142 THE HERRING FISHERY 



Premiums were paid in the City of London 

 in 1772 for bringing herrmg and mackerel to 

 market, and large quantities were attracted to 

 Billingsgate, but only in the course of the 

 autumn season, the competition bringing down 

 the market price of butcher's meat appreciably. 

 Yet in 1775, 341 of the 768 trading vessels 

 which arrived at Hamburg during the year 

 came with cargoes of herring from Shetland, 

 and of these twenty-eight were Danish, two 

 Prussian, two Dutch, and none British. 



Great quantities of herrings were normally 

 exported to the West Indies. 23,000 barrels 

 went from Greenock alon-e during 1777—8, each 

 barrel measuring 31 J gallons and containing 

 from 700 to 900 herrings. In the year 1777 

 there were nine houses for the smoking of red 

 herring at Dunbar, in which a million and a 

 quarter fish could be smoked at once. 



In 1776, owing to the American War, which 

 had an adverse effect upon the British herring 

 fishery, the rate of insurance on homeward- 

 bound ships from the West Indies rose to 

 23 per cent. At the outbreak of the French 

 War, however, the rate actually rose to 50 per 

 cent, as against 3 per cent, on the marine 

 risks in peace time. 



In 1776 the export of salted provisions from Ire- 

 land was also prohibited lest the French should 

 obtain Irish provisions for victualling their fleet 

 in the impending war. This embargo had a 

 further adverse effect upon the herring industry. 



