IN THE YEAR 1613. 
19 
in his old age, was its founder and first governor; and 
the discovery of Frobisher’s Straits, Davis’s Straits, 
Hudson’s Bay and Baffin’s Bay, the important voyage 
of Sir Humphrey Gilbert to Newfoundland, and many 
minor explorations upon the northern coasts of this 
continent, are included among the fruits of its organiza¬ 
tion. 9 
So much reference to maritime events in the Northern 
regions as will place our voyage to Spitzbergen in its 
proper historical position may be regarded as pertinent 
to the objects of this introduction. 
Two companies for a long time controlled the trade 
of England, — the Merchants of the Steelyard and the 
Merchants of the Staple. The first, sometimes called 
the German Company, was a foreign institution, depend¬ 
ent on the continental league of commercial cities 
known as the “ Hanse Towns; ” which, having obtained 
a footing in London for its factors more than two cen¬ 
turies before, was established by a formal treaty in 1475. 
The Merchants of the Staple were incorporated as early 
as 1313 ; but the Steelyard Company had the advantage 
of connections abroad, which enabled them to secure a 
supremacy over the external dealings of the kingdom. 
Antwerp was the emporium of European commerce: 
it was the mart where the English merchants sold their 
native products, and purchased the commodities of other 
lands. 
9 While the sanction of the Company was required for these expeditions, the ex¬ 
pense was generally defrayed by private subscription; a few men — like Smith, Digges, 
Wolstenholme, Sanderson, Cherie, &c. — assuming the principal charge, and sharing 
the profits, if any, in the same proportion. Sir Humphrey Gilbert “ went out by leave 
and admittance of the Muscovia Company” ( Edge's Narrative , in Purchas). 
