This so-called “Black Book” contains the most ancient laws of the sea in force in this country, and continued to be the standard authority in the Admiralty Court until the end of the eighteenth century, when it suddenly disappeared, but in 1874 it was accidentally discovered at the bottom of a chest belonging to a former Registrar of the Admiralty Court. To-day this book is kept in a glass-topped, locked table in the room of the President of the Admiralty Court. It was probably called black to distinguish it from other books of reference, but the late Sir Douglas Owen, who had examined it about the year 1911, said that the cover was now very much the colour of a worn-out leather strap. It measures 9½ inches high and 6¼ inches wide, the leaves being either thin parchment or a stout tough paper. The first part of the book is written in archaic French, but it was not all written at one time nor by one person. In other words, as the Merchant Marine of England grew in numbers and importance, as the trade with the continent got bigger, so the English maritime law kept up with the progress. The first part of the “Black Book” belongs to the time of Edward III or Richard II, the latter part to the time between Henry IV and Henry VI. Thus, part of the book shows that the English Mercantile Marine was of sufficient size and importance in the period between 1327 and 1351 to necessitate a body of laws. In character the ships of Northern waters were based on those of the Norsemen—that is to say, they were double-ended, long, and propelled by one large square-sail, or with oars when necessary. As time went on, these craft became beamier, and approximated to the cargo ships of the Mediterranean, the twofold objects aimed at being seaworthiness and capacity for carrying as much as possible in their holds. But there is this important fact to bear in mind, and its value can hardly be exaggerated, as we shall presently find. The North Sea has from the earliest records until the present day been the home of the herring, and on the herring the nations of the North have prospered, built their Mercantile Marines, grown rich, created their navies and expanded commercially. The fishing fleets have only to put to sea and they can extract silver fortunes—it is, so to speak, money for nothing, or for very little. That is the broad, general statement, though in practice it is modified by the migrations of the herring, which did actually alter the trend of history.