From the nature of the land, Holland and Zeeland were always the
home of fisher-folk. The herring fishery off the coast of Great
Britain was from early times an industry pursued by many Hollanders
and Zeelanders, but it was comparatively limited, until the
invention of 'curing' made by Willem Beukelsz of Biervliet in the
latter part of the fourteenth century (he probably died in 1397)
converted a perishable article of food into a commercial commodity.
The method of Beukelsz, which remained practically unchanged
for some five centuries, without going into minute particulars,
consisted in the following processes. Immediately after the hauling
in of the nets the guts were in a particular manner removed from the
fish, which were then packed in layers in barrels with salt between
the layers. In the brine or pickle that was formed they were allowed
to lie some time, fresh salt being added every fortnight. At first
the Zeelanders were the chief herring fishers, but afterwards the
towns on the Zuyder Zee and on the Maas became the head-quarters of
the industry. During the Burgundian period many laws were enacted
regulating the herring fisheries, but the edict[49] of Charles V,
May 18, 1519, which extended and codified all previous enactments,
remained the permanent basis of future legislation on the subject.
The chief regulations concerned the branding of the barrels, the
sorting of the fish, and the date of the beginning of the fishing.
This date was originally August 24 (St. Bartholomew), but was
afterwards changed first to July 25 (St. James), and finally to
June 24 (St. John the Baptist). It is possible that some change in
the habits of the herring shoals may have led to this considerable
shifting of the date. After 1519 there were many fresh enactments
made, referring particularly to matters concerning convoys and their
cost, the duties levied, and many details in regard to the boats,
tackle, and crews, and again a codification of all laws was carried
out by a series of edicts in 1580, 1582, and 1584. These edicts of
1580 and 1582 (Groot Placaetboek van Holland en West Vriesland, tom
i., 684-691, 696-707, 715-727, 748-751), continued to regulate the
fisheries during the period with which these lectures deal; i.e. the
first half of the seventeenth century. Especial attention was given
in these regulations to the branding of the barrels in which the
herrings were packed. Each fishing town had its official inspectors,
who themselves branded the barrels with the mark of the cooper
and that of the town, and no others were allowed to be used. The
kind of salt for the curing was rigorously prescribed, and careful
precautions taken that no other kind or damaged salt was smuggled
on board. Not less minute were the regulations to ensure that the
quality of the fish which came to the market should be guaranteed.
All fish had to be sorted. Such as were caught before July 25 (St.
James), being not fully developed, had to be kept apart. Such as
were caught after July 25 had to be divided according to technical
categories, 'full and sweet', 'empty', 'undersized or damaged'; and
the skipper was enjoined under oath to place his own mark upon each
barrel and to be personally responsible for the quality assigned,
and not only so, the fisherman who packed the fish in the barrel was
required to place his mark upon it. The most stringent rules were
laid down as the correct method of curing. In fact, everything was
done to show the importance of the industry, and the necessity of
securing that the market was supplied with no counterfeit article,
but only with herrings prepared in Dutch fashion by Dutch hands.
In order to keep a fast hold upon the monopoly, the fishermen were
forbidden under heavy penalties to sell their fish in foreign ports.
In the seventeenth century, the interests of those engaged in this
profitable trade were vigilantly looked after by a body known as
the 'College of the Great Fishery', which met at Delft. The College
consisted of five deputies from the towns of Enkhuysen, Schiedam,
Delft, Rotterdam, and Brill, and so exclusive were they that during
the period with which we are concerned other towns, even such
important places as Amsterdam, Dordrecht, and Hoorn, were refused
admission. One of the chief tasks of the College was to enforce the
carrying out of the regulations.
[49] 'Placaet ende Ordonnantie op 't stuk van den Haring-Vaert,
't branden van de tonnen en 't soorten van den Haringh.' _Derde
Memoriael boek 's Hof v. Holland._
During the reigns of the two first Stuarts, the Dutch fishing
fleet was accustomed to sail out for the Scottish waters between
the Shetlands and Cape Buchan Ness in the middle of June, so as to
begin their fishing operations on St. John's Day, June 24. From
June 24 to July 25, the fishing was wholly in the north; from
July 25 to September 14 to the south of Buchan Ness, but still
along the Scottish coast; from September 25 to November 25 in the
neighbourhood of Yarmouth; from November 25 to January 31 off the
mouth of the Thames and the Kentish coast. The fleet sailed out
twice only, in June and again in the autumn, the task of conveying
the barrels of fish from the fishing 'busses' to the Dutch harbours
being carried out by a number of light vessels called 'ventjagers.'
The herring fleet was always accompanied by an armed convoy, to the
upkeep of which the State contributed 20,000 florins annually. In
war time a small naval squadron was also detached to keep watch and
ward against the attacks of Spanish cruisers and Dunkirk pirates.
The Herring or Great Fishery was compulsorily closed on January 31.
During the spring months the fishermen occupied themselves with
fishing by hook on the Dogger Bank, for cod, soles, and other fish.
This was named 'The Small Fishery'.