The Burgar/Burgess families in Shetland

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The Dutch fishing Industry.⁴⁹

The Dutch fishing industry was started pre 1500 and was by far the largest in Europe up to 1700.

Each year up to about 1000 Dutch fishing boats would fish in Shetland waters.  They had a very efficient fish processing system using what would now be called factory ships (busses).  Busses were large ships that processed fish.  Herring were caught in small boats and brought to the busses where they were gutted and put in brine in barrels.  These barrels were then loaded onto other ships for transport to Holland.

The Dutch trade was a major source of income for Shetland.  Some money was earned by immoral purposes, such that in 1615, the Scalloway Court legislated that ¹³

However, good times came to an end in the late 1600s and early 1700s when the French Navy attacked Shetland several times.

See reports by Shetlanders on the pillage of ships and property in Shetland by the French.

In 1702 it was reported that the French Navy destroyed the Dutch naval ships that were protecting their fishing fleet of Shetland.  This was followed by three French warships entering Bressay Sound, were they burned Lerwick including Fort Charlotte, and destroyed much of the Dutch herring buss fleet lying at anchor in the harbour. It is said that up to 400 busses were destroyed.

The Dutch never recovered from the destruction of the Dutch warships and fishing fleet.  Thus an era of prosperity in Shetland ended in the early 1700s.⁴⁹

However, the Dutch fleet eventually resumed fishing and in 1761 it was reported that the Dutch had 152 vessels in the Shetland herring fishery and 122 in Iceland.

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