He may have been inspired by the traveller's accounts of cormorant fishing in China by Odoric of Pordenone, Galeote Pereira, and Juan González de Mendoza, which were translated into English and printed by Richard Hakluyt, R. Willes, and R.
[5] Another member of the family, his son, Robert Wood, helped set up cormorant houses near Westminster Palace in 1618.
The vine garden was moated, and new work included nine fish-ponds fed by Thames water for cormorant training.
In 1623 a servant of Francis Wortley stole a royal cormorant by forging a message, apparently as a practical joke.
Wood also made the same bargain with William Melyn who was a broker in selling royal appointments.