They Also Carried On A Considerable Trade With
Kola, A Town In Russian Lapland, For Fish Oil And Salmon:
Of the latter
they sometimes brought to England 10,000 at one time.
But in this trade the
Dutch likewise interfered.
The fishery for whales near Spitzbergen was first undertaken by the company
in 1597. In 1613, they obtained from King James an exclusive charter for
this fishery; and under this, fitting out armed ships, they expelled
fifteen sail of French, Dutch, and Biscayners, besides some private English
ships. But the Dutch persevered, so that next year, while the Russian
Company had only thirteen ships at the whale fishery, the former had
eighteen. The success of their whale fishery seems to have led to the
neglect of their Russian trade, for, in 1615, only two vessels were
employed in it, instead of seventeen great ships formerly employed. From
this period, the commerce carried on between Russia and England, by the
Russian Company, seems gradually to have declined.
The commerce between England and the other parts of Europe, during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, presents little that calls for notice;
as the manufactures and capital of England encreased, it gradually
encreased, and was transferred from foreign to English vessels. The exports
consisted principally of woollen goods, prepared skins, earthen-ware, and
metals. The imports of linens, silks, paper, wines, brandy, fruits,
dye-stuffs, and drugs. The woollen cloths of England were indeed the staple
export to all parts of England during the whole of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries:
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