Editing Pierre-Esprit Radisson (section)

===Trade and journeys to Hudson Bay===
[[File:Arrival of Radisson in an Indian camp 1660 Charles William Jefferys.jpg|thumb|right|Arrival of Radisson in an Indian camp in 1660.]]
Throughout their 1659–1660 voyage, the French explorers had heard references to a "salt sea" as an area with an abundance of good furs. They determined the reference must be to [[Hudson Bay]] and began to seek financing and sea-going ships for their new explorations.<ref name="Virtual Museum of New France" /> They could reach this destination by travel on waters outside the continent, instead of through a number of internal rivers.{{sfnp|Friesen|1987|p=49}} The first voyage to Hudson Bay was unsuccessful since the winter of that year came early, and they judged their rations on board insufficient to survive it. The pair were forced to return to [[Boston]] but were promised two ships and crew for a second attempt the following year.{{sfnp|Warkentin|2012|pp=303–304}}

This second attempt was cancelled after one of the ships was destroyed in a storm. The two men were invited to England to meet [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]] in 1665.<ref name="Virtual Museum of New France" />{{sfnp|Warkentin|2012|p=304}} There they passed the winter. In the spring, they left for the New World with ship's crew that the king had promised them.<ref name="Virtual Museum of New France" />{{sfnp|Warkentin|2012|p=305}} The vessel ''Eaglet'', which was carrying Radisson to Hudson's Bay, nearly sank in an Atlantic storm and was forced to turn back to [[Plymouth]], England.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|pages=173-180}} In September 1668, {{ship||Nonsuch|1650 ship|2}} landed in the [[Rupert River]] region on the shores of [[James Bay]], where Des Groseilliers used his knowledge of frontier living to build dwellings for the crew for wintering over.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|pages=180-181}} About 300 [[Cree]] Indians came up in the spring of 1669 to trade furs in exchange for European goods.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|pages=173-181}}

Radisson sought the support of a royal patron to secure a crown monopoly on trade within the Hudson's Bay region. [[Prince Rupert of the Rhine]], the king's first cousin and a war hero on the royalist side during the [[English Civil War]], became that patron.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|page=171}} Prince Rupert was not considered to be a good businessman and was not one of the king's closest friends, but he was the only member of the royal family prepared to champion the Radisson–Des Groseilliers project of fur trading at Hudson's Bay, and critical to their getting a [[royal charter]] from Charles II.{{sfnp|Fournier|2002|page=171}} While soliciting financing from the [[City of London]], Radisson and des Groseilliers had the advantages of being the only men who knew how to survive in the North, and who also knew the local languages and customs of the Indians, and the geography.