As early as 1620, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others had been interested in the colonisation of New England; and in a document issued in the following year, strict injunctions were laid down for the carrying out of material fit for the foundation of a settlement. Thus, every "shipp of three score tons shall carry w^{th} them twoe Piggs, two Calves, twoe couple of tame Rabbetts, two couple of Hens and a cocke."[113] Nothing, however, seems to have been permanently established, and within two years this New England Company is said to have been "in a moribund condition."[114] In 1623 some Dorchester traders started a fishing station at Cape Ann, Massachusetts Bay. The manager was Roger Conant, who had disagreed with his brethren in New Plymouth and had separated from them. Three years later the scheme was abandoned; most of the settlers returned except Conant and a small band who "squatted" at Naumkeag, better known in later years as Salem. The failure of the merchants did not discourage John White, incumbent of Dorchester, and he determined to form a settlement for Puritans, from which there sprang the colony of Massachusetts. Matters were at once hurried on, and in 1629 six Puritan partners obtained a grant of land from the New England Company, which was to extend westward as far as the Pacific Ocean, then believed to be but a short distance. One of the partners, John Endecott, was selected to occupy the land. On his arrival he had some trouble with an earlier but somewhat disreputable squatter called Morton, who had formed a little colony, Merry Mount, where, apparently, his perfectly innocent sports, such as dancing round the Maypole, annoyed the stern New Englanders, and made them class such diversions as "beastly practices." Endecott took strong measures, and as the Maypole was particularly disgusting to the Puritan mind, he settled the matter by hewing "down the _infelix arbor_."[115] A royal charter was readily granted in March 1629, establishing the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, but omitting to insist on the Company's meetings being held in England. It was not a very great step, therefore, to transfer the schemes of a mere trading company to the principles of a self-sufficing colony; and before the end of the year the interests of the traders passed into the hands of ten persons who were particularly concerned in the prosperity of the colony, which in the future was regarded as perfectly distinct from the Company. The necessary preliminaries having been satisfactorily concluded, emigration began at once. The character of the colonists was very superior to that of the "riff-raff" that had been sent to Virginia. Some of the most intellectual clergymen of the day took a deep interest in the undertaking, a few indeed actually accompanied the three hundred and fifty settlers who embarked for their new homes.