112 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



" Dominium Maris," can be imagined. Diplomatic 

 protests were promptly made to the Dutch, who sent 

 ambassadors to England in November to treat on 

 the points at issue. 



A detailed account of the discussion of the legal 

 points at issue is beyond the scope of this work. 

 King James appointed two groups of commissioners 

 to treat with the Dutchmen, a Scottish group to deal 

 with the herring fisheries, and the English group to 

 deal with other matters in dispute, including the 

 whale fishery. Pusillanimous James tried to bluff 

 the Dutchmen, but without success. The English 

 case was based on the contention that Spitsbergen 

 belonged to the king, on the prior fishing there, and 

 on the depredations of the Dutch in 1618. The 

 Dutch claimed Spitsbergen by right of discovery, 

 but in order to arrive at a modus vivendi, they 

 proposed three alternatives : 



(1) That all nations should fish for whales at 

 Spitsbergen, sharing the bays and fishing stations 

 between them. 



(2) That fishing should be carried on by the 

 English and Dutch with an equal number of vessels 

 of equal size. 



(3) That the island should be divided into two 

 equal parts by an imaginary line, the Dutch to have 

 one part, the English the other. 



James would have none of this, and insisted on 

 his right to the sea at Spitsbergen. On the practical 

 point he gave way, consenting that the Dutch should 

 fish at the Island for three years longer. 



