The North Atlantic Fisheries, 1100-1976 - University of Hull

herring, before it could go to buyers, could not be abolished. In 1857
Parliament decided differently. 193 The fisheries were freed of all
restrictions and prescriptions. Only one body would represent the
fisheries in relation to the government. This “College voor de
Zeevisserijen” could only give advice. Its carefully administered annual
reports have become a priceless source of information for historical
research. From 1857 onwards, anybody was allowed to catch, process
and sell any kind of fish. The effect, however, was not an immediate
revival of the fisheries. More was therefore required such as the
introduction of cotton nets and the lugger.
From Buys to Beam Trawler
Over the ages various types of fishing vessel have been used. Some have
a Dutch connotation, others have been copied from abroad. The buys is
of medieval origin and since the early fifteenth century associated with
the catch of herring, though it could occasionally be used for transport
purposes. The buys was the showpiece of the Republic’s herring fishery,
at its zenith in numbers of 500 to 600, built in shipyards of the herring
cities. Its cargo capacity fluctuated around 30 lasts or 60 tons, with a
length between stem and stern of 15 to 18 m. There had to be a balance
between the size of the vessel and the drift net. The buys was manned by
twelve men and two boys. Its main characteristic was the three low,
square rigged masts, of which the fore and main mast were struck when
the catch had begun. The buys was a keel vessel and continued to be used
into the nineteenth century.
The cod and haddock fisheries also had their own type of vessel: the
hoeker, a name derived from the hook or haak of the long-line. The
hoeker, a keel vessel too, is medieval in origin like the buys. As it
operated in winter time and near Iceland, it was of stronger construction.
It often had a fish well. For commercial aims, the hoeker was also
employed. The main difference with the buys was not in the hull and the
size, but in the presence of two masts (the main mast tall, the mizzen
small) and two continuous bulwarks. The buys’ bulwark had on both
sides an opening for the drift nets. Later in the seventeenth century the
hoeker became bigger. Around 1600 its capacity was no more than 10 to
193 Beaujon, Overzicht, 262-81; Smolders, ‘Opbeuring’.
116