The land itself seems not to have been thought worth investigating until Bartholomew Gosnold made a clandestine voyage thither, to his own profit, and to Raleigh's annoyance, in 1602. Formerly, this little trading trip of Gosnold's, undertaken for the Earl of Southampton, Lord Cobham, and others, was thought to have been a serious attempt at colonization with the consent of Raleigh, the sphere of operations lying within the limits of his patent. The voyage thus secured more attention from historians than it deserved. Apparently some sort of permanent trading-post was, indeed, intended, as of the thirty-two persons who went to America, twenty were expected to “remayne there for population.”[69] None did, however; and after having visited Massachusetts Bay, christened Cape Cod, and spent some time on the island of Cuttyhunk, where they built a fort, and loaded their ship with sassafras, the whole company returned to England, after an absence of four months. Raleigh, ignorant of the episode, but finding the “sassephrase” market taking a sudden drop, investigated, and the fact of the voyage came to light. Although he confiscated the cargo, he became reconciled with both Gosnold and his own nephew, Bartholomew Gilbert, who also had had a hand in the business, and both were subsequently employed in Virginia.[70] Footnote 69: S. Purchas, _Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas His Pilgrimes_ (ed. Glasgow, 1905), vol. XVIII, p. 302. Footnote 70: The clandestine nature of the voyage is proved by B. F. deCosta, “Gosnold and Pring,” in _N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register_, 1878, vol. XXXII, pp. 76-80. In the following year, Raleigh's consent was obtained by Hakluyt and some merchants of Bristol, to the sending out of another expedition, under Martin Pring, with some of Gosnold's men aboard, for the purposes of trade.[71] The little company, in their two vessels, coasted along the shores of Maine, explored Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Harbor, overlooked by Gosnold, and having loaded their ships with the much-desired sassafras, went back to England, to confirm Gosnold's good opinion of the country. This was to receive still further confirmation from Weymouth two years later. Footnote 71: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, vol. XVIII, pp. 322-28.