Henry Hudson
c. 1565-1611
English Explorer
Both a small but significant river in New York and an immense bay—by far the world's largest—in Canada are named after Henry Hudson. The great sea distance between these two bodies of water is a tribute to his wide-ranging explorations, and to his bold but ultimately tragic attempts toward finding the elusive Northwest Passage.
Ironically, Hudson spent the early part of his career searching for the Northeast Passage, the sea route via the northern coast of Russia and Siberia to China. In 1607, the Muscovy Company in his native England hired him for this purpose, but though he explored the forbidding regions of Jay Mayen Island and Svalbard between Scandinavia and Greenland, he did not find the passage. Another voyage the following year was cut short due to heavy ice.
In 1609, Hudson set sail yet again, this time under the aegis of the Dutch East India Company, aboard the Half Moon. The expedition had gotten no farther than the North Cape of Norway before running into heavy ice, and the crew refused to venture any further. Instead of returning to Holland, however, Hudson set his sights on finding the Northwest Passage, the sea route to Asia via the northern coast of North America.
By July 1609, the expedition had reached Nova Scotia, then turned south to Chesapeake Bay. They then explored Delaware Bay before entering New York harbor—none of these places bore these names at the time, of course—on September 12. They followed the harbor to the mouth of what is now known as the Hudson River, then sailed up the Hudson to the site of present-day Albany. They then sailed back down, stopping at theisland called "Manna-hata" by the Indians. At first the latter threatened them, even killing one of the crew members, but when the sailors offered them European goods, relations improved.
On his return trip to Europe, Hudson docked at Dartmouth, England, where he was seized by the authorities and forbidden to sail for any foreign powers. Nonetheless, he was able to pass on to his Dutch employers what he had observed on his trip: that the land around the harbor and river he had explored were rich and promising. This would influence the Dutch founding of New Netherland, a colony comprising what is now New York and New Jersey, in 1614.
Back in England, Hudson raised support for another voyage to find the Northwest Passage, and set sail aboard the Discovery on April 17, 1610. It appears that Hudson was never a very good manager of men, and long before they caught sight of land—Resolution Island, to the southeast of Baffin Island—discord had arisen among the crew members. Nonetheless, Hudson sailed onward.
The Discovery plied what is now called Hudson Strait, between Baffin Island and the northern coast of Quebec. It seemed to Hudson that he was on the verge of finding the Northwest Passage, and he proceeded with optimism. In fact they were sailing into Hudson Bay, which would be more properly identified as a sea—a sea half as large as the Mediterranean, but not a tenth as inviting to mariners.
By October, the expedition had reached a dead-end, a shallow inlet called James Bay at the southeastern corner of Hudson Bay. Cold weather was beginning to set in, and with it ice, so that the crew was forced to spend the winter there. Lacking adequate provisions—another mistake on Hudson's part—they suffered terribly during the cold months, and tensions grew.
Only on June 12, 1611 were they finally able to set sail again, but after just 12 days the crew mutinied against Hudson. On June 22, they set the captain adrift in a small boat with his 19-year-old son John and six of the less physically fit crew members. The eight men were never heard from again.
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