Sir William COURTEN died in June, 1636. The commercial enterprises of all kinds which were in full activity at the time of his death were continued by his son, who inherited large claims, large responsibilities, and large perils. And it was of the perils that—after his succession—he had earliest experience. [Sidenote: THE THIRD WILLIAM COURTEN.] Just before the father’s death, a complaint had been made to the Privy Council that certain ships which he had sent to Surat and other places had committed acts of ‘piracy near the mouth of the Red Sea.’ [Sidenote: _Domestic Corresp._, Charles I, vol. cccxliii, § 19.] It appeared afterwards that the ships which had given cause, or pretext, of complaint were not COURTEN’S ships, but the accusation entailed trouble, and was, to the heir, the beginning of troubles to come. The opposition of the East India Company to the Indian trading of ‘interlopers’ (as they were called already) was unremitting and bitter. [Sidenote: _Courten Papers_, in MS. Sloane, 3515, p. 38.] In June, 1637, William COURTEN, with a view to arm himself for the encounter, obtained from the Crown letters patent which empowered himself and his associates to trade with all parts of the East, ‘wheresoever the East India Company had not settled factories or trade before the twelfth day of December, 1635.’ One of his chief associates under the new grant was Endymion PORTER, and it appears that it was partly by PORTER’S influence at Court that the grant had been procured. Renewed activity was now shown in prosecuting the Eastern trade; new and large ventures were made in it. On some occasions as many as seven well-appointed ships were sent out by COURTEN and his associates at one time. Instructions are still extant which were given to the chief agents, supercargoes, and factors, for the settlement of English factories at many important places where none had heretofore existed. They are marked by great sagacity and breadth of view, and, in several points, contrast advantageously with contemporary documents of a like kind. [Sidenote: SEIZURE BY THE DUTCH OF THE BONA ESPERANZA AND HENRY BONADVENTURE IN THE INDIAN SEAS.]