The views of Tobias, 1614. mariners might be trebled," there is, nevertheless, in the paper he presented to King James a very large amount of valuable information with regard to the merchant shipping of the period, and much still more valuable advice. It is manifest from what he states that in consequence of the laws which even then greatly favoured foreign shipping, the English stood no chance of competing with the Dutch. But though the shipowners of England were loud in their complaints against the privileges granted to foreign nations, neither their rulers nor they themselves were disposed to entertain Raleigh's liberal policy. They preferred that of one "Tobias, gentleman fisherman and mariner" [what a number of Tobiases we have had since then!] who afterwards published a pamphlet entitled "The best way to make England the richest and wealthiest kingdom in Europe," in which he recommends the construction of one thousand busses upon a "national design,"—"each ward in London to provide one Busse, every company, and, if needs be, every parish, one," in order to compete with the Dutch. To encourage these investments he furnishes an estimate of the capital required and of the probable profits.
His estimate of the profits of busses. A busse, measuring from sixty to eighty tons, complete for sea, with her fishing implements and appurtenances, would cost, he estimates, somewhere about 500l. sterling, and such a vessel, he calculated, would hold good for twenty years with very little expenditure in the way of repairs, and only about 80l. annually for the wear and tear of her tackle, ropes, masts, and sails. Presuming that the busse caught herrings equal to one hundred last of barrels, which
