Tudor+and+Stuart+Period

"Herring Industry In Decline"

After England became a Protestant country in the middle of the 16th century, the amount of fish eaten by people dropped. This was because there was no longer the religious requirement not to eat meat on certain specified occasions. Parliament passed an act in 1562 which required the consumption of fish on Fridays and Saturdays, but it was never really enforced and, anyway, it was not what was required to keep the English fishing industry healthy. One of the main drawbacks to trade was the vast superiority of the Dutch in the North Sea fishery, both in terms of the size of their fleets and also the quality of their pickled herrings. They had around 1,000 boats at sea in 1560, and by 1620 it had risen to 2,000. The vessels were 50 feet long and more, crewed by anything between ten and 15 men and boys, and they had a storage capacity of 35 to 100 lasts of fish (12,000 herring to the last) depending on size. They were the factory ships of their time, because the catches were processed on board, and their product was so good that at the end of the 16th century a last of Dutch pickles cost £25 compared with the East Anglian price of £10.

In the face of such a highly organised operation all the English herring merchants could do was moan about unfair competition from overseas. What they needed to do was build bigger boats themselves and take on the Dutch at their own game, but it just didn't happen. Throughout the whole of the 16th century the number of boats fishing for herring out of Lowestoft totalled about 20, giving rise to about 200 jobs at sea and on land. By 1670 it had still only risen to 25. Yarmouth, on the other hand, had around 200 vessels involved. Even the decline of the Dutch industry after the naval wars of the mid 17th century didn't result in a substantial growth in the English North Sea fleets. Things just stood still.

"Cod Enjoy A Comeback"

The one exception to this was the number of craft engaged in the Iceland cod voyages. Lowestoft's involvement here had almost died out one point during the reign of Elizabeth I, but by about 1650 the town had somewhere between 20 and 30 vessels going regularly. Large iron coppers stood out on The Denes, north of the town, in which cod livers were boiled to extract the oil. There was even some whaling carried on during the latter part of the 17th century, though nothing very large-scale. Again, the oil was boiled out the blubber down on The Denes. This area was also used as rough pasturage for livestock and many of the local people gathered the wild sea peas that grew there. This gave rise to Lowestoft fishermen being nicknamed "Pea Bellies". At this time, during the reign of Charles II, the town consisted of something like 200 or more dwelling-houses and had a population in the region of 1,000 inhabitants.