 Through his trade , Molyneux was known to the explorers Thomas Cavendish , John Davis , Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh , the writer Richard Hakluyt , and the mathematicians Robert Hues and Edward Wright . The construction of globes by Molyneux appears to have been suggested by Davis to his patron William Sanderson , a London merchant who has been described as " one of the most munificent and patriotic of merchant @-@ princes of London in the days of Elizabeth I " . Sanderson readily agreed to bear the manufacturing costs , and financed initial production of the globes with a capital investment of £ 1 @,@ 000 ( almost £ 160 @,@ 000 as of 2007 ) . 
