THE DUTCH WHALERS PREDOMINANT 147 



was first of all forbidden, 1 and then permitted under 

 certain conditions. 2 



Shipowners and captains in the trade were to put 

 fifteen hundred able seamen at the disposal of the 

 Dutch Admiralty, or buy them off at fifteen florin 

 per head. These repeated wars adversely affected 

 the Dutch whalers to such an extent that it became 

 customary to put the ships under a foreign flag. 

 This was forbidden again in i66i. 3 



At this period (circa 1660) we have two interest- 

 ing manuscripts describing the " Greenland " whale 

 fishery, by Anderson 4 and Gray, 5 the latter 

 illustrated by small sketches. 6 The former manu- 

 script is in the British Museum, the latter in the 

 Register Book of the Royal Society. The Royal 

 Society of London, which was incorporated by 

 charter in 1662, interested itself in Spitsbergen and 

 its whaling. 



Both accounts are of great interest, as they prove 

 that the English followed the bay fishery (in Bell 



1 Placaet, in welcke de Walvischvang-st, ende vaert daerop tot 

 nader orde geschort werd. Gr. Plac.-boek., ii., 507. 



a Nader Placaet, in welcke onder seeckere limitatien de vaert 

 op Groenlandt toegelaten en andere equipagien ter zee bij 

 provisie ende tot nader ordre verboden werden. Gr. Plac.- 

 boek., ii., 507. 



3 Placaet, houdende verbodt, om schepen te laten bevrachten, 

 omme by uytheemsche natien tot den walvischvang-hst g-heetm- 

 ployert te worden. Gr. Plac.-boek., ii., 2639. 



4 An account of Greenland from Capt. Lancelott Anderson, 

 a Hull merchant who has made thirty-three voyages thither. 

 British Museum, MS. Sloane, 3986, ff. 78, 79. 



8 Register Book of the Royal Society, Vol. ii. (1662-3), p. 308. 

 8 These sketches, as well as the two manuscripts, are repro- 

 duced in the Geographical Journal, London, June, 1900. 



