vincent on 23 Mar 2004  •  Link

Herring fish of the times: they are different too from other fish:
fish swim in schools and herrings in shoals: the Red herring and the Dutch gruen haringen.
Rich got fresh fish the {farmed fish} from own stocks: the poor got the salted ones;
the French expreesion: le caque sent toujours le hereng: says it all:
Herrings must be salted within 24 hrs. of being out of water.
A herring barrel contains 500- 600 fish and 55 pints of salt.
according to mythology the Red Herring was invented by One guy or it was accident of keeping fish on the rafters before salting and the smoke turned the fish red in the morning.
Also the herring was the diet of the Swedish soldiers during the 30 yrs. war, running around Poland and elswhere.

Michiel van der Leeuw on 20 Oct 2004  •  Link

And still......
raw herring (with chopped onions) is one of the Netherlands's national dishes, to be eaten out in the open.

vicente on 21 Oct 2004  •  Link

Herr ing: for more on the kipper[not sea trout or salmon versions] see Salt [book pen quin] by Mark Kurlansky. A worthy reading of history and the mundane fact of life, it was a very important ingredient, that allowed humans to survive to invent this modern age. [sardines are kissing cousins]; One of the staples of trade: The Dutch sailors enjoyed[?]salt cured Herring for war ships and commerce as the British did Cod: Gleaned from Salt P 130;

Bill on 18 Aug 2013  •  Link

Salted Herrings applied whole to the Soles of the Feet, are good to avert the Humours, which mount to the Head, and to allay the burning Heat of Fevers; being reduced into Ashes, they give it in Liquor to dissolve the Stone.
---Dictionaire oeconomique, N. Chomel, 1725.

San Diego Sarah on 24 Apr 2021  •  Link

"The herring industry in the North Sea had from the 15th century been dominated by the Dutch.

"By the 17th century over 1,000 boats were sent out each season. The Dutch fleets started fishing on 24 June off the Shetlands and followed the herring south reaching the Thames Estuary by December.

"To break the deadlock the Dutch held on the North Sea fisheries it was proposed in England to set up a national fishery organization. An association was formed in 1632 with its supply base in Deptford but because of a lack of capital the Royal Fishery had ground to a halt by 1638.

"Sufficient interest had been awakened to enforce territorial and therefore fishing claims. There wasn’t, in the 17th century, any international agreement on territorial waters although it was standard practice to adopt the convention that if land could be sighted from the main-tops the water between was territorial. Lawyers brought in by both countries needed to be more specific.

"Grotius the Dutchman in “Mare Liberum” (1609) argued for complete freedom at sea, but John Seldon in “Mare Clausum” (1635) claimed all waters bordering up to other countries as territorial.

Kings "James I and Charles I insisted the Dutch buy licenses to fish in the North Sea. Charles I had more success as the revitalized Royal Navy enforced the legislation.

"When the Second Anglo-Dutch war was declared in 1665, both the Dutch and English fleets withdrew, as they did again in 1674.

"By 1750 the industry was in decline and wouldn’t pick up again until the advent of the Scottish fishing fleets of the 19th century."

http://www.kafs.co.uk/pdf/port.pdf
The Historical Development of the Port of Faversham, Kent 1580-1780
The Kent Archaeological Field School
Director; Paul Wilkinson, PhD, MIfA, FRSA.