DOMINIUM MARIS 67 
same year. The managers of the Fishing Association had 
purchased a fishing vessel at Ostend, and in December 
sent a shipmaster, Benjamin Bowden, with a crew of three 
to bring it to London. On 15th December, while on their 
way home, these men were attacked by a man of war of 
Enckhuysen, belonging to the United Provinces ; the vessel 
was seized as a prize, the men were made prisoners, stripped 
of their clothes, thrown into irons, and carried to Flushing 
where the vessel was declared to be a lawful prize, while 
the prisoners were left in such destitution that they were 
obliged for the very necessaries of life to the good offices 
of an Englishman whom they met.! Such outrages as these 
had naturally a great effect on the minds of those who learned 
of them. It became increasingly difficult to get men to 
venture their capital in an undertaking which seemed so 
liable to serious loss, and it soon became apparent that many 
who would have otherwise become adventurers were 
holding back until they saw what satisfaction the king 
was able to obtain from the representatives of the United 
Provinces.? 
On March 26th, the Council of the Society resolved to 
secure the services of an able solicitor and to send him, 
at the expense of the general funds, to the Low Countries, 
where he was to reiterate the demands already made for 
reparation on account of the captured vessels.? About the 
same time Secretary Coke was instructed to write to demand 
satisfaction for The Concord, seized by the Dunkirkers.* 
Little satisfaction, however, was to be had from either 
Dutchmen or Dunkirkers, and thus it was not long before 
the king realised that if his project of a national fishing 
was to be successful, he must assert himself, not in the 
law courts of the United Provinces, but on the fishing 
grounds of the North Sea. 
1 Cal. S.P. Dom. Car. I.. vol. 226, No. 40. 2 Ibid. vol. 232, No. 75. 
3 Ibid. vol. 234, No. 59. 4 Ibid. vol. 232, No. 106. 
