also, Cabot, as Grand Pilot of England, directed Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor to steer northeastward. Again, in 1556, he cheered on with hopes of the great discovery the brave Stephen Burrough, who, in the service of the Muscovy Company of London, reached and partially explored the dual-island of Nova Zembla and the neighboring coasts, while Pet and Jackman made a similar voyage in 1580. Then the bold but disappointing work was taken up by Holland, as has been briefly noted in the previous chapter. In 1594, and 1595, and 1596, courageous men and skilful pilots were found willing to conduct the Republic's flag along the dangerous course and show the way to wondering Europe. The terrible experiences related by the survivors of the last expedition, who spent the winter of 15961597 on the dreary and deadly shore of Nova Zembla, effectually discouraged enterprise in that direction for some years. But Plancius and Linschoten, names honorable in the history of cosmography, the ardent promoters of the former undertakings, were not so easily disheartened. The reward of twenty-five thousand florins held out by the States-General as the premium upon success in Arctic exploration was still before the country, and was sure to tempt adventurers. Accordingly we find that nearly twelve years after the wintering on Nova Zembla there was another ship ready to proceed from the harbor of Amsterdam in quest of the northeast passage. Its captain and pilot was an English mariner, experienced in northern voyaging, who had distinguished himself considerably in the service of the Muscovy Company of London. 1 Of the parentage of Henry Hudson, and of his personal history previous to 1607, little has been learned, and what is advanced concerning it is mostly conjecture. "The whole period of his life known. to us extends over little more than four years, from April 19, 1607, to June 21, 1611." During these few years his fame rests upon four voyages which all had in view the same object, to pass through Polar seas to the spicy Orient. In 1607, Hudson sailed in the employ of the Muscovy Company and penetrated as far as the latitude of Spitzbergen, or within ten degrees of the North Pole. In 1608, again for the Muscovy merchants of London, he sailed further to the east, and became familiar with the regions around Nova Zembla. Returning to England before the end of the year, the news of his exploits spread abroad, and reached ears ever eager for such information in the city of Amsterdam. Some represent Hudson as having offered his services to his Dutch masters; others assert distinctly that he was invited to enter their employ. With men so keenly bent on one great project as Hudson, Plancius, and Linschoten, it would need but slight solicitation to bring them together in the pursuit of it. The East India 1 G. M. Asher, "Henry Hudson, the Navigator," p. iii. (Hakluyt Society, 1860). HUGH A. VAN LINSCHOTEN. Company had returned its greatest dividend of seventy-five per cent. in 1606, and other large percentages in the two succeeding years. Men possessed of the personal influence, and the undoubted cosmographical learning, of the famous clergyman and the not less noted traveler just mentioned, found no difficulty in persuading the Amsterdam Chamber of the East India Company to devote a comparatively small portion of their enormous profits to sending out a vessel in search of the long-sought northern passage. Perhaps before the year 1608 had closed Hudson was in Amsterdam, for personal conference with the Directors upon the subject of the expedition. The magnates of the great Company, however, were disposed to delay matters. This was a mere speculative venture, with no assured commercial advantages clearly or at least immediately within sight. They desired Hudson to postpone the voyage for a whole year, a serious objection to a man of his ardor and energy. But, fortunately for the enterprise, an astute diplomat represented one of France's greatest kings, Henry IV., as ambassador in Holland. It needed but a hint to put President Jeannin in communication with the distinguished English navigator, and nothing but the promptness of the Dutch merchants prevented Captain Hudson from following in the footsteps of Verrazano in the interest of France. No sooner did the East India Directors learn of the French negotiations than at once they came to terms with Hudson. On January 8, 1609, a small company of four earnest men assembled in one of the rooms of the East India Company's buildings. Two of them were a committee with power to enter into an agreement with Captain Hudson in behalf of the Company, the other two were the navigator himself and his friend Jodocus Hondius, the celebrated cartographer, formerly of London, but now of Amsterdam, who was present at this conference in the capacity of interpreter and witness. The delegation of this important work to a committee evinces the haste which it now seemed necessary to employ in order to anticipate the French ambassador, who in a letter dated January 25th was compelled to inform his sovereign that Hudson was no longer at liberty to serve him. In the Royal Archives at The Hague is preserved a manuscript history of the East India Company, written by the counselor P. Van Dam, who served as their legal adviser from 1652 to 1706. Attached to this document is a copy of the contract between Henry Hudson and the Company, which the committee signed on their behalf. From it we learn that the Directors bound themselves to equip a vessel of sixty tons burden for a voyage to the North, around the northern extremity of Nova Zembla, to continue on that parallel until he could turn to the south and steer for India. There appears to be no provision for the exercise of his judgment in case he failed to get to or beyond Nova Zembla, so that it would seem as if Van Dam rightly charges Hudson with a violation of his instructions when he directed his course to the northwest before reporting his previous experiences at Amsterdam. EAST INDIA COMPANY BUILDINGS, AMSTERDAM. For this voyage, the Directors engaged to pay Hudson as well for his outfit as for the support of his wife and children" the sum of eight hundred florins ($320), and " in case he do not come back (which God prevent) the Directors shall further pay to his wife two hundred florins ($80) in cash "; if he should be successful in his quest, the Directors promised to reward him "in their discretion."3 Nearly three months intervened between the signing of this contract and the sailing of the Half-Moon from Amsterdam. Preparations for the severe experiences to be expected were thus made under the personal direction of the navigator who was so familiar with them; but the appliances of those times could at best but ill provide 1 John Meredith Read, "A Historical Inquiry Concerning Henry Hudson," p. 150. 2 Henry C. Murphy, 'Henry Hudson in Holland," p. 35. 3 Murphy, Ib., p. 39. 66 against the inevitable hardships, as compared with those which made possible the successful accomplishment of this same passage by Nordenskjöld in our own day. During these months we may be certain that frequent intercourse took place between the English captain, the learned Plancius, and the veteran navigator Linschoten. Hudson particularly desired to be furnished with maps prepared by Plancius. And thus equipped, and stimulated by renewed studies and profitable converse with kindred minds, Captain Hudson sailed from Amsterdam on April 4th, and out of the Zuyder Zee, through the channel between Texel and North Holland, on April 6, 1609. Scarce a month later the northeast journey was already abandoned, the ice preventing him from reaching Nova Zembla. Then, Van Meteren tells us, who died in 1612, and whose work must therefore have been published less than three years after Hudson's voyage,- then Hudson made a proposition to his crew of twenty men to choose between two alternatives. The one was to proceed westward, and seek for a passage across the continent of America, about the latitude of forty degrees north, "induced thereto by charts which a certain Captain Smith had sent him from Virginia." The other was to attempt to reach India by way of Davis' strait across the Pole to the northwest. The crew selected the latter course: but from every subsequent detail of the voyage it is evident that Hudson deliberately steered in the former direction. Or it may be that a severe storm disconcerted his movements; for Van Meteren informs us that in latitude 44° he landed on the coast of New France in order to replace his foremast with a new one cut from the virgin forest. From this point he kept on along our coast southward until he came upon Cape Cod, discovered by Gosnold in 1602; but on Hudson's maps it had been wrongly placed, we are told by De Laet, so that he thought this was undiscovered land and gave it the name of New Holland. Standing out to sea to the south and east he did not see land again until he reached the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay. Thence he coasted northward, now evidently bent on finding the passage to the west in the latitude. of 40°. Thus he entered Delaware Bay, sighted the coast of New Jersey, and on Wednesday, September 2d, 1609, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the Half-Moon cast her anchor in a "great lake of water, as we could judge it to be." To the northward were seen high hills, "a very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see." The hills were the Navesinks, and the lake was the Lower Bay. For about ten days Hudson remained in the Lower Bay, shifting his position occasionally, sending out boats to cautiously sound the broad expanse of waters and ascertain the channel, and dealing distrustfully with the savages that flocked around his ship. At one 1 Van Meteren, "Oorlogen der Nederlanderen," 10: 203-206 (Ed. 1763). VOL. I.-8. time the boat was sent between the Narrows to explore the bay beyond; but it was a fatal mission resulting in the death of Coleman, one of the crew, whether by accident or design, shot through the throat with an arrow. At last, on September 12th, the Half-Moon was steered into the opening between the "small steep hills" which Verrazano had described, and went up two leagues, which if it were measured exactly from the Narrows would have brought her about opposite the Battery. And now begins the oft-told and familiar story of Hudson's ascent and descent of the river that immortalizes his name and commemorates his exploit. We can do no better therefore than to follow diligently and closely the log-book of his English mate, Robert Juet, which has the charm of quaintness and the advantage of being written by an eyewitness on the very spot where these first impressions of our noble river were received. Drifting with the tide as it went up the river, and anchoring when it ebbed, the next day eleven and a half miles were gained, and anchor was cast not far above Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Thence a "high point of land" was seen, "which shewed out to us bearing north by east five leagues off us"; and the Hook Mountain, which towers over the village of Nyack, may thereby be identified.' On the 14th of September, a favorable wind was first obtained, and it carried the Half-Moon thirty-six miles up stream, past the beetling walls of the Palisades, and to the very portals of the Highlands. "The land grew very high and mountainous." Twenty leagues more were made on the 15th, and these sixty miles would have carried the explorers through the Highlands and within view of the Catskills, with their long and undulating line far above any of the hills or highlands upon which they had hitherto looked. "Passing by high mountains" is the brief record in the matter-of-fact log-book, the writer being evidently more intent upon the replenishing of the ship's stores by contributions of "Indian corn and pompions" on the part of the friendly natives, and by means of the abundance of fish to be caught in the river. Six miles more were gained during the ensuing night, but then follows a series of groundings on the unexpected sand-banks, or mud-flats. Eighteen miles higher up the river might have brought them about opposite the location of Hudson City, where certainly there are "shoals in the middle of the river and small islands, but seven fathoms water on both sides." "Riding still" all day of the 18th a visit was made on land in the afternoon by "our master's mate," says Juet; but De Laet quotes Hudson's own journal, and this represents the navigator himself as going on shore. There he saw the habitation of an old 1 It is interesting to note that, from the fact that it could be seen from such a great distance down the river (five leagues or fifteen miles as Juet writes), the Dutch sailors used to call it "Verd rietig Hoek," or Tedious Hook, as in case of an 1 |