FISHINGS OFF THE COAST OF BRITAIN 29 
engaged in “ane whyte fishing of Kodling.”! The great 
east coast fishing was carried on as far south as the coasts 
of Norfolk and Suffolk. About the 24th of August (Bar- 
tholomew Tide), the foreign fishing fleet was joined by about 
300 English vessels, which, according to Coke, brought the 
fleet altogether to about 1400 vessels.2 The fishing then 
continued till Martinmas, when the herring fleets of both 
nations returned home, “though the herring go stil along, 
and some are taken about Rye and Hastings.” 
Coke gives an interesting account of the manner in which 
the Dutch engaged in this fishing conducted their work, 
and of the benefits which accrued from the presence of so 
many men in the vicinity of Yarmouth and the neighbour- 
ing towns on the east coast.2 “‘ Whilst the fishings con- 
tinue, the Dutch, with above 1000 sail of busses, besides 
their jagers and other ships, victual themselves from our 
shore with bread, beer, flesh and butter, and dry their nets 
upon the land, specially in a field near Yarmouth, which 
is two miles in length, and they come ashore sometimes 
above ten thousand persons, which, besides the victualling 
of their ships, carry from hence to supply their country 
both corn, beer and beans in a very great proportion. Yar- 
mouth alone employeth forty brewers for their service.” It 
is strange that, in face of such facts, Charles and his advisers 
should not have felt that, if they were doing the English 
fishermen a service in trying to curtail the extent of the 
operations of the Dutch, they were certainly not seeking 
the interests of the English farmer and brewer in striving 
to deprive them of these valuable customers. 
The Hollanders were accustomed to cure the herring on 
board their bushes as soon as caught, and, by Dutch law, 
were compelled to carry all herring caught and cured by 
Dutch vessels to Holland, where they were barrelled and 
1MSS. 32.1.16, Advocates’ Library. 
2 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 229, No. 78. 3 Ibid. 
