98 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



tons of oil had been prepared. Disputes were, 

 however, continuous, and on the ist August 

 " for pilfering and some perempterie two of the 

 Rochellers were ducked at our yard arme, the one 

 on the one side, and the other on the other." 



On the 1 4th August six of the ships left for home, 

 namely, the Tigre, the Gamaliel, the John and 

 Francis, the Annula, together with the Bordeaux ship 

 which had fished under permission, and the Biscay 

 ship which had fished in Sir Thomas Smyth's Bay. 

 On the 1 6th off Cold Cape they fell in with a ship of 

 Alborough belonging to Master Cudner of London, 

 the master being named Fletcher. This was one 

 of the four English interlopers referred to by Edge. 



On the whole the voyage produced but poor 

 results for the Muscovy Company, the financial loss 

 being between three and four thousand pounds. 



On their return home to Amsterdam the despoiled 

 Dutch ships complained of the ill-treatment to which 

 they had been subject, and representations were 

 made through the ordinary diplomatic channels to 

 King James, who at this time was a convinced 

 believer in the doctrine of mare clausum. The 

 Dutch founded their case partly on the right of 

 prior discovery and partly on the general principle of 

 freedom of navigation and fishery. 



In all there are six separate accounts of the 

 whaling at Spitsbergen in 1613. These are the 

 accounts by Edge and Baffin published by Purchas ; 

 the " Histoire du Pays nomme Spitsberghe " by 

 Hessel Gerritsz, an account by Robert Fotherby, a 



