and in due time the _Eaglet_ is handed over
to Captain Stannard, acting under Radisson. Gillam takes his own
plantation ship, the _Nonsuch_, under orders from Groseilliers.

The instructions to the captains are signed by Prince Rupert, Craven,
Hayes, Albemarle, Carteret, Colleton, and Portman. These instructions
bid the captains convey the vessels to the place where 'the rendezvous
was set up as Mr Gooseberry and Mr Radisson direct, there to raise
fortifications,' having 'in thought the discovery of a passage to the
South Sea under direction of Mr Gooseberry and Radisson,' and to
prosecute trade always under directions of Mr Gooseberry and Mr
Radisson, and to have 'a particular [_sic_] respect unto them with all
manner of civility and courtesy.'

Dear old Company! From its very origin it conformed to the canons of
gentlemanly conduct and laid more emphasis on courtesy than on spelling.
Those curious instructions were indicative of its character in later
times. But we quite understand that there was other object in that
voyage than the North-West Passage.

The two ships sailed for Hudson Bay in the spring of 1668. In mid-ocean
they were driven apart by storms. Gillam's _Nonsuch_ with Groseilliers
went on, but the _Eaglet_ with Radisson was disabled and forced to
return, and the season was now too late to permit Radisson to set sail
again until the following spring.

During the interval of enforced idleness Radisson seems to have
diligently courted Mary Kirke, the daughter of Sir John, and to have
written the account of his journeys through the wilds of America. It is
possible that Radisson was inspired to write these journals by Pepys,
the celebrated diarist, who was at this time chief clerk of the
Admiralty, and who lived next door to the Kirkes on Tower Hill. At any
rate it is clear that the journals fell into Pepys' hands, for they were
found two hundred years later in the Pepys collection at the Bodleian
Library.

In the spring of 1669, on the recommendation of the king, the Admiralty
lent the ship _Wavero_ to the adventurers that Radisson might sail to
Hudson Bay. In his eagerness Radisson set out too early. For a second
time he was driven back by storm, but, on coming in to harbour at
Gravesend, what was his delight to find the _Nonsuch_ back from Hudson
Bay with Groseilliers and Gillam and such a cargo of furs from the
Rupert river as English merchants had never before dreamed!

The _Nonsuch_ had reached Hu