| Rupert | Albermarle | ||||
| (signed) | Craven | G. Carterett | |||
| J. Hayes | P. Colleton. |
A last shout, the tramp of sailors running round the capstans, and the ships of the Gentlemen Adventurers of England trading to Hudson’s Bay are off; off to find and found a bigger empire for England than Russia and Germany, and France, and Spain, and Austria combined.
Notes on Chapter VI.—Full details of Radisson’s life prior to his coming to England, when he was an active explorer of New France, are to be found in the previous volume, Pathfinders of the West. The data for that volume came almost exclusively from the Marine Archives of Paris. The facts of this chapter are drawn from the Archives of Hudson’s Bay House, London, England, which I personally searched with the result of almost three hundred foolscap folio pages of matter pertaining to Radisson, and from the Public Records Office of London, which I had searched, by a competent person, on the Stuart Period. It is extraordinary how the Archives of France and the Archives of England dove-tail and corroborate each other in every detail regarding Radisson. King Charles’ letter in his favor is to be found in the Public Records Office, State Papers, Domestic Series, Entry Book 26. The Admiralty Board Books, No. 15, contain the correspondence regarding the voyage. The instructions to the captains—five foolscap pages—are in the S. P. Dom. Carl. II. No. 180. The exact data regarding Radisson’s movements, given in this chapter, are from his Manuscript Journal in the Bodleian and from the two petitions which he filed, one to the Company, one to Parliament, copies of which are in Hudson’s Bay House, London. It is necessary to give the authorities somewhat explicitly because in the case of Pathfinders of the West, the New York Evening Post begged readers to consult original sources regarding Radisson. As original sources are not open to the public, the advice was worth just exactly the spirit that animated it. However, transcripts of all data bearing on Radisson will be given to the public with his journals, in the near future.
CHAPTER VII
1668-1674
THE ADVENTURES OF THE FIRST VOYAGE—RADISSON DRIVEN BACK ORGANIZES THE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY AND WRITES HIS JOURNALS OF FOUR VOYAGES—THE CHARTER AND THE FIRST SHAREHOLDERS—ADVENTURES OF RADISSON ON THE BAY—THE COMING OF THE FRENCH AND THE QUARREL
At last, then, five years from the time they had discovered the Sea of the North, after baffling disappointments, fruitless efforts and the despair known only to those who have stood face to face with the Grim Specter, Ruin, Radisson and Groseillers set sail for Hudson Bay from Gravesend on June 3, 1668. Radisson was on the big ship Eaglet with Captain Stannard, Groseillers on The Nonsuch of Boston, with Captain Gillam.
Countless hopes and fears must have animated the breasts of the Frenchmen. It is so with every venture that is based on the unknown. The very fact that possibilities are unknown gives scope to unbridled fancy and the wildest hopes; gives scope, too, when the pendulum swings the other way, to deepest distrust. The country boy trudging along the road with a carpetbag to seek his fortunes in the city, dreams of the day when he may be a millionaire. By nightfall, he longs for the monotonous drudgery and homely content and quiet poverty of the plow.