THE DUTCH WHALERS PREDOMINANT 145 



thousand tons were to be sent to the fishery ; five to 

 fish in Bell Sound, three in Horn Sound, two in Ice 

 Sound (Green Harbour), two in Cross Road and Sir 

 Thomas Smyth's Bay. There were four hundred 

 and twenty seamen and one hundred and sixty 

 landsmen distributed as follows: two hundred and 

 fifty men at Bell Sound, one hundred and forty men 

 at Horn Sound, one hundred and ten men at Ice 

 Sound, and eighty men at Cross Road and Sir 

 Thomas Smyth's Bay. The shipping was to be 

 supplied in the following proportion: the London 

 Company, one thousand six hundred tons ; Hull and 

 York, four hundred tons ; Horth for Yarmouth, five 

 hundred tons ; Whitwell and partners, three hundred 

 tons, and Batson and partners (with L. Anderson), 

 two hundred tons. The dispute dragged on without 

 much prospect of being settled in time for the 

 approaching season, so the London and Hull 

 adventurers petitioned to be allowed to send up six 

 ships with a pinasse. 



This was the year in which the Dutch sent up 

 seventy sail escorted by three men-of-war. 



Soon after this the British whaling trade became 

 practically moribund, and the home market for oil 

 depended on captures made by privateers from the 

 foreign whalers, and on the home-grown supply of 

 rape seed. There are numerous references in the 

 State Papers of this period to this privateering, of 

 which a few may be quoted. 



In September, 1666, the Constant, Warwick, and 

 Victory put into Plymouth with three French prizes 



K 



