FISHINGS OFF THE COAST OF BRITAIN 25. 
precipitation in Charles’ reign of that Dutch War in which 
the sailors of the Commonwealth gained such glory. 
Charles was not slow to recognise that to succeed in this 
great enterprise of driving the Dutch from their position 
in the North Sea, he must have behind him a people roused 
to the position of affairs and at one with him in his endea- 
vour. It became his object, therefore, to educate public 
opinion with regard to the extent and wealth of the Dutch 
fisheries compared with the poverty of those conducted by 
the British. In this purpose Charles was assisted by various 
writers, who described, more or less accurately, the manner 
in which the fishing round the British coasts was conducted, 
and all of whom were at one in showing the vigour and 
industry of the Dutch as opposed to the inertia of the 
British fishermen who were so jealous of them. The insti- 
tution of these comparisons between the British and Dutch 
fishing fleets, while humiliating in the extreme to British 
national pride, had, as was to be expected, a salutary effect 
in rousing the nation to action. One of the fullest 
of these comparisons was that of Secretary Coke, who, in 
a treatise entitled Propositions for Fishing, detailed the 
various fishings carried on both by English and by Dutch 
off the coasts of Iceland, on the west coast of Scotland, and 
in the Narrow Seas.1 
“ Tceland itself,” writes Secretary Coke, “is a great terri- 
tory, and unknown whether it be a main continent with 
Newfoundland or as Mariners say it is, one continent.” To 
this fishing the Dutch did not go. The English fishermen 
who went were chiefly men from Norfolk and Suffolk, with 
some few from Newcastle and other places. For the privi- 
lege of fishing they paid no duty to the King of Denmark. 
They fished, chiefly for ling and cod, until “ about Bartho- 
lomew tide” (August 24th). The town of Yarmouth sent 
annually about fifty ships to this fishing, while other towns 
1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I., vol. 229, No. 79 and No. 82. 
