Nonsuch

Hudson Bay Company (HBC) commissions Hinks Shipyard in Appledore to make a replica of the ketch Nonsuch for its tercentenary. Mr J Hinks shows the intricate work on the hull with carvings coming from Jack Whitehead on the Isle of Wight. The launch took place in 1968 and the ship sailed to Canada to mark the original exploratory voyage taken by its Captain Zachariah Gillam to establish new fur trade routes sponsored by King Charles II’s cousin Prince Rupert.

Two Frenchmen Radisson and de Groseilliers were behind the journey and had already failed once in 1663 after being backed by wealthy Bostonians. Two years after the establishment of the route in 1668 the HBC was set up by Royal Charter linked to the English crown as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay. The area, now part of Canada, developed as Rupert’s Land and HBC went on to act as a quasi autonomous government with an outright monopoly over trade and to extend its influence in regions where official structures were not established. HBC moved into retail and still trades as a global brand today. The Nonsuch replica is in Winnipeg at the Manitoba Museum in Canada.