[Sidenote: III 112]
Man has been given to fishing from the most remote times, even though
in primitive ways. Hence fishing boats will also be seen to have
existed from the earliest times; furthermore, as man thinks of his own
maintenance first before dreaming of trade, fishing boats are older
than merchant ships and it is perfectly natural to conclude that the
latter issue from the former. So, the “Koggenschip” (cog) is nothing
but a transformation of what will be called later an “Egmonder Pink” or
better, a “Pink” of large size.
As fish were taken at the beginning only for local needs, the fishing
boats were small. Distant expeditions were not undertaken, the
preservation of fish being unknown in those days. Some old writers
even maintain that the herring fishery only appeared at Zierikzee in
the XIIth century (in 1163 according to ~Witsen~, p. 431). Hence it
may be said that the beginnings of our ocean fisheries date only from
the century mentioned. No great revolution took place until 1384, when
Willem Beukelsz of Biervliet invented the salting and barrelling of
herrings. This invention caused such a stir that, a hundred years after
the death of Willem Beukelszoon, the Emperor Charles V still visited
his tomb at Biervliet (1556).
Distant voyages became possible from this moment because the herring
could be preserved. The first great herring net was made at Hoorn
in 1416, and smooth planking for the boats made its appearance at
Zierikzee, the centre of the herring fishery. A relation certainly
exists between these two events. The packing of herring gave fishing
such a start that a new commerce was the result which, in its turn,
brought forth more and more numerous demands requiring a perpected
plant.