ; there was even risk of invasion unless measures were 

 taken to curb their growing power. The measures he proposed 

 were the delivery of Flushing and Brill as pledges of security, 

 and the payment of 4,000,000 for the king's license to carry 

 on their fishery for twenty-one years on the British coasts. 

 Otherwise they should be compelled to pay a tithe of the 

 twentieth herring or be forbidden altogether. 2 Sir William 



1 See p. 64. 



2 To the King's Most excellent Majestie : A Declaration of the Fishing of Herring, 

 Codd, and Ling, and how greatly the favour or disfavour of Your Royal Majesty 

 concerneth the Hollanders. State Papers, Dom., xxxii. 32. A Declaration how 

 much the Favour or Disfavour of Your Royal Majestie doth concern the Prosperity 

 or Adversitie of the Hollanders : and what inconvenience may ensue, and how 

 to praevent the same to the honour and safety of your Majesty and the tranquillitie 

 .of the Netherlander. Ibid., xlv. 23. 



