Nonsuch

 The first notable ketch was the Nonsuch. She was an eight-gun ketch built in 1650 at Wivenhoe, Essex, England. She was purchased by the navy in 1654 and served until 1667, when she was sold to Sir William Warren. The Nonsuch was small for a ketch. She was only 50 feet long and 15 feet in width. In 1667, the Nonsuch was loaned to M`dard Chouart and Pierre Esprit Radisson. They sailed from London, Sieur des Groselliers, on June 5, 1668, with a cargo of "wampumeage." They sailed into Hudson Bay and on September 29, 1668, landed on the south shores of James Bay. There they built Fort Charles (later renamed Rupert's House) on the Rupert River. After trading with the Indians for a year, Groselliers returned to England in October 1669 with a cargo of furs. The following year the Hudson's Bay Company was formally incorporated and given by king's grant an area equivalent to nearly forty percent of modern Canada. The Nonsuch regularly patrolled the waters around the trading colony and had several engagements with raiders who were believed to be French privateers. The Nonsuch was instrumental in founding one of the oldest commercial organizations in the world.