of the City of London and Bristol for the Colony or Plantations in
Newfoundland." London and the West of England were thus associated, as
they had been in the Virginian Company of 1606. There were forty-six
members, including the Earl of Northampton, Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas
Aldworth, Mayor of Bristol, John Guy and Philip Guy of Bristol; and
the territory granted to them comprised the lands from Cape St. Mary
to Cape Bonavista. The same year John Guy, the first Governor, led out
the first colony to Newfoundland, landed at Conception Bay, and
selected for his capital Cuper's Cove (Port de Grave). Guy and his
companions then built a fort, a dwelling-house, a workshop, and a
boat, sowed corn, and made preparations for the winter. Next fishing
ordinances were issued by the Governor. "That struck the first note of
a conflict which was to last for 150 years, and of which the echoes
may yet be heard. The fishermen, merchants, and seamen who flocked to
the coast for the fishing season vehemently resented anything which
might seem to threaten their turbulent lawlessness, and the great
merchants in England, who were profiting by the fisheries, were
jealous lest the planters should in some way interfere with their
operations; but, for a time, the planters had sufficient influence
through the patentees in England to maintain themselves."[24] After a
sojourn of six summers--though only three winters--in Newfoundland,
Guy returned to Bristol, and spent the remainder of his life there in
his aldermanic dignity.

He was succeeded (1615) in the Governorship by Captain John Mason who,
together with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, founded New Hampshire and Maine.
Mason stayed six years in the island; he explored it, prepared a map
of it, encouraged the growth of corn successfully, and with less
success endeavoured to establish commercial intercourse with the Red
Indians.