Kirke is believed to have visited Ferryland, as he published a report on the island of Newfoundland in 1635. He was impressed by the island's fisheries, and in 1637 he asked King Charles for a land grant. In November 1637 Kirke and his partners were granted a royal charter for co-proprietorship of the entire island. A portion of Newfoundland, the Avalon Peninsula, had already been granted to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, but he was accused of abandoning his colony before his death in 1632, and the lands were transferred to Kirke. The charter of this new grant had stipulations designed to reduce conflict with migratory fishermen; there was to be no settlement within six miles of the shore, fishing rooms were not to be occupied before the arrival of the summer fishing crews, and a five per cent tax was to be collected on all fish products taken by foreigners.