first governor, Captain John Dutton, arrived in 1659, making Saint Helena one of Britain's earliest colonies outside North America and the Caribbean. A fort and houses were built: Jamestown had been founded, "in the narrow valley between steep cliffs". After the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a royal charter, giving it the sole right to fortify and colonise the island. The fort was renamed James Fort and the town was called Jamestown, in honour of the Duke of York, later King James II. Between January and May 1673, the Dutch East India Company seized the island, but English reinforcements restored East India Company control. The island was fortified with approximately 230 gun turrets. The British government sent some settlers and gave them land that they could farm but the company experienced difficulty attracting an adequate number of immigrants, in spite of advertisements in London and free tracts of land. By 1670, the population was only 66, including slaves. There was also unrest and rebellion among the inhabitants. Ecological problems, such as deforestation, soil erosion, vermin and drought, led Governor Isaac Pyke to suggest in 1715 that the population be moved to Mauritius, but that was not acted upon. The company continued to subsidise the community because of the island's strategic location. A census in 1723 recorded 1,110 inhabitants, including 610 slaves. In the peak era, a thousand ships per year stopped there leaving the governor to try to police the numerous visitors and to limit the consumption of arrack, made from potatoes. Two mutinies occurred, perhaps fueled by alcohol. Because Jamestown was "too raucous with its taverns and brothels", St Paul's Cathedral was built outside the town. Eighteenth-century governors tried to tackle the island's problems by planting trees, improving fortifications, eliminating corruption, building a hospital, tackling the neglect of crops and livestock, controlling the consumption of alcohol, and introducing legal reforms. The island enjoyed a lengthy period of prosperity from about 1770. Captain James Cook visited the island in 1775 on the final leg of his second circumnavigation of the world. St. James' Church was built in Jamestown in 1774, and Plantation House in 1791–1792; the latter has since been the official residence of the Governor. Edmond Halley visited Saint Helena on leaving the University of Oxford in 1676, and set up an astronomical observatory with a aerial telescope, intending to study the