Meanwhile, the Plymouth Company, mainly by virtue of the activity of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who became indefatigable in his colonizing ardor, and of Chief Justice Popham, had also commenced operations. In 1600 had occurred Gorges's unfortunate connection with the revolt of Essex, which had blasted his character in the eyes of the Puritans, and so served, perhaps, to embitter his future relations with Massachusetts. He had been for some time reinstated as Governor of Plymouth, when Weymouth returned from his voyage in 1605; and from him Gorges obtained possession of the three natives whom the captain had kidnaped on the coast of Maine. Having learned much from them of the nature of the country and its inhabitants, he despatched a vessel under Captain Henry Challons, in August, four months after the granting of the charter, with strict instructions to take the northern route to Cape Breton, and then to follow the coast southward to the place the natives had described.[103] Challons disobeyed the order, went southward by the West Indies, and was captured by the Spaniards, some of the crew, with himself and the two natives, being carried to Spain, and others, by accident, to Bordeaux. The latter, after having filed claims with the authorities of the port, and left a “Letter of a Turnye,” returned to England, as did also, after some time and difficulty, Challons himself.[104] Footnote 103: Gorges, “Briefe Narration,” _Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll._, Series III, vol. VI, pp. 51 _f._ Various members of the company were associated with Gorges, but he seems to have been the leader in this venture, as Popham was in the next. An account of the voyage, written by John Stoneman, the pilot, is in Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, vol. XIX, pp. 284-96. Footnote 104: J. P. Baxter, _Sir Ferdinando Gorges_, vol. III, pp. 129-32, 168; _Cal. State Pap., Col., 1675-76_, p. 53. Although the little ship of fifty-five tons had carried only twenty-nine Englishmen, it had been the intention to leave some of them for settling, “if any good occasion were offered”; and the Chief Justice had also dispatched a ship, under Captain Hanham, to meet and assist Challons in the enterprise. This, of course, he was unable to do; but he explored the shore, taking back with him to the company “the most exact discovery of that coast that ever came into their hands.”[105] The reports were considered so encouraging that a much more considerable effort was next made by the adventurers. Footnote 105: Gorges, “Briefe Narration,” p. 53. No account of this voyage has been preserved, although Purchas had one in his possession written by Hanham. _Vide_ Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, vol. XIX, p. 296.