Henry Hudson (1570 – 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century.

Biography

Hudson was born in London, England. He is presumed to have died in 1611 in Hudson Bay, Canada, after he was set adrift, along with his son and eleven others, by his crewmen following a mutiny.

Hudson's early life is fairly unknown, but he is thought to have spent many years at sea. He is said to have begun as a cabin boy at 16 and gradually worked his way up to ship's captain.

1607 to 1609

In 1607, the Muscovy Company of England hired Hudson to find the Northeast Passage to China. Hudson traveled just south of the North Pole and is claimed by Thomas Edge (who was often inaccurate) to have discovered what is now known as Jan Mayen?although there is no cartographical or written proof of this discovery^[1]?before turning around and returning home in September. Jan Mayen later became part of the Kingdom of Norway. It was thought at the time that because the sun shone for three months in the north latitudes the ice would melt and a ship could travel across the top of the world to the Spice Islands. The English were battling the Dutch and Spanish for routes. He landed in Svalbard and, later, whaling and coal economies sprang up there. In 1608, Hudson made a second attempt, trying to go across the top of Russia. He made it to Novaya Zemlya but was forced to turn back.

In 1609, Hudson was chosen by the Dutch East India Company to find an easterly passage to Asia. He was told to sail around the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, into the Pacific and to the Far East. Hudson could not continue his voyage due to the ice that had plagued his previous voyages, and many others before him. Having heard rumors by way of Jamestown and John Smith, he and his crew decided to try to seek out a Southwest Passage through North America.

After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, his vessel, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), sailed around briefly in the Chesapeake Bay and entered Delaware Bay on August 28, but Hudson concluded that these waterways did not lead to the Pacific. Hudson then moved into New York Harbor and proceeded up what is today the Hudson River. He made it as far as Albany, New York, where the river narrows, before he was forced to turn around, realizing that it was not the Southwest Passage. In fact, no Southwest Passage to the Pacific existed north of the Strait of Magellan until one was created by the construction of the Panama Canal between 1903 and 1914. The Native Americans who relayed the information to John Smith were likely referring to what are known today as the Great Lakes.

Along the way, Hudson traded with several native tribes and obtained different shells, beads and furs. His voyage established Dutch claims to the region and the fur trade that prospered there. New Amsterdam in Manhattan became the capital of New Netherland in 1625. On his return trip to Amsterdam, he stopped in Dartmouth, England for some reason and was detained by authorities there, who wanted access to his log. He managed to pass the log to the Dutch ambassador to England who sent it, along with his report, to Amsterdam ^[2].

1610-1611

In 1610, Hudson managed to get the backing for yet another voyage, now under the English flag. The funding came from the Virginia Company and the British East India Company. At the helm of his new ship, the Discovery, he stayed to the north (some claim he deliberately went too far south with the Dutch), reaching Iceland on May 11, the south of Greenland on June 4, and then managing to turn around the southern tip of Greenland.

Excitement was very high due to the expectation that the ship had finally found the Northwest Passage through the continent. On June 25, the explorers reached the Hudson Strait at the northern tip of Labrador. Following the southern coast of the strait on August 2, the ship entered Hudson Bay. Hudson spent the following months mapping and exploring the eastern shores. In November, however, the ship became trapped in the ice in James Bay, and the crew moved ashore for the winter.

John Collier's painting of Henry Hudson with his son and some crew members after a mutiny on his icebound ship. The boat was set adrift and never heard from again.

Hudson coat of arms

Only eight of the thirteen mutinous crewmen survived to return to Europe, and although arrested, none were ever punished for the mutiny and Hudson's death. One theory holds that they were considered valuable as sources of information, having travelled to the New World.^[4] Henry Hudson has landmarks named after him, including Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Hudson County, New Jersey, and the Hudson River.

Notes

Sources

• Hacquebord, Lawrens. (2004). The Jan Mayen Whaling Industry. Its Exploitation of the Greenland Right Whale and its Impact on the Marine Ecosystem. In: S. Skreslet (ed.), Jan Mayen in Scientific Focus. Amsterdam, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 229-238.

See also

• Age of Discovery
• Explorers
• Hudson Bay
• Hudson River
• History of Canada
• Hudson Strait
• Lockheed Hudson

External links

• Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
• Henry Hudson - A Brief Statement Of His Aims And His Achievements by Thomas Allibone Janvier, at Project Gutenberg
• Hudson and the river named for him
• Henry Hudson biography page
• Henry Hudson at US-History.com
• A Map and Timeline of Hudson's 1609 voyage of discovery.

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