 He became an investor in the London and Bristol Company and acted as Sir Percival Willoughby's agent and guardian to his son Thomas at the Cuper's Cove plantation in Newfoundland.Crout was impressed with Newfoundland, and in his letters to Sir Percival Willoughby noted the potential of exploiting its rich resources and the possibility of establishing a fur trade with the Beothuk.He had noted in his correspondence the frequent raids of the pirate Peter Easton on the fishermen.