Henry Hudson and His Travels:

Henry Hudson and His Travels: The Explorer's Life, Routes, Destinations, And Intended Destinations

Little is known of the early life of Henry Hudson, the English navigator and explorer during the great, Elizabethan age of exploration. Hudson is most famous for a series of four important voyages he made between the years 1607 to 1610 to what was then called the 'New World.' What is on record of these voyages was published as Hakluytus Posthumous or Purchas his Pilgrimes by the Reverend Samuel Purchas in 1625, a 20-volume set that included Hudson's own journals for his 1607 and 1608 voyages, and his incomplete journal for his final voyage of 1610-11. Reverend Purchas also included the 1609 journal by one of Hudson's crew members, the mutinous Robert Juet (Chadwick, 1997, "Henry Hudson: Hudson's background and early years,"). Little is revealed about Henry Hudson's character from Hudson's own journals. The journals contain few personal observations; rather they focus on the ship's speed, position and the conditions of the sea or weather.

However, it is assumed by most historians that Hudson must have been an experienced and capable seaman, to have been trusted with the responsibilities of such dangerous missions. Hudson's first journey to the New World was commissioned by the Muscovy Company in 1607. Hudson sought to find the shortest path from England the East Indies to create a new 'spice route.' "He failed in that attempt....foiled by ice floes" as he tried to navigate through the Arctic waters to the spice islands ("Who was Henry Hudson anyway," 1996, the Half Moon). Then, in 1609 the Dutch East India Company, "which had a monopoly on trade with the Orient....wanted to shorten the lengthy and expensive voyage around the Cape of Good Hope" ("Who was Henry Hudson anyway," 1996, the Half Moon). Hudson tried to navigate this route by going through Norwegian waters, but instead found himself on the North-West to the coast of Maine.

Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, laid anchor nearby the coast of Maine so the crew could go ashore to get timber to repair ship's mast. They were able to replenish their food stores by trading with the Native Americans. "Although no passage was discovered to the Orient, the area turned out to be one of the best fur trading regions in North America" (Panza, 2007). By now, even Hudson knew he had not found a passage to the Orient so Hudson and the Half Moon then continued along the coast south to the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay. Then, Hudson headed north to the mouth of what became the Hudson River in early September, in the direction of Yonkers. "On September 14 Hudson thought he may have found the long-sought passage when he saw the wide Tappan Zee but he later became disappointed when he reached the shallower area near Albany and turned back" ("Who was Henry Hudson anyway," 1996, the Half Moon).

The journal of Robert Juet, who had sailed with Hudson previously as a mate, and would again in 1610, when Juet was instrumental in "leading the mutiny against Hudson's control" noted the frequent fighting and drunkenness amongst the men during this expedition (Chadwick, 1997, "Henry Hudson's third voyage"). Relations were strained between Native Americans and whites, despite the establishment of trade. Nor did prospects improve for Hudson upon his return to England. There, Hudson was arrested in England for illegally sailing for the Dutch, and was accused of treason, a charge of which he was eventually cleared (Chadwick, 1997, "Henry Hudson's third voyage").

Charting unknown waters was difficult and dangerous during this era of European exploration. It was impossible to accurately determine longitude "Most sailors relied on 'dead reckoning' - the pilot's estimated ship's speed through the use of a logline," a "line with knots in it and a weighted wooden float attached to the end" (Chadwick, 1997, "Henry Hudson: Hudson's background and early years"). The other navigational tools available were a magnetic compass, using the North Star as a guide, and determining latitude through a quadrant, using "a plumb line" that "would hang straight down over the curved area to indicate the height of the [North] star in degrees (equivalent to latitude)" (Chadwick, 1997, "Henry Hudson: Hudson's background and early years").

Given these primitive devices, Hudson cannot be faulted for a lack of fearlessness, although he is also reported to have "appeared weak at times, and vacillated between appeasement and force when dealing with crew, seldom disciplining them when or as required, often showing favoritism to some members at the expense of the others," which caused other members of the crew to question his authority (Chadwick, 1997, "Henry Hudson: Hudson's background and early years"). The extremity of conditions the crew suffered in the cold, the lack of maps, the presence of the natives, and the fear of the unknown posed additional complications for Hudson's leadership. "His attempt to show leniency to mutinous crew in Ungava Bay when strength might have been the better choice only led to further abuses and ultimately his demise [in 1611]" (Chadwick, 1997, "Henry Hudson: Hudson's background and early years").