234 BRITISH . CHAPTER VII . Fisheries of ^Rise, Progress, and Present State of these Fisheries—French and United States Fisheries on the Coast of ¬ land, Labrador , and the Gulf of Lawrence —Vast importance of these Fisheries, if exclusively possessed by Great Britain. The cod fishery on the banks of Newfoundland , and along the coasts of , commenced a few years after its discovery. In 1517, mention is made of the first English ship which had been at Newfoundland ; where, at the same time, fifty Spa¬ nish, French, and Portuguese ships were fishing. The French, in 1536, were extensively engaged in this fishery; and we find, that, in 1578, there were employed in it, by Spain one hundred ships, by Por¬ tugal fifty ships, and by England only fifteen ships.* The cause of the English having, at this period, so few ships in this branch of trade, was the fishery carried on by them at Iceland. The English ships, however, from this period, were considered the largest and best vessels, and soon became, and continued to be, the admirals. The Biscayans had, about the same time, from twenty to thirty vessels in the whale fishery at Newfoundland ; and some English ships, * Hakluyt—Herrara.