The old items that had originally been stored in the warehouse were brought out and placed in the courtyard.
Georgiana roughly sorted through them. For the Dutch, even a kitchen would have one or two paintings hanging in it. After years of smoke and fire, even former treasures no longer resembled their original state and needed restoration.
There was also some furniture. Certain chests contained expensive silks and spices; even after so many years, their former luxury was still apparent. Yet with the passage of time, many had faded or even decayed, leaving them almost worthless. Still, throwing them away seemed such a shame, so they were set aside with the scrolls that had been found.
In truth, the Dutch had not willingly become "the coachmen of the sea." Many of those scrolls were written in Portuguese. In the fifteenth century, the Portuguese and Spanish began the Age of Discovery, and there was no sign of the Dutch during that period. At the time, the Dutch fishing industry was the pillar of their economy, with herring providing a livelihood for one-fifth of the Dutch population. But herring was a natural resource, and the Creator had not granted the Dutch exclusive rights to it. Other peoples living along the North Sea also organized fleets to catch herring, and the Dutch and Scots fought three wars over fishing grounds.
Dutch fishermen had to travel hundreds of kilometers out into the waters off Denmark. The fishing season was generally in summer, and herring, unlike sardines, could not be kept alive and brought back to port with catfish. So the Dutch began selling salted fish, preserving their catch with salt.
During the Middle Ages, salt was a commodity that could be used as currency. With salt and salted fish, the Dutch began transport and