Henry Hudson Enters New York Harbor
Henry Hudson's entry into New York Harbor on September 3, 1609, marked a significant moment in European exploration of North America. As the captain of the Half Moon, Hudson was the first European to explore the river that now bears his name, despite earlier sightings by other mariners. His journey began when he was commissioned to find a shorter route to Asia, a quest that ultimately led him to the waters of what would become New York. While Hudson faced numerous challenges, including ice and harsh weather, he made notable explorations along the river, reaching areas as far north as present-day Albany.
Hudson’s career remains somewhat enigmatic, with limited information about his life and fate; he is believed to have been married with children, including a son who joined him on his voyages. After his groundbreaking exploration of New York, Hudson made a tragic final voyage in 1610, during which he was mutinied against and ultimately disappeared in what is now Hudson Bay. Hudson's explorations not only opened new avenues for trade but also laid the groundwork for future European settlement in North America, contributing significantly to the region's historical narrative.
Henry Hudson Enters New York Harbor
Henry Hudson Enters New York Harbor
Henry Hudson, who on September 3, 1609 sailed his vessel, the Half Moon, into New York Harbor, was the first European to explore the river that now bears his name. Even thought sixteenth-century mariners, notably the Italian Giovanni da Verrazano, as well as Portuguese, French, and possibly English voyagers, had entered or crossed the river, Hudson was the first to give a full account and to recognize its potential value.
Despite his achievement Hudson remains a mysterious character about whom little information is available. Historians do not know the exact date of his birth and can give only the approximate time of his death. He is believed to have been an Englishman, to have married a woman named Katherine, and to have fathered three sons. His second son John accompanied him on the voyages of discovery and perished with him as well.
All that is known with certainty about Hudson's career concerns the four journeys of exploration that he undertook between 1607 and 1611. In each instance a leading company of merchants in either England or the Netherlands commissioned him to find shorter water routes than those then known to the highly prized areas of trade in Asia. Their trust in Hudson suggests that he was already a capable, experienced, and respected mariner.
In 1607 the English Muscovy Company hired Hudson to search for a northeast passage to China, Japan, and the East Indies across the top of Scandinavia and Asia. On May 1 Hudson, his son John, and ten mariners, aboard the 80-ton vessel Hopewell, set sail from Gravesend (near London) and about a month later they reached the Shetland Islands. After spending some time on the east coast of Greenland, Hudson sailed east to Spitsbergen. The voyage produced no discoveries, and the Hopewell returned to London in September 1607.
In 1608 Hudson set sail on a second voyage, again financed by the Muscovy Company. Its mission was to search for a northeast passage to Asia between Spitsbergen and the Novaya Zemlya Islands in the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, or alternatively to find a strait leading to the Kara Sea. Hudson gathered a crew of 14, including his son John, and in the spring of 1608 set sail from London in the Hopewell from London's St. Katherine's Docks on the Thames.
Hudson and his men reached the Lofoten Islands on the west coast of Norway a month later. The explorers continued their journey, rounding the North Cape in June. The arduous passage began to wear down the mariners, and Hudson noted at one point in his log that two of his men claimed to have sighted a mermaid. Soon afterward the Hopewell encountered an ice pack, which forced the vessel onto a southeasterly course toward Novaya Zemlya, where they landed. Unable to find a suitable eastward passage through the ice flow, Hudson finally gave up and sailed back to England.
After this second voyage, Hudson went to Holland to discuss the possibility of further explorations with the Dutch East India Company, a commercial group representing merchants from six neighboring areas. The representatives of Amsterdam favored making a deal with Hudson, but the delegates from Zeeland persuaded the organization to delay such an undertaking for at least another year. At that point, the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company, well aware of the French government's desire to obtain Hudson's services, independently made an agreement with the mariner.
Under the terms of a contract signed by Hudson on January 8, 1609, the explorer was to seek a northeast passage to Asia by way of Novaya Zemlya. The Amsterdam Chamber of the East India Company promised to provide Hudson with a well-equipped ship and a crew and paid him 800 guilders. If he returned within a year, the merchants pledged to give him additional compensation, and if he failed to come back, agreed to pay his wife an extra 200 guilders.
Hudson set sail from Amsterdam on April 4, 1609 with a crew of 18 English and Dutch sailors on the Halve Maen (Half Moon). Ice and cold again awaited Hudson in the northern waters and cut short his quest for a northeastern passage. Frustrated once more in his attempts to reach Asia by way of an Arctic route, he decided to abandon his instructions and try to find a northwest seaway. Equipped with information about the Atlantic coast of America, which Captain John Smith had sent him from Virginia, Hudson reversed his course and sailed for the New World.
The Half Moon arrived on the coast of Maine in July 1609. The crew stopped to repair the vessel's torn sails and to cut a new foremast from the abundant timber in the area. For two more weeks the adventurers sailed south, finally reaching a point south of Chesapeake Bay. Then Hudson moved north again and explored Delaware Bay. Still in search of the northwest passage, the captain continued farther north and on September 2, 1609, approached New York's lower bay. Beginning on September 3, he explored and took soundings in the waters at the mouth of what would be known as the Hudson River. On September 12 the vessel passed through the narrows, and the mariners dropped anchor at the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
On September 13 the Half Moon began its voyage up the Hudson. By the next day the vessel was as far north as Stony Point and sailed past the Catskill Mountains two days later. On September 19 Hudson reached the approximate location of what is now Albany. From there he proceeded north in a small boat to continue his search, in vain, for a northwest passage. The Half Moon weighed anchor and began the journey back down the river on September 23. Rain slowed the descent, and the vessel finally reached the future site of Hoboken, New Jersey, on October 2.
On October 4 the Half Moon sailed out of the New York Harbor into the Atlantic for its homeward voyage, arriving at Dartmouth, England, a month later. In 1610 Hudson set out on his fourth voyage. Sailing this time on behalf of a group of English merchant-adventurers, he again went in search of a northwest passage to Asia. On April 27, with a crew of 23 men on the vessel Discovery, he set sail from London. He was never to return.
Sighting the coast of Greenland on June 4, 1610, Hudson continued west and by August 2 passed through the Canadian strait later named for him. On August 3 the Discovery entered what would be known as Hudson Bay, which the crew explored for many weeks. Winter soon set in, and in early November Hudson hauled his vessel onto the shore of Rupert's Bay, which soon became frozen. Scurvy and starvation threatened the crew, who sustained themselves by eating frogs and moss until the weather warmed sufficiently to permit hunting parties to search for food.
In the spring of 1611 Hudson explored to the southwest with a few members of his crew. During his absence Robert Juet, who had had a falling-out with the captain, plotted a mutiny. Upon his return to base, Hudson disregarded the hostility of the men and on June 12, 1611, set sail again in search of the elusive northwest passage. On June 23 Juet and others seized Henry and John Hudson and set them, with seven of their supporters, adrift in a small boat. The mutineers then sailed away. Nothing further was ever heard of Hudson and his companions; they undoubtedly perished shortly thereafter.
Misfortune followed the Discovery on its homeward journey. Natives killed several of the mariners, and sickness and starvation took a number of the others, including Robert Juet. Only seven men and a boy were alive when the Discovery reached Ireland on September 6, 1611. On July 24, 1618, four of the men were arraigned in London, but they pleaded not guilty and won acquittal from a jury.