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HENRY HUDSON’S FIRST JOURNEY TO THE

By Peter C. Mancall

In Fatal Journey: The Final Ex- ike the needle of a , Henry Hudson was always attracted to the north. In 1607, he led a mission that he hoped would take him from pedition of Henry Hudson—A Tale England over the top of the world and past the pole toward East Asia. It of Mutiny and Murder in the Arctic L would be the first of four voyages that would make him one of the most (Basic Books, 2009), historian intrepid and important explorers of his age. His name would eventually attach to the sites he explored: the Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay. Peter C. Mancall chronicles the Like all European explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries, Hudson knew that demise of the famed 17th-century fame and immense riches would accrue to the one who found a new and quick route British explorer. In this excerpt to East Asia and the southwest Pacific. For almost a century, the English had sought from the new book, Mancall de- a shortcut. The English East India Company, organized only a few years earlier, had already begun sailing vessels home from the Spice Islands laden with pepper, cinna - scribes Hudson’s first attempt to mon, cloves, and nutmeg. But they had to follow the long course from India around chart a new path to the . Africa before arriving in —a journey through thousands of of open

HUNTINGTON FRONTIERS 7 that put them at risk of assault by Barbary pirates who had the unfortunate habit of taking English sailors captive and selling them as slaves. Hudson realized that a northern passage—despite the risks every sailor confronted in the Arctic—could cut the substantially, and thereby increase profits by reducing the costs of any venture. Little is known about Hudson before his first attempt to navigate northward to Asia. The date and place of his birth remain uncertain, as does his family background.Yet while few documents reveal much about Hudson’s private life, he left detailed narratives of his early journeys of 1607 (written with the assistance of a crewman named John Playse) and 1608. Robert Juet, his mate, wrote an account of their 1609 voyage to the mid-Atlantic coast of . Those narratives fell into the hands of the younger Richard Hakluyt, editor of the widely influential Principal Navigations,Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation (published in three volumes in London from 1598 to 1600). Hakluyt was always eager to promote overseas exploration and commerce but did not publish Hudson’s reports, preferring instead to pass them to Samuel Purchas, the Anglican priest who acquired many of Hakluyt’s manuscripts and published them in 1625 in an enormous four-volume work titled Purchas his Pilgrimes . (The original editions of the books by Hakluyt and Purchas are in The Huntington’s extraordinary collection of early modern English books.) Hudson was not a particularly ele - gant writer, and Juet possessed minimal talents. But 400 years later, their reports and a small number of other surviving doc - uments still transport the reader to the often brutal seascape of the North Atlantic in the opening years of the 17th century.

n April 19, 1607, Hudson led a party of 11 men to St. Ethelburga’s Church on Bishopsgate Street in London, where they O joined the congregation for communion, probably seeking divine protection from the unknown menaces they might encounter. Hudson’s son John, who was then 14, joined the party for communion. Within days, he would become the crew’s youngest member. His father predated the printing of Columbus’ first narrative in 1493. was grooming him for a life of sailing long distances, braving These observers recognized that Europeans craved direct nature at some of its fiercest points. Four days later, Hudson observations. This desire for eyewitness testimony fueled a guided the Hopewell down theThames.The captain’s plan was continent-wide publishing trend to label new accounts as simple: he would lead the ship due north, across the pole, and “true” reports, to differentiate them from the fables spun by would soon arrive in East Asia.The scheme was audacious but earlier writers such as the 14th-century English fabulist Sir appealing—or at least it was to the 10 men who attended the John Mandeville, who filled the account of his purported service and joined Hudson for the mission, and presumably travel with reports of monsters he claimed he saw. it was to those who provided financing for the expedition. For Hudson, the desire to describe places had a special Hudson’s report fits into the longstanding tradition among urgency: he wanted to let others know if it was possible to European explorers of providing firsthand accounts of travels survive in northern territories rife with ice-strewn bays and and of places they discovered—a literary practice that even beset by fierce storms.The nature of Hudson’s report changed

8 Spring /Summer 2009 Earlier explorers had tried and failed to sail through the frozen north, among them , who made three attempts between 1576 and 1578 under commission from Queen Elizabeth I. This map by , one of the most famous mapmakers in 16th-century Europe, illustrates car - tographers’ belief that there existed an ice-free surrounding the North Pole, which meant it should be possible for explorers to find a sea route from the Atlantic into the Pacific. From Gerardus Mercator, sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura (1595). Previous page : From Sir John Ross, A Voyage of Discovery (1819).

his report on a daily basis. Certain themes appeared time and again. He always noted remarkable events on board, like the time on July 13 when the ship reached a latitude of 80º 23’ N and happened upon a pod of whales. One of the men thought it was an ideal opportunity to fish. But a whale grabbed the line instead and might have sunk the ship had not the cord apparently broken.The crew found the vessel in waters more than 100 fathoms deep, which led them to believe they were in a sound, not a bay. As they looked inland they saw valleys and swamps filled with snow, even though, Hudson wrote, “we found it hot.”They were in the midst of the Arctic sum - mer, yet they could never get far from the ice or the fear of being driven onto a rocky, icy coastline. The captain’s plan was simple: he would lead the ship due north, across the pole, and would soon arrive in East Asia.

As the Hopewell lay at anchor, four of the men went on shore.They returned with a pair of walrus tusks still embed - ded in a jaw, and reported that they had seen deer (perhaps caribou), whale bones, the tracks of bear and other creatures, “Rote-geese,” and driftwood. They also found a freshwater stream, which quenched their thirsts after hiking in the sum - mer heat. The ship remained in the area, and the next day Hudson estimated that the land stretched north to 81º. He was fairly certain of his location since he explained that he about four months into the journey. The early section had had confirmed the ship’s whereabouts with his cross-staff, a reflected Playse’s voice, though it is impossible to separate common navigation device used to identify a ship’s location Hudson’s observations from his assistant’s. But the latter part in relation to the heavens. His crew saw more seals than at any came from Hudson himself, and the phrasing changed, at least other point on their journey. As it turned out, this moment in some places, to include the first-person voice. “I steered marked one of Hudson’s first notable achievements on this away North ten leagues,” Hudson wrote on July 11, a sign that voyage. No European would reach this latitude again for he was both in command of the journey and of its account. By another two centuries. then he would have been more and more concerned about the But that accomplishment meant little to a man who had pace of his voyage, with its outcome increasingly in doubt. sailed north hoping to find the quickest way to the spice Every hour brought new opportunities to observe a region markets. Hudson’s notes would show the English the pos - never before described by an English traveler. Aware of the sibilities for venturing into the Arctic during the summer. importance of keeping a record of his journey, Hudson filled His observations would have real value to others who might

HUNTINGTON FRONTIERS 9 ’ depiction of in 1595 prominently displayed the at Hecla—which became a landmark for Europeans sailing in the region— as well as various kinds of sea monsters roaming the island’s seas. From Ortelius, (1595).

want to fish or hunt seals or walrus.Yet this was little con - had led the small crew of the Hopewell farther north than any solation to him. He had fitted out the Hopewell for a journey English sailor had ventured before. Hudson did not reach the across the pole, not a scientific expedition. But he learned pole, turning back well before his trajectory could prove itself to be a route leading to the East Indies. But he had lost no men, he had charted territory rich in seals, whales, and Hudson’s notes would show birds, and he had described remote and potentially resource- rich lands in greater depth than any European had before him. the English the possibilities for The whales and seals would have excited those who heard venturing into the Arctic during his report; their presence opened the possibility of a new profitable business. Promoters of English expansion would the summer. have welcomed Hudson’s careful recording of latitudes, depths, and distances, which all contributed to the growing stock of English knowledge about the North Atlantic. That something important, too. An open polar sea—long theo - was an achievement that would later benefit the realm’s other rized by European scientists—might exist, but the route sailors and explorers, especially when the report appeared in they tried did not lead to it: they had moved north as far as print in 1625. On a more personal level, the expedition had the season safely allowed. Hudson felt he had no choice but one other benefit: Hudson had proven that he was up to to turn around and head for home.They steered a course back whatever challenges he might face in the North Atlantic.  toward Cherie’s Island (also known as Bear Island). On Aug. 15, they docked at the Faro Islands, off the coast of Peter C. Mancall is professor of history and anthropology, University Scotland. Two weeks later, on the first of September, they of Southern California, and director of the USC-Huntington Early sailed up the Thames and landed at Tilberie Hope. Modern Studies Institute. From the book Fatal Journey:The Final Four and a half months had elapsed since Hudson had Expedition of Henry Hudson by Peter C. Mancall. Excerpted by taken communion at St. Ethelberga’s Church and asked God arrangement with Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. to protect his crew and provide success to his mission. He Copyright 2009.

10 Spring /Summer 2009 READING BETWEEN THE LATITUDES Hudson carefully tracked his movement north, noting his ship’s latitude along the way

In May 1607, Capt. John Smith and a contingent of would-be barely known by Europeans at the time (and to this day among colonists established a settlement they called Jamestown along the most remote places on earth). The sun broke through the a river (which they named the James) that flowed into Chesapeake clouds for the first time in 18 days. “Wee saw many Birds with Bay. Their efforts have attracted extraordinary attention from blacke backes, and white bellies in forme much like a Ducke,” scholars eager to understand the origins of English America. Hudson wrote. “We saw also many pieces of Ice driving at the That same month Henry Hudson and the small crew of the Sea.” But soon, not surprisingly, the fog settled in again, per - Hopewell left England bound for East Asia via the Spice Islands. sisting until the morning of the 22nd. Hudson estimated that the Hudson and his crew cleared the port on May 1. For the next ship was at 72º 38’ N when they sighted “a mayne high Land, three weeks, the ship sailed northward, but apparently nothing nothing at all covered with snow.” On the northern side of this notable occured since the next entry in his journal was dated the land mass rose tall mountains which, Hudson noted, were not 26th, when the crew reached 60º 12’ N, at a point six leagues snow-capped, a crucial marker of the climate. This land seemed (18 miles) east of the “Isles of Shotland” (presumably modern- to lie at 73º N, but he could gain no further purchase of it because day Shetland). Ever the explorer, Hudson took a sounding and ice jutted out near the shore, fog blocked their vision, and variable reported that the ship was in 64 fathoms and that the sea floor winds made sailing difficult and precarious. Hudson thought this there was “blacke, ozie, sandie, with some yellow shels.” Such route might lead into the rumored open sea, which would have comments, which appeared frequently in accounts of the cap - sped his journey if it existed. But he could not be certain because tain’s journeys, reveal that Hudson, like other mariners, under - he lacked an accurate map of the region. As he wrote in his stood that the success of any voyage depended on knowing report, the crew had found land that was not even marked on what lay beneath them, especially since the color of the water the navigational charts, called “cards,” that they had brought provided direct clues to potential unseen risks. with them. Hudson’s men could not touch down on this remote By June 8 they reached 65º 27’ N, the latitude of Iceland. land, but he thought it might still be a place worth knowing Three days later, they crossed the Arctic Circle and reached and certainly worth future exploration. The ship continued on 67º 30’ N. Hudson reported that the crew spotted a pod of six toward the northeast, though the crew spotted ice frequently. The or seven whales, which caused the ship no problems. They soon men had ventured into territory that, as far as they knew, had faced gale-force winds that continued the next day. By the time never been named by Europeans, and so they labeled this night fell on the 12th, a dense fog had besieged the ship. northern land Hold with Hope and noted that it lay at That night Hudson reported that land lay ahead of the ship, 73º N. Early 17th-century cartographers identified as well as ice. The fog had not lifted, so the crew steered toward this location as a remote corner of northeast the north in hopes of avoiding catastrophic collision with ice or Greenland, perhaps near modern-day Kap shoreline. They managed to avoid crashing into the nearby rocks, Parry, not far south from the place known but the bitter winds froze their sails and shrouds (the rope rig - today as Hudson Land. ging that held the sails to the mast). The skies cleared by eight in the morning, giving them a view of the island they had nar - –Peter C. Mancall European sailors rowly avoided. They beheld what Hudson called “a very high managed to travel vast distances in the 16th and Land, most part covered with Clay, with much Ice lying about it.” 17th centuries with only A whale swam near the shore and birds flocked to it. Following rudimentary navigational tools, the pattern of other European explorers, Hudson and his mates including the widely used cross-staff. From John Davys’ The Seamans named the places they encountered that did not yet exist on Secrets (1599). their map. They called the headland “Young’s Cape,” presum - ably after James Young, one of the men on board. Nearby rose a steep mountain, “round like a Castle,” as it was described by Hudson and his chronicler Playse (who helped the captain with the first part of the narrative), which the English named the Mount of God’s Mercy. Then it began to rain, continuing into the night and turning to snow the next day, as the ship ran closer to the island. On June 20, Hudson estimated that the Hopewell should be close to Newland (modern ), a cluster of islands

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