The Lord of Norumbega was given 45,000 livres and full authority to enlist sailors and colonists for his expedition.

The latter appears to have been a difficult task, and, after the custom of the day, recourse was presently had to the prisons to recruit the ranks of the prospective settlers.

Letters were issued to Roberval authorizing him to search the jails of Paris, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rouen, and Dijon and to draw from them any convicts lying under sentence of death.

Exception was made of heretics, traitors, and counterfeiters, as unfitted for the pious purpose of the voyage.

The gangs of these miscreants, chained together and under guard, came presently trooping into St Malo.