Sir Thomas Smith and his colleagues had continued their efforts for the supply of funds for Arctic discovery during the absence of Hudson, and they bore fruit. The promoters sued to be incorporated as a Company to be called “The Governor and Company of the Merchants of London, Discoverers of the North-west Passage.” The Common Seal had on one side the royal arms with the Company’s title round it, on the other three ostrich feathers, having _Jurat ire per altum_ across and _Tibi serviat ultima thule_ round them. Sir Thomas Smith was appointed the first Governor. With him were Sir Dudley Digges, Sir Francis Jones, Sir James Lancaster, Sir John Wolstenholme, Sir E. Mansell, Sir W. Cockayne, and Richard Wyche as Directors; Sir A. Dawes, Richard Hakluyt, the Earls of Salisbury, Southampton, Nottingham, and other nobles and a long list of others, were venturers. The date of the Charter was July 26th, 1612. Young Prince Henry of Wales took a deep interest in the undertaking as is shown by the ostrich feathers on the obverse of the seal; and, in consultation with his friend Sir Walter Raleigh, he drafted and signed the instructions for the first voyage. He was our Prince Henry the Navigator[86]. The object of the first voyage of the Company was to follow up the work left incomplete by Hudson. Two vessels were selected, fitted out, and supplied with provisions for 18 months. An officer of tried valour and experience named Thomas Button was entrusted with the command, and the undertaking was under the special patronage of Prince Henry. Thomas Button was the son of Miles Button of Duffryn in Glamorganshire, whose family had been seated there for seven generations. Thomas was born at Duffryn and went to sea in 1592. He was in the West Indies with Captain Newport in 1603, and commanded a king’s ship in 1609. Button’s ship for the expedition to Hudson’s Bay was the _Resolution_, the second ship being the _Discovery_ under Captain Ingram. A relation named Gibbons, and a friend named Hawkridge accompanied him, while Bylot and Prickett, whose lies had prevented their cowardly acquiescence in the mutiny against Hudson from being found out, were both on board the _Resolution_.