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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42117	A vindication of a national-fishery wherein is asserted that the glory, wealth, strength, safety, and happiness of this kingdom, with the flourishing of trade, and growth of navigation, as also the employing of the poor of this realm, doth depend (under God) upon a national-fishery : and all the general, vulgar, (tho' erroneous) objections against encouraging the fishery of England, answer'd, and confuted : to which is added the sovreignty of British-seas.	Gander, Joseph.; Gander, Joseph. Sovereignty of the British-seas asserted.	1699 (1699)	Wing G196; ESTC R227035	28,639	110

A VINDICATION OF A National-Fishery Wherein is Asserted That the GLORY WEALTH STRENGTH SAFETY and HAPPINESS of this KINGDOM with the Flourishing of TRADE and Growth of NAVIGATION As also the Employing the POOR of this Realm doth depend under GOD upon A National-Fishery And all the General Vulgar tho' Erroneous Objections against Encouraging the Fishery of England Answer'd and Confuted To which is added The SOVEREIGNTY of the BRITISH-SEAS England's a Perfect World 'T has Indies two Correct your Maps The Fishery is Peru. LONDON Printed for F. Coggan in the Inner Temple Lane MDCXCIX To the most Noble AND Mighty PRINCE THOMAS Duke of LEEDS MARQVESS of CARMARTHEN EARL of DANBY Viscount Latimore Baron Osbourne of Kiveton Lord President of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy-Council Lord Lieutenant of York-shire Governour of Kingston upon Hull AND KNIGHT OF THE Most Noble Order OF THE GARTER May it please Your Grace THE Great Applause you have so deservedly meritted hath encouraged me to Dedicate this small Epitomy to Your Honour and not knowing any Man that can with more lively Colours represent this Important Affair to the Wisdom of the Nation I lay it at Your Lordship's Feet as an UNDERTAKING which if Your Grace be pleased to Espouse for the Good of the Kingdom you will thereby add another Trophy to your former Atchievements and the Glory of the Action will be Recorded to all Posterity For upon a National-Fishery under God doth depend the Safety Honour and Happiness of this Kingdom the Flourishing of Trade and the Supporting of Credit as in the Sequel of my Discourse I hope I have made appear My Lord this Age gives us too many Examples of Discouraging Ingenuity many Excellent Qualities lying often hid under humble Looks and mean Habits which soon are discountenanc'd and suppress'd by Insulting Greatness and Popular Opulancy But You have shewed by the constant Example of Your Actions that You have Agreed with Seneca in his Renowned Maxim that sola virtus vera Nobilitas When so many others are blinded with their absurd Vanity and airy Greatness But you have rendred your self a true Patriot to your Country and therefore I most humbly implore this Book may be sheltred under the wings of Your Graces Protection who am Right Honourable and Renowned Sir Your Graces most humble And most obedient Servant Joseph Gander TO THE BARONS OF THE Cinque-Ports And the Members of Parliament for the Coasting-Towns and Burroughs of the Kingdom of England Honoured and Worthy Senators THE Cinque-Ports of this Kingdom having signalized their Loyalty and Valour by Sea in several Expeditions for the Glory of the King 's Honour of their Country and Safety of the Realm our preceding Kings confirmed several Dignities on them and amongst the rest made their Members of Parliament Barons as an Encouragement to Navigation and their Prowess And gave them the Honour of Supporting the Canopy over his Head at his Coronation as is supposed by way of Similitude That whereas they had Defended Supported and Maintained his Honour by their Courage against his Enemies by Sea he gave them the Honour to support the Canopy over his Head as a Mark of Honour to them and his Acknowledgement of the Greatness of their Service And many Coasting-Towns and Burroughs have from time to time been endowed with great Priviledges some of them remaining to this day as a mark of Honour by several Kings to Encourage Navigation from whence originally we have beyond all Dispute arrived to the Knowledge we are now attained to in Marine Affairs But now most of those Towns and Burroughs that formerly flourished by their Fishing are reduced to miserable Poverty and Thousands of Families ruined for want of the Fishery And the Gentlemen who have Estates in those Places or near the Coast are exceedingly impair'd Of which Calamity King Henry the 8th had undoubtedly a fore-sight of as appears by the Sratute of 33 of his Reign 't is there thus inserted because the English Fishermen dwelling on the Sea Coasts did leave off their Trade of Fishing in our Seas and went the half Seas over and thereupon they did buy Fish of Pickards Flemmings Normands and Zealanders by reason whereof many Incommodities did grow to the Realm viz. The Decay of the Wealth and Prosperity as well of the Cinque-Ports and Members of the same as of other Coasting-Towns by the Sea-side which were builded and inhabited by great Multitudes of People by reason of Using and Exercising the Feat and Craft of Fishing Secondly The decay of a great Number of Boats and Ships And thirdly the decay of many good Mariners both able in Body by their Diligence Labour and continual Exercise of Fishing and Expert by reason thereof in the Knowledge of our Sea-Coasts as well within the Realm as in other Parts beyond the Seas It was therefore Enacted That no manner of Persons English Denizons or Strangers at that time or any time after should buy any Fish of any Foreigners in the said Ports of Flanders zealand Pickardy or France or upon the Sea between Shoar and Shoar This shews what great Care our former Kings and Parliaments have taken to Preserve the Nursery for Sea-faring Men for the Defence of the Kingdom and for the Preservation of our Coasting Towns c. And have therefore thought fit in all Humility to Dedicate this Book to you as before-mentioned If my sincere Intentions to serve the Kingdom have its desired Success I have my wish who am Your most humble And most obedient Servant J. Gander A VINDICATION OF A National Fishery c. BY the Benign Goodness of God and by the Wise Conduct of our King and the Admirable Wisdom and prudent Care of our Sage Senatours at Home England after a tedious and Chargeable War hath obtained an Honourable Peace And the Sword being now Sheathed His Majesty in his most Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament hath declared His Royal Inclination for the Preservation of the Saftety Honour and Happiness of the Kingdom c. So that it is not to be doubted but that the Genius of our Government will make it the Chiefest of their Care to Settle the Affairs of Trade upon the most firmest Foundation for the publick Good of our Nation For the most destructive Consumption that can happen to a Kingdom and the only Nurse of Idleness and Beggary is Want of Trade whereas on the contrary Increase of Trade encourageth Labour Art and Invention and enricheth the Common-Weal And beyond all Dispute the Fishery of England is the Main Trade of this Kingdom rightly Managed The good Patriots of our Country are to weigh the Matter And it is so comprehensive a Blessing that were those Advantages but Industriously improved that Providence hath bestowed on this Island we might consequently be the most Flourishing People in the whole World both by Sea and Land And seeing by the Decay of the Fishing Trade we have lain open to France and Holland by neglecting our own

be enriched by Commerce if they do not secure themselves by Force either by Sea or Land as Opportunity offers or the Necessity requires 'T is undoubtedly the Interest of the Nation to stand as well upon their Guard in times of Peace as in War that they may give no Opportunity to an Enemy to Surprise us by Sea or Land And since there is so great a Necessity for the Defence of the Nation to support our Navgation by this Fishery certainly our Senatours will take Care that the Grandeur of these Glorious Kingdoms shall not be ecclipsed by the growing Greatness of our Neighbours who have and still do encroach upon the Sovereignty of the British Seas which is the only Diadem of the Imperial Crown of these Dominions and the Port Cullizes and Guard of the Realm But the Fishery if encouraged will be for the Good of the Kingdom in General from the King to the Peasant or meanest Subject and in some measure take off the Burthen of the Taxes this Nation hath so long struggl'd under and not only make the Exchequer the Greatest Bank in the World but oblige the Treasure of the East and West-Indies comparatively to meet in our Streets And also preserve a perpetual Union amongst the Subjects of England let them be never so Retrogade in their Opinion as to their Profession of Religion And this happy Union will prevent all Intestine Commotions and bid Defiance to all Foreign Invasions or Incursions And it cannot be denied but that England had formerly the richest Fishery in the World when we maintain'd the Sovereignty of the British Seas and by Computation had above 800 Fishing Ships and had it been Encourag'd by a reasonable Increase we must have had now between 2 and 3000 Fishing Ships And nothing can be more true than that the Fishery of England is the Main Pillar of the Trade and Defence of this Nation And it will not only raise the Naval Force of England but by its Growth and Flourishing be a Curb to keep under the growing Power of the French and Hollanders and bring in Great Treasure to the Kingdom as aforesaid And further if this Nursery for Seamen were Encouraged the Merchants would never want Men to carry their Ships to Sea nor be in danger of having their Men press'd in time of War which is a great Detriment to our Trade and Loss to the King and Kingdom for then we should have Sea-faring Men and Mariners enough to serve the Kingdom And in regard that some people may say that there will not be constant Employ for our Seamen in the Fishery in times of Peace and so prevent their going into Foreign Service for want of Employ at Home I have particulariz'd the respective Seasons for Fishing throughout the Year in the British Seas Of the Miraculous Treasure of the British Seas THE Coast of Great-Britain doth produce a continual Harvest of Profit and Benefit to all that do Fish there and such Shoals and Multitude of Fishes are offer'd to the Takers that it makes an Admiration to those that are employ'd among them The Summer Fishing for Herrings beginneth about Midsummer lasteth some part of August The Winter Fishing for Herring from September to the middle of November both which extend from Bonghoness in Scotland to the River Thames Mouth being a Run of above a hundred Leagues The Fishing for Cod at Allum by Whirlington and White-Haven near the Coast of Lancashire from Easter till Whitsuntide The Fishing for Hake at Aberdenie Abveswitch and other places between Wales and Ireland from Whitsuntide to St. James-Tide The Fishing for Cod and Ling about Padstow within the Land and of Severn from Christmas to Midlent The Fishing for Cod on the West part of Ireland frequented by those of Biscay and Portugal from the beginning of April until the end of June The Fishing for Cod and Ling on the North and North-East of Ireland from Michaelmas to Christmas The Fishing for Pilchers on the West-coast of England from St. James tide until Michaelmas The Fishing for Cod and Ling upon the North East of England from Easter to Midsummer The Fishing of great Staple-Ling and many other Sorts of Fish lying about the Island of Scotland and in the several parts of the British Seas all the Year long In September not many years since upon the Coast of Devonshire near Minegal five hundred Tun of Fish were taken in one day And about the same time three thousand pounds worth of Fish in one day were taken at St. Ives in Cornwal by small Boats Our five Men Boats and Cobles adventuring in a Calm to Launch out amongst the Hollands Busses not far from Robinhood's Bay returned to Whitby full freighted with Herrings and reported that they had seen some of those Busses take ten twenty and twenty four Lasts at a Draught of Herring and returned into their own Country with forty fifty and a hundred Lastes of Herring in one Buss Our Fleet of Colliers not many years since returning from Newcastle laden with Coals about the Wells near Flamborough Head and Scarborough met with such Multitudes of Cod Ling and Herring that one among the rest with certain Ship Hooks and other like Instruments drew up as much Cod and Ling in a little time as sold for well nigh as much as her whole Lading of Coals And many hundred of Ships might have been laden in two Days and two Nights Now what great Inconveniency and Detriment is this to the English Nation That we do not Encourage a National Fishery that we may retrieve those Great Advantages that we have so long taken no Notice of in regard we can Employ our Seamen throughout the whole Annual And out of which wonderful Affluence and Abundance of Fish swarming in our Seas that we may the better perceive the Infinite Gain which Foreign Nations make I will especially insist upon the Fishing of the Hollanders on our Coasts and thereby shew how by this Means principally they have risen to the Greatness of their present Grandeur 1. In Shipping 2. In Mariners 3. In Trade at home and abroad 4. In Towns and Fortifications 5. In Power at home and abroad 6. In Publick Revenue 7. In Private Wealth 8. In all manner of Provisions and Stores of Things Necessary for the Preservation of Mankind and Munitions of War Encrease Shipping Besides seven hundred Strand Boats four hundred Evars and four hundred Sullits Drivers and Tod-Boats wherewith the Hollanders Fish upon our Coasts every one of these employing another Ship to fetch Salt and carry the Fish into other Countries being in all three thousand Sail maintaining and setting on Work at least twelve thousand persons Fishers Tradesmen Women and Children They have above as it is supposed one hundred Doyer-Boats of one hundred and fifty Tuns apiece or thereabouts seven hundred Pinks and Well-Boats from sixty to one hundred Tuns Burthen which altogether Fish upon the Coast of England and Scotland for Cod and Ling

only And each of these Employ another Vessel for providing Salt and Transporting of their Fish making in all one thousand six hundred Ships which Maintain and Employ persons of all Sorts four thousand at least For the Herring Season they have one thousand six hundred Busses at the least all of them Fishing only on our Coast from Bonghoness in Scotland to the mouth of the Thames And every One maketh work for three other Ships to attend her the one to bring Salt from Foreign parts another to carry the said Salt and Cask to the Busses and to bring back their Herring and the Third to Transport the Herring into Foreign Markets So that the Total Number of Ships and Busses plying the Herring-Fare is six Thousand four hundred Ships where every Buss one with another Employs forty Men Mariners and Fishers within her own Hold and rest ten Men apiece which amounteth to One hundred twelve thousand Fishers and Mariners All which maintain double if not treble so many Tradesmen Women and Children by Land Besides they have generally four hundred Vessels at least that take Herring at Yarmouth and there sell them for Ready-Money so that the Hollanders besides three hundred Ships beforementioned Fising upon their own Coasts or Shoars have at least four thousand eight hundred Ships onely maintain'd by the Seas of Great-Britain And to this Number they undoubtedly add every day although their Countrey neither affords Victuals nor Materials nor Merchandize to set them forth Yet by the Great Advantages that they have got by Fishing on our Coast they abound in every Thing that is fit for the Use of Mankind Encrease of Mariners The Number of Ships Fishing on our Coasts as being aforesaid four thousand eight hundred if we allow but twenty persons to every Ship one with another the Total of Mariners and Fishers amounteth to One hundred sixty eight Thousand out of which number they daily furnish their Ships to the East and West-Indies to the Meditereanean and for their Grand Fleet of Men of War for by this means they are not only enabled to brook the Seas and know the Use of their Tackles and Compass but are likewise instructed in the knowledge of Navigation and Pilotage insomuch that from hence their greatest Navigators have had their Educations and Knowledge of the Seas Encrease of TRADE By reason of those Multitude of Ships and Mariners they have extended their Trade to all Parts of the World Exporting for the most part in all their Voyages our Herrings and other Fish which they Catch upon our Coasts or in the British Seas for the Maintenance of the same In Exchange whereof they return these several Commodities from other Countries From the Southern Parts as France Spain and Portugal for our Herrings and other Fish they return Oyls Wines Pruens Honey Woolls Leather with Store of Coin in Specie From the Streights Velvets Sattins and all Sorts of Silks Aloms Currants Oyls and all Grocery-Ware with much Money From the east-East-Countries for our Herrings and other French and Italian Commodities before returned they bring Home Corn Wax Flax Hemp Pitch Tarr Soap-Ashes Iron Copper Steel Clap-board Wain-scot Timber Deal-board Dollars c. From Germany for Herrings and other Salt Fish Iron Mill-stones Rhenish-Wines Plate-Buttons for Armour with other Munition too tedious to insert Silks Velvets and Rushes Fustians Baratees and such like Frankford Commodities with Store of Rix Dollars From Brabant and Flanders they return for the most part Ready-Money with some Tapestries and some other Commodities and some of our Herrings are carried so far as Brassil And that which is more strange and to our great dishonour they have generally four hundred Ships which Fish in sight of Yarmouth and vend the Herrings in England and make us pay Ready-Money for our own Fish Sir Josiah Child in his Discourse of Trade in the end of his Preface is pleased to say That he hath exposed his Conceptions to the Publick Censure with an Assurance that they will be received and Honoured with a Publick Sanction and past into Laws and thus begins his Book The Prodigious Increase of the Netherlands in their Domestick and Forreign Trade Riches and Multitude of Shipping is the envy of the Present and may be the Wonder of future Generations Here he sets out the Riches of Holland and backs it on with an Addition in several subsequent Expressions in his Book They are Sampsons and Goliah's in Trade Sons of Anach Men of Renown Masters of the field like a Prevailing Army that Scorns to build Castles and Fortresses to secure themselves as we do by Act of our Navigation And to Advance their Glory herein he tells us that we are but Dwarfs and Pigmies in Stocks and Experience c. But he takes no Notice that they have attained to their Greatness by Fishing on our Coasts and that we were the Sampson's and Goliah's in Queen Elizabeths Reign and they the Pigmies as shall be made appear more at large And the Honoured Author goes further on in his Preface and tells us that were they freed from the French Fears they would be Worse than Task-Masters over us in Trade considering their Treasure That the Trade of the English Nation is in a very bad Circumstances is plainly seen by all thinking Men And since it is Practical among Kings and Princes and Sates to Joyn one with another or enter into a Confederacy to oppose a King or Prince that is Growing too great that if they do not endeavour to Suppress him it may be a Means to lie open to them whenever he intends to make an Invasion or Incursion into their Dominions or Invade their Territories And whether it is not now high time considering those vast Improvements of the Hollanders and French to depress the Growing Greatness of our Neighbours must be left to the Great Wisdom of our Senatours And also whether a longer Continuance of their Fishing on our Coasts will not be a further Encouragement to their Encroachments and our own Title as to the antient Sovereignty of the British Seas By this their large Extent of Trade they are become Citizens of the whole World whereby they have so enlarged their Towns that most of them within this Hundred Years are full as big again as they were before as Amsterdam Rotterdam Dort Middleburgh c. having been twice enlarged their Streets and Buildings are orderly set forth that for Beauty and Strength they may Compare with any other Cities in the World upon which they bestow infinite Sums of Money All this Originally flowing from the Bounty of the British Seas from whence by their Labour and Industry they derive the beginning of all that Wealth and Greatness and particularly for the Havens of the aforesaid Towns whereof some of them Cost Forty Fifty or an Hundred thousand pounds their Fortifications both for Number and Strength upon which they have bestowed innumerable Sums of Money as well upon their Frontiers as

I Answer That we have Men Enough but they are Idle and live upon the Publick without making any Return of their Labour but let these People be Employ'd in the Fishery and they Protected by an Act of Parliament we shall soon have enough and to spare and it is a Great Happiness to this Kingdom that we can Employ our Sea-faring Men in times of Peace and 't is so great a Blessing that no Nation in the World has the like Opportunity of Employing and enriching themselves The Second Exception or Objection is That the Genius of this Nation will never endure the Hardships of this Employment To which I Answer That the English do run greater Hazards and suffer greater Hardships in their long tedious and unhealthy Voyages as to the East and the West-Indies and the Turkey Voyages where many Men are lost by reason of the Heat of the Climate want of Provisions and Water which in the Fishery there is none of these Inconveniences to attend them they being so often in and out of Port and as to Labour the working of a Mine is far beyond that of Fishing where the Men sometimes Work up to the Middle in Water But to come nearer to the Point the English is so far from having an Aversion against Fishing that they apply themselves to it for Example after Harvest is in and the Herring-Season comes on the Country Fellows and Boys do go to the Coasting Towns to be Hired into the Fishery and do Generally take such a liking to it that after 2 or 3 Voyages they very rarely return to their Rural Employment but take to the Sea altogether And further I cannot imagine what Hardships the Hollanders can undergo in the Fishing more than the English are willing to do this is another Objection But this beyond all dispute is a very Erroneous Notion for the Herring Fishing in the English Seas begins in June and goes out in November and that for the first four Months it is the best time for Profit Pleasure and Fair-Weather for we seldom look out after the Herring Fishing till September and so continue to the end of November which is the most Tempestuous Season in the Whole Annual and then in January we fit out for the North Seas and spend the remaining part of Winter in all Extremities of Cold and Hardship This is enough to Satisfie that we are able to undergo as much Hardships as the Hollanders But however I 'le strain this point a little further Suppose that the Winter Fishing would be too Hard for us what Excuse can we have for not makeing our Improvements on the Summer Fishing which is more advantageous abundantly Another Objection is That the Hollanders can fare Harder than the English in their course feeding and Great Stress is laid upon this and that an English Man will never be able to live on so sparing a Diet as they do Now if it were so and that an English Diet could not be had and that a Dutch Diet would not serve us but that is not our Condition for he that cannot brook with the one may have the other And I am induced to believe that Pork Pease and Beef are much better and more Strengthening than Roots and Cabbage for the Hollanders Victualling is the same with ours for Beer Biscuite Butter Cheese all which we can provide our selves with much Cheaper than they And to make Good the Defect of their Ordinary Provisions they drink a great deal more Brandy than the English do so then to take one thing with another we Victual with Good Provisions as Cheap or Cheaper than they do But besides the very suggestion of leaving a Good Diet to go to a bad is a very Great Error for the Countrey Men that enter themselves on board the Fishery fare far better at Sea than they did at Land for besides their General Victualling which they carry with them to Sea they feed upon the Fish they Catch which for Variety being Fresh taken is a Treat to what a Person of Quality has at his Table a Shoar and of pitiful weak Men at Land in a Voyage or two become Stout Hearty and Healthful Men. There are two more Wolves in the way First that our Herrings are in no esteem abroad because we have not the right way to cure them Secondly we shall never make nothing on 't for the Hollanders will under-sell us for Freighting Cheaper and consequently beat us out of the Trade In answer to which First there are two ways of curing the Herrings the one at Sea where they are Gipp'd immediately upon their taking and Barrell'd the other at Land where they are Gipp'd and Pack'd some days after they are taken These we call Shoar-made-Herrings and we know very well that one Barrel of the other for Goodness is worth one Hundred of these and that they will never take their Pickle kindly unless their Throats be Cut as soon as they are Caught so that it is a great Error to take a Shoar-made-Herring for a Tryal of Skill in curing But for those that are made at Sea they are made as Good and as much in Esteem abroad as any of the Hollanders Herrings and they have been frequently Sold in the East-Country for four pounds a Barrel and I could wish we were no more to blame for not taking them than curing them But admit we did not know how to Cure them I hope 't is not impossible for the English to learn Secondly the other Notion is That the Hollanders will beat us off of our Trade this is as Erroneous as the rest and of no force at all against the Fishery or it is much more Force against the Merchant and the Newcastle Trade for this lies under our Noses and more in our conveniency than any Body 's else And to Neglect our Fishing upon this Consideration is to Quit all Navigation and leave our selves to the Mercy of the Hollanders or to be made a Prey to any that will attack us And then to fear we shall want Vent is to imagine that the People will leave off Eating and a Great part of the Tradeing World is yet unserv'd with Fish and it never could be made appear that our Herrings lay upon our Hands for want of a Market And since all these Objections are sufficiently answer'd there is nothing wanting but assuming our Antient Right and taking Possession of the Fishery And notwithstanding it is so apparently made appear that this National Fishery will redound so much to the Glory of the King Honour of our Senatours Assembled in Parliament and Welfare of the Kingdom in General We will suppose for Argument sake 't is all but Wast-Paper But here is the Question to be put to the King and Kingdom in General if the growing Greatness of the French and Hollanders has so much Increased within this thirty or forty years last past and still continue in the increasing of Sea-faring Men Mariners and their Naval Force

what will become of England in Ten or twenty years when in all probability they may be so Potent unless a speedy Check is put to their Carrier that we shall not be able to oppose them And 't is an Universal Maxim that the Forces of Potentates at Sea Sont des Marques de Grandeur d'Estat saith a French Author Whosoever Commands the Sea Commands the Trade of the World He that Commands the Trade Commands the Wealth of the World and consequently the World it self Again as he that is Master of a Field is said to be Master of every Town when it shall please him so he that is Master of the Sea may in some sort be said to be Master of every Countrey at least of such as are bordering on the Sea For he is at liberty to begin and end War where when and upon what Terms he pleaseth and extend his Conquests even to the Antipodes And England being encompassed with the Sea as aforesaid and abounding in Commodious and Excellent Havens Bayes and Ports it excels for Safety and Security which is no small Praise all the Neighbouring Countries in Europe if not all in the World and needs not fear any Neighbouring Nation but only that which grows Potent in Shipping for they onely can deprive us of our Main Security And if an Island can make us as the Continent And if this Nation is once over power'd at Sea we must expect to be the most miserable People in the Vniverse having for so many Generations last past Lorded it over the whole World by Sea that the very Name of the English struck a Terror into all those that durst oppose them When William the First subdued the Realm Conquerour of England that was an easy Fall it proving only prejudicial to some particular Families And he Residing in the Kingdom took all the care imaginable to preserve this Nation as already has been said by his Planting of a New-Forrest with Oaks to his perpetual Glory But if once the Naval Power of England be overcome by the French or Hollanders According to all Human Probability it must prove a Fatal overthrow so far as they can reach with Fire and Sword being Spurr'd on by Ambition and Avarice Revenge and Interest and then we should find the English saying to be too True That the French and Hollanders are like Fire and Water Good Servants but bad Masters And it is most certain that there is no other way to Maintain the Glory and Grandeur of this Kingdom but by Raising a National-Fishery which rightly understood is the Primum Mobile of the Nation 't is the only Palladium of this Realm without which 't is impossible to preserve or revive the former Glory of our Ancestors and Secure the Sovereignty of the British Seas and enrich the Kingdom by Navigation THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE British-Seas ASSERTED ENgland hath claimed a Prerogative of the British Seas time out of Mind and amongst our former and Ancient Kings King Edgar was very Potent who possessing an Absolute Dominion of the Seas Sailed Round about it every Year and secured it with a constant Guard as it is Recorded and what Dominion King Edgar had as absolute Lord of the Sea appears in these Words I Edgar King of England and of all the Islands and of the Ocean lying round about Britain and of all the Nations that are included within the Circuit thereof Supream Lord and Governour do render Thanks to Almighty God my King who hath enlarged my Empire and Exalted it above the Royal Estate of my Progenitors who altho they arrived to the Monarchy of all England ever since Athelstan yet the Divine Goodness hath favoured me to subdue all the Kings of the Islands in the Ocean with their most Stout and Mighty Kings even as far as Norway and the Greatest Part of Ireland together with their most Famous City of Dublin So far Edgar And after him King Conutus left a Testimony of his Sovereignty over the Sea In this Expression Thou O Sea art mine c. And from the Testimony of the Saxons and the Danes we shall descend to the Government of the Normans whereby many Notable and Clear Proofs we shall find as may be gathered out of that Breviary of England called Dooms-Day Rot. Par. 48 Hen. 3. 22. Edw. 1. 2. Rich. 2. The Tribute called Danegelt was paid in the time of the English Saxons which amounted to four Shillings upon every Hide of Land for the Defending the Dominion by Sea Roger Hoverden asserteth it was paid until the Reign of King Stephen and in the Parliament Records of King Richard the Second it is Observable that a Custom was Imposed upon every thing that passed thro' the Northern Admiralty that is from the Thames along the Eastern-Shoar of England towards the North-East for the Maintaining a Guard for the Seas And this was not imposed only upon the English but also upon all the Ships of Foreigners paying at the Rate of Six pence a Tun that passed by such Ships only excepted that brought Merchandize out of Flanders to London Rot. Par. 2 Rich. 2. part 2. Act 38. Seld. Mare Clausum page 334. Rot. Fran. 5. Hen. 4. Rot. Fran. 38. Hen. 6. Rot. Par. 23 Edw. And it appeareth by Publick Records containing divers main points touching which the Judges of the Land were to be consulted for the Good of the Common Wealth That the Kings Sea Dominion which they called the Antient Superiority of the Sea was a Matter beyond all Contradiction amongst all Lawyers of that Age and asserted by the Determinations and Customs of the Law of the Land and by Express Words of the Writs and Forms of the Actions themselves And this Truth was not only comfirmed by the Laws but by our Medals There hath been a Piece of Gold very often Coyned by our Kings called a Rose Noble which was Stamped on the one Side of it a Ship Floating in the Sea and a King Armed with a Sword and a Shield Sitting in the Ship it self as in a Throne to set forth the Representation of the English King by Sea The first Author hereof was Edward the Third when he Guarded his own Seas with a Potent Navy consisting of Eleven Hundred Ships at which time as at others he Marched Victoriously thro' France But of all that has been said there can hardly be alledged a more convincing Argument to prove the Truth of all that hitherto hath been spoken than the acknowledgment of the Sea Dominion of the Kings of England When the Agreement was made by Edward the first of England and Phillip the Fair of France Reyner Grimhald was then Admiral of the French Navy Intercepted and spoyled on the English Seas The Goods of many Merchants that were Sailing to Flanders as well English as others and was not contented with the depredation of their Goods but he Imprisoned their Persons and delivered them up to the Officers of the King of France And