Abstract
The old fishing ports in the Netherlands are considered to have been isolated communities, both culturally and socially. Traditions were being kept alive and interaction with the outer world was limited to commercial activities related to fishing. Although this view is valid for some fishing ports up to the present, in the past exceptions were present as well. This article points to the differences in this perspective between two Dutch towns, Vlaardingen and Scheveningen between 1870 and 1950. In origin these towns were both traditional fishing ports, but where Scheveningen kept its relative isolation, Vlaardingen developed as an open labour market for fishermen. Whereas the Scheveningen fleet throughout this period was predominantly (around 95 per cent) manned with fisherman from the hometown, the crew of Vlaardingen ships was mixed with both local fisherman and labour migrants from other Dutch towns and even Germany. From the late 1870s the percentage of non-native crew aboard Vlaardingen vessels grew from just under half to almost three quarters in 1950.
Explanations can be sought in the economic, cultural and geographical conditions of both towns. Vlaardingen had a more ‘open’ economy than Scheveningen, which culminated in the second half of the nineteenth century when it gradually industrialised. Scheveningen on the other hand stuck to fishing. Immigration in Scheveningen was limited, while Vlaardingen since early modern times hosted a substantial amount of labour migrants, both seasonal and permanent. Culturally Vlaardingen was far more diverse than Scheveningen. It had for example a large Protestant community, but often fishermen were Roman Catholics. Vlaardingen was situated on the banks of the river Meuse, which geographic position connected the town to the economically important Dutch ‘water network’. Scheveningen on the contrary lay isolated between the seaside and The Hague.
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