CHAPTER III 



PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 



THERE were stirring times on the North Sea borders 

 from the days of Elizabeth and her sailors until the 

 period when Charles the First lost his head, and cavalry 

 and infantry officers were given the command of ships 

 and sent to kill and slay the Dutch. Many of the rough, 

 gruff men who crushed the Armada were North Sea 

 fishers, and their descendants followed Blake and 

 Monk and the rest of the grim brotherhood of the 

 Commonwealth. 



Five years before the Armada came to England a 

 return was prepared of all the masters, mariners, and 

 fishermen belonging to "every shire through the realm." 

 This showed a total of 14,771, including 957 wherrymen 

 between London Bridge and Gravesend. The fishermen 

 on the North Sea borders were 



London . . . . .191 



York 507 



North parts .... 450 

 Lincoln ..... 334 



Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent were given as 

 returning no fishermen. 



These returns are obviously imperfect. On the York- 

 shire coast alone, in the ancient ports and harbours of 



