Henry Hudson - Jacobean explorer of the Canadian coastline
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada. His last voyage came to an unfortunate end and his fate is uncertain.
Henry Hudson is thought to have been born in the 1560s. By the early 1600s, he was known for his skills as a sailor, navigator and for his knowledge of Arctic geography.
In 1607 and 1608, Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a rumoured Northeast Passage to Cathay (China) via a route above the Arctic Circle. On both of these voyages, Hudson found his way blocked by ice and had to return to Britain defeated.
In 1609, Hudson sailed on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. Finding his way over the pole to the east blocked by ice, he disobeyed instructions and headed west, arriving in North America. Looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia on his ship Halve Maen ("Half Moon"), he sailed up the Hudson River, which was later named after him, and thereby laid the foundation for Dutch colonisation of the region.
When Hudson returned to England, his ship was impounded, as the British authorities wanted to learn about the route Hudson had discovered. However, Hudson managed to sneak his log out to his Dutch employers.
In 1610, the British East India Company and the Muscovy Company, along with private sponsors, jointly funded Hudson’s fourth voyage, on which he would once more try to reach the Pacific around the northern coast of Canada.
Hudson sailed from London in April in the 55-ton ship Discovery, stopped briefly in Iceland, then continued west, reaching the American coast. When the coastline suddenly opened up towards the south, Hudson believed he might have found the Pacific, but he soon realised he had sailed into a gigantic bay, now known as Hudson Bay. Hudson and his crew were the first Europeans to see this immense bay.
Hudson then pushed south, reaching James Bay by 1st November 1610. Ten days later, the Discovery was frozen in and the crew became the first Europeans to spend winter in the Canadian Arctic. When the ice began to break up in the spring of 1611 the crew wanted to return home after a long, cold winter, but Hudson was resolved to continue with his quest, hoping he might find a westerly exit from the bay. The result was mutiny.
On 23rd June 1611, Henry Hudson, along with his son and some loyal crew members, were cut adrift in a shallop (a small boat for use in shallow water) and were never seen again.
The Discovery eventually returned to England, having lost much of its crew to sickness and starvation. The surviving crew members sensibly blamed two of the dead men for leading the mutiny and were not punished - possibly because their knowledge of the northern seas and lands was too valuable to lose.
The image shows The last voyage of Henry Hudson, a painting by Victorian artist John Collier.
Further reading
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