Although this appeal did not produce the desired patriotic effect, it directed public attention to the depressed state of the merchant shipping interest of England, which reached so low an ebb in 1615 that there were only ten ships belonging to the port of London of more than two hundred tons burthen.[162] In that year the corporation of the Trinity House presented a petition to the King pointing out, in very strong terms, the evil results which would ensue from a perseverance of such neglect of the shipping interest, and recommending a highly protective policy; but numerous persons who were deeply interested in maintaining the merchant navy in a high state of prosperity, opposed altogether any measure prohibiting, as had been proposed, the export of British commodities in foreign bottoms. When, however, extremes meet, the necessity of a change becomes apparent, and the unfair advantages so long granted to foreign nations as against English shipping had at length roused the people to adopt those retaliatory measures of legislation which, ignoring Raleigh’s sound advice, eventually culminated in the highly protective maritime laws of Cromwell. [Sidenote: Colonising expeditions to North America.] But amid the depression which then prevailed, English shipowners did not overlook the advantages to be derived from trading with the newly discovered world of North America. Though the expeditions to that country, promoted by Sir Walter Raleigh and his relations, had terminated disastrously, the merchants of London and Bristol frequently despatched small vessels thither with trinkets and articles of little value, exchanging them profitably for the skins and furs of the native Indians. In 1602 Captain Gosnold[163] made for the first time the voyage direct across the Atlantic, without sailing by way of the Canaries round the West Indies and through the Gulf of Florida, as had been the previous practice of navigators. In 1606, two maritime companies, under charter from King James, were authorised to colonise and plant the American coast within the 34th and 41st degrees of latitude. One of these, known as the South Virginia Company, afterwards formed the provinces of Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina; and the second, the “Plymouth Adventurers,” was empowered to establish plantations as far as the 45th degree of latitude, their assignment of territory embracing Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and other New England towns. In the same year the “London Company” sent out two ships and founded “James-Town” in Virginia; and in 1612 Bermuda was also settled. [Sidenote: 1625.] [Sidenote: Charles I. assumes power over the colonies.]