THE RISE OF THE HERRING FISHERIES 137 



were engaged at a weekly wage. The price of a new vessel completely 

 rigged was usually about 9000 florins, and the expense of fitting 

 out for two voyages was 6000, and for the third in the same year 

 8000 florins, the total expenditure for the year being 17,000 florins. 

 A buss after three voyages was practically useless, all its gear was 

 worn out and the hull was of Uttle value. A tender usually accom- 

 panied every ten vessels of the herring fleet during the first part 

 of the season. This tender was allowed to bring herring home up 

 to the 25th July, after which no tenders were allowed. 



From midsummer to the 25th July fishing was carried on in the 

 neighbourhood of the Shetland Islands, and off Fair Isle ; from the 

 25th July to the 14th September on the coast of Scotland off 

 Buchan Ness ; afterwards off Yarmouth, and from the 25th 

 November to the ist January along the coast of Norfolk. 



Fishing was carried on at night, the fishermen being better able 

 to discover the shoals by the luminous appearance they are said to 

 exhibit when near the surface of the water. At one time the fisher- 

 men used lanterns, specially constructed, to attract the fish. 



The nets were examined in the morning, when the fish were 

 gutted and cleaned. They were then put into barrels and salted. 



In 1620 Dutch vessels were forbidden under a penalty of 300 

 florins, to fish near the coasts of Shetland, Ireland and Norway ; 

 because the fish caught at these places were alleged to be of inferior 

 quality, but really to meet James I complaints. Statistics of the 

 fishing, in the modern sense, were not kept in those days. There 

 is, however, reason to believe that in 1560 about 1000 vessels sailed 

 from Dutch ports for the herring fishery, in 1610 the number 

 amounted to 1500, and ten years later to 2000. The fishery con- 

 tinued in this flourishing condition for a long time, and, as already 

 noted, the attempts of the Stuarts to wrest the supremacy from 

 the Dutch were unsuccessful. It is estimated that at this time the 

 herring fisheries yielded a revenue of 2 million guelders annually to 

 the Dutch, giving subsistence to 450,000 persons actually employed 

 in the fishing and subsidiary operations.^ " The Dutch catch more 

 herrings, and prepare them better, than any other nation ever will ; 

 and the Lord has, through the instrument of the herring, made 

 Holland an exchange and staple-market for the whole of Europe."* 



The continued prosperity of the Dutch herring fisheries natiurally 

 attracted the attention of other nations, who endeavoured to capture 

 the Dutch trade, but it was really the numerous wars in which the 



' John de Witt, " A representation of the wholesome Political Grounds and 

 Maxims of the Republic of Holland and West Friesland," 1669. See also Fulton, 

 The Sovereignty of the Sea, p. 126, et seq. 



" Meynert Semeyns. Corte beschryvinge over de Haring visscherye in Hollandt, 

 1639. 



