henry hudson problems on the voyage

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Henry Hudson

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 6, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

Henry Hudson made his first voyage west from England in 1607, when he was hired to find a shorter route to Asia from Europe through the Arctic Ocean. After twice being turned back by ice, Hudson embarked on a third voyage in 1609. This time, he chose a southern route, drawn by reports of a channel across the North American continent to the Pacific. After navigating the Atlantic coast, Hudson’s ships sailed up a great river (today’s Hudson River) but turned back when they determined it was not the channel they sought. On a fourth and final voyage in 1610-11, Hudson spent months in the vast Hudson Bay before he fell victim to a mutiny by his crew. Hudson’s discoveries laid the groundwork for Dutch colonization of the Hudson River Valley, as well as English land claims in Canada.

Birth and Early Life

Though little is known about Hudson’s early life, most historians agree that he was born around 1565 in England, and later lived in London . It’s known that he received a better education than many, because he could read, write, and do mathematics. He also studied navigation and earned widespread renown for his skills, as well as his knowledge of Arctic geography.

Hudson married a woman named Katherine, and together they had three sons: Oliver, John and Richard. John would later accompany his father on his expeditions.

In 1607, the Muscovy Company of London provided Hudson financial backing based on his claims that he could find an ice-free passage past the North Pole that would provide a shorter route to the rich markets and resources of Asia. Hudson sailed that spring with his son John and 10 companions. They traveled east along the edge of the polar ice pack until they reached the Svalbard archipelago, well north of the Arctic Circle, before hitting ice and being forced to turn back.

Did you know? Knowledge gained during Henry Hudson's four voyages significantly expanded on that from previous explorations made in the 16th century by Giovanni da Verrazano of Italy, John Davis of England and Willem Barents of Holland.

The following year, Hudson made a second Muscovy-funded voyage between Svalbard and the islands of Novaya Zemlya, to the east of the Barents Sea, but again found his way blocked by ice fields. Though English companies were reluctant to back him after two failed voyages, Hudson was able to gain a commission from the Dutch East India Company to lead a third expedition in 1609.

The Half Moon

While in Amsterdam gathering supplies, Hudson heard reports of two possible channels running across North America to the Pacific. One was located around latitude 62° N (based on English explorer Captain George Weymouth’s 1602 voyage); the second, around latitude 40° N, had been recently reported by Captain John Smith .

Hudson departed from Holland on the ship Halve Maen ( Half Moon ) in April 1609, but when adverse conditions again blocked his route northeast, he ignored his agreement with his employers to return directly and decided to sail to the New World in search of the so-called “northwest passage.”

After landing in Newfoundland, Canada, Hudson’s expedition traveled south along the Atlantic coast and put into the great river discovered by Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524. They traveled up the river about 150 miles, to what is now Albany, before deciding that it would not lead all the way to the Pacific and turning back. From that time on, the river would be known as the Hudson River.

On the return voyage, Hudson docked at Dartmouth, England, where English authorities acted to prevent him and his other English crew members from making voyages on behalf of other nations. The ship’s log and records were sent to Holland, where news of Hudson’s discoveries spread quickly.

Hudson’s Final Voyage

The British East India Company and the Muscovy Company, along with private sponsors, jointly funded Hudson’s fourth voyage, on which he sought the possible Pacific-bound channel identified by Weymouth. Hudson sailed from London in April 1610 in the 55-ton ship Discovery , stopped briefly in Iceland, then continued west.

After traversing the coast again, he passed through the inlet Weymouth had described as a potential entry point to a northwest passage. (Now called Hudson Strait, it runs between Baffin Island and northern Quebec.) When the coastline suddenly opened up towards the south, Hudson believed he might have found the Pacific, but he soon realized he had sailed into a gigantic bay, now known as Hudson Bay.

Hudson continued sailing southward along the bay’s eastern coast until he reached its southernmost extremity at James Bay, between northern Ontario and Quebec. While enduring harsh winter conditions with no outlet to the Pacific in sight, some crew members grew restless and hostile, suspecting Hudson of hoarding rations to give to his favorites.

Last Days of Henry Hudson

In June 1611, as the expedition began heading back to England, sailors Henry Green and Robert Juet (who had been demoted as mate) led a mutiny. Seizing Hudson and his son, they cast them adrift on Hudson Bay with a few supplies in a small open lifeboat, along with seven other men who were suffering from scurvy.

Hudson, his 17-year-old son John, and his men were never heard from again. After further troubles on their return trip to England, by the time Discovery encountered a fleet of fishermen off the coast of Ireland in September 1611, the original crew of 23 was down to just eight survivors. They were arrested for mutiny, but never punished.

Henry Hudson. The Mariner’s Museum and Park . Henry Hudson. The Canadian Encyclopedia . Henry Hudson. PBS . Strangers In A New Land. American Heritage .

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Henry Hudson

English explorer Henry Hudson embarked on multiple sailing voyages that provided new information on North American water routes.

(1565-1611)

Who Was Henry Hudson?

Believed to have been born in the late 16th century, English explorer Henry Hudson made two unsuccessful sailing voyages in search of an ice-free passage to Asia. In 1609, he embarked on a third voyage funded by the Dutch East India Company that took him to the New World and the river that would be given his name. On his fourth voyage, Hudson came upon the body of water that would later be called the Hudson Bay.

Considered one of the world's most famous explorers, Henry Hudson, born in England circa 1565, never actually found what he was looking for. He spent his career searching for different routes to Asia, but he ended up opening the door to further exploration and settlement of North America.

While many places bear his name, Hudson remains an elusive figure. There is little information available about the famous explorer's life prior to his first journey as a ship's commander in 1607. It is believed that he learned about the seafaring life firsthand, perhaps from fishermen or sailors. He must have had a talent for navigation early on, enough to merit becoming a commander in his late 20s. Prior to 1607, Hudson probably worked aboard other ships before being appointed to lead one on his own. Reports also indicate that he was married to a woman named Katherine and they had three sons together.

First Three Voyages

Hudson made four journeys during his career, at a time when countries and companies competed with each other to find the best ways to reach important trade destinations, especially Asia and India. In 1607, the Muscovy Company, an English firm, entrusted Hudson to find a northern route to Asia. Hudson brought his son John with him on this trip, as well as Robert Juet. Juet went on several of Hudson's voyages and recorded these trips in his journals.

Despite a spring departure, Hudson found himself and his crew battling icy conditions. They had a chance to explore some of the islands near Greenland before turning back. But the trip was not a total loss, as Hudson reported numerous whales in the region, which opened up a new hunting territory.

The following year, Hudson once again set sail in search of the fabled Northeast Passage. The route he sought proved elusive, however. Hudson made it to Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean to the north of Russia. But he could not travel further, blocked by thick ice. Hudson returned to England without achieving his goal.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson and his crew reached land that July, coming ashore at what is now Nova Scotia. They encountered some of the local Indigenous peoples there and were able to make some trades with them. Traveling down the North American coast, Hudson went as far south as the Chesapeake Bay. He then turned around and decided to explore New York Harbor, an area first thought to have been discovered by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. Around this time, Hudson and his crew clashed with some local Indigenous peoples. A crew member named John Colman died after being shot in the neck with an arrow, and two others on board were injured.

After burying Colman, Hudson and his crew traveled up the river that would later carry his name. He explored the Hudson River up as far as what later became Albany. Along the way, Hudson noticed that the lush lands that lined the river contained abundant wildlife. He and his crew also met with some of the Indigenous peoples living on the river's banks.

On the way back to the Netherlands, Hudson was stopped in the English port of Dartmouth. The English authorities seized the ship and the Englishmen among the crew. Upset that he had been exploring for another country, the English authorities forbade Hudson from working with the Dutch again. He was, however, undeterred from trying to find the Northwest Passage. This time, Hudson found English investors to fund his next journey, which would prove to be fatal.

Final Journey and Death

Aboard the ship Discovery , Hudson left England in April 1610. He and his crew, which again included his son John and Robert Juet, made their way across the Atlantic Ocean. After skirting the southern tip of Greenland, they entered what became known as the Hudson Strait. The exploration then reached another of his namesakes, the Hudson Bay. Traveling south, Hudson ventured into James Bay and discovered that he'd come to a dead end.

By this time, Hudson was at odds with many in his crew. They found themselves trapped in the ice and low on supplies. When they were forced to spend the winter there, tensions only grew worse. By June 1611, conditions had improved enough for the ship to set sail once again. Hudson, however, didn't make the trip back home. Shortly after their departure, several members of the crew, including Juet, took over the ship and decided to cast out Hudson, his son and a few other crew members. Mutineers put Hudson and the others in a small boat and set them adrift. It is believed that Hudson and the others died of exposure sometime later, in or near the Hudson Bay. Some of the mutineers were later put on trial, but they were acquitted.

More European explorers and settlers followed Hudson's lead, making their way to North America. The Dutch started a new colony, called New Amsterdam, at the mouth of the Hudson River in 1625. They also developed trade posts along the nearby coasts.

While he never found his way to Asia, Hudson is still widely remembered as a determined early explorer. His efforts helped drive European interest in North America. Today his name can be found all around us on waterways, schools, bridges and even towns.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1565
• Birth City: England
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: English explorer Henry Hudson embarked on multiple sailing voyages that provided new information on North American water routes.
• Business and Industry
• Death Year: 1611
• Death date: June 22, 1611
• Death City: In or near the Hudson Bay
• Death Country: Canada

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• The land is the finest for cultivation that I have ever in my life set foot upon, and it also abounds in trees of every description.
• You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren.
• I sailed to the shore on one of their canoes with an old man who was the chief of a tribe consisting of 40 men and 17 women.
• I used all diligence to arrive at London, and therefore I now gave my crew a certificate under my hand, of my free and willing return, without any persuasion by any one or more of them. For when we were at Nova Zembla, on the 6th of July, void of hope of a northeast passage ... I therefore resolved to use all means I could to the northeast.
• This land may be profitable to those that will adventure it.

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Henry Hudson’s Discoveries and How They Changed The World

Updated: Aug 21, 2023

Henry Hudson's exploration of Manhattan and the Hudson River changed the world, but not quite in the way he had intended. His pursuit of the elusive “ Northern Passage ” defined his career as a ground-breaking global navigator and took him on four documented voyages to find this theoretical shortcut to Asia over the top of the globe. But it would be Hudson’s unintended discoveries that would, in fact, be the most lasting. And included among these discoveries is the place that we now call “New York” .

This blog explores elements of Henry Hudson's biography, his nebulous career, tragic death and legacy, and examines the important lessons that we continue to learn from this historical anomaly.

Henry Hudson - Discoveries

Henry Hudson’s discoveries are remarkable not just for the accomplishments of a 17th century sailor in the absence of satellite technology or combustion engines, but also for the fact that his “ discovery ” of what would become the greatest city mankind would ever know, happened completely by accident.

The Hudson River

Henry Hudson’s “ discovery ” of the river that would come to eternally bear his name, was as inadvertent as his encounters with the Native Americans he met along that haphazard and schizophrenic voyage. And, in truth it would be those very encounters and not any of his intended findings that would lead to the discovery of the Island of Manhattan.

When the Englishman Henry Hudson was hired by the Dutch East India Company in early 1609, the specific purpose of this voyage was to find and successfully navigate the storied “ Northern Passage ” – a theoretical waterway shortcut to Asia over the top of the globe. The instructions from these staunch Dutch businessmen were as clear as they were concise – Hudson was to try the route “ above Nova Zembla (the top of Russia), towards the lands or straits of Anian (Bering Strait) and then to sail at least as far as the sixtieth degree of North latitude, when if the time permitted he was to return from the straits of Anian again to this country” (the Dutch Republic). And it was made clear in these instructions that Hudson was “… to think of discovering no other routes or passages, except the route around by the North and Northeast above Nova Zembla…that if it could not be accomplished at that time, another route would be subject of consideration for another voyage.”

In truth, before Hudson ever left the Amsterdam docks in April of 1609 in the East India Company’s 65-foot yacht called “de Halve Maen” (the Half Moon), he already knew that this specified route was impossible. Because he had already tried it…twice. You see, this 1609 voyage was in fact Hudson’s third attempt at this elusive shortcut to China , and from his hands-on experience and the information from his fellow explorers, including Captain John Smith and Bartholomew Gosnold , was that this passage was nowhere near the top of Russia, but rather on the western half of the planet – over the continent that we now call North America.

So, when Henry Hudson turned the Half Moon southeast and sailed over five thousand miles off his instructed course, he was not only defying his explicitly contracted directions, but he simultaneously set in motion a course of events that would eventually lead to the founding of the place that we call “ New York City ” today.

In disobeying his employer’s orders to “ to think of discovering no other routes or passages, except the route around by the North and Northeast above Nova Zembla ” Hudson took the Company ship across the Atlantic Ocean and into a series of encounters with Native Americans. These encounters started as early as Nova Scotia where on the tiny village of La Havre his crew, mostly Dutch sailors hired by the Company in Amsterdam, engaged in trading with the indigenous tribe, which ended tragically with a violent encounter that propelled this rogue voyage off to the rest of its North American exploration.

Upon reaching the eastern seaboard of today’s United States, Hudson’s ship then sailed as far south as Virginia, searching specifically for the inlet to this elusive “ Northern Passage ”. And after arriving at what Hudson already knew well was part of the English colony, he then turned the Half Moon around and headed back up the coast.

And it was on September 11, 1609 that Henry Hudson’s exploration, now into its fifth month, arrived at the river that would come to eternally bear his name. And when he entered what we now call the Upper Bay of New York, Henry Hudson was convinced that this majestic waterway was, at long last, the storied shortcut to China.

But much to his dismay, this channel did not in fact take him and his 65-foot Dutch yacht over the top of the planet, but rather to an increasingly narrowing section of the river at today’s Troy, New York, where the waterway narrowed into a diminishing stream. Now seven months at sea and with winter setting in, Hudson had little choice but to face the hard fact that this was not in fact the passage to Asia and sailed back across the north Atlantic. But Hudson himself would not return to Amsterdam ever again. He returned to London and entrusted his Dutch crew with the task of returning the Half Moon to the Company. As a result, Hudson was never paid the 800 guilders that the Company had contracted for him to pilot this voyage. Hudson neither returned himself, nor his charts and data to the Company. Because, in truth, Henry Hudson was never really working for the Dutch. Because he had been subversively working for the English the entire time.

The North American Fur Trade

In spite of Henry Hudson’s obsession with this elusive Northern Passage, it would have little to do with the navigational findings of this voyage that drew the subsequent interest of the Dutch. But rather, as a result of the crew’s casual trading with the North American natives, the Amsterdam businessmen were compelled to take a closer look at this land that Hudson’s mate Robert Juet had recorded as “Manna-hata”. You see, by trading inexpensive trifles – such as buttons and spoons or copper kettles -- the sailors received shiny pelts of beaver and otter, far finer than any such product available from the Russians, who had currently had a lock on the world fur market. This sudden opportunity compelled certain Dutch businessmen to quickly forget about the insubordinate Henry Hudson and refocus their efforts on this newfound territory, just above 40 degrees latitude.

But it would not be the Dutch East India Company specifically that would pursue this opportunity but rather a small, close-knit band of Lutheran businessmen living and working in Amsterdam. The group was led by a man named Lambert van Tweenhuysen and in spite of the ostensible “ failure ” of Hudson to find this shortcut to Asia, it was those shiny fur pelts that Van Tweenhuysen and his team were interested in. And so, they proceeded to invest in exploration back to this very river that Hudson had just returned from, specifically to explore and cultivate this potentially priceless fur trade. And the captain they entrusted with this exploration was the revered Amsterdam sailor by the name of Adriaen Block .

Hudson, however, seeing no value or future in this fur trade and remained thoroughly obsessed with his quest for this Northern Passage and by late 1609, had contracted for yet another voyage to find this elusive passage, contracting with another group of investors, this time back in London, for what would be his fourth and final attempt at this passage. This expedition which would leave England in early 1610, would in fact be Henry Hudson’s final voyage.

After nearly a year and a half at sea, his crew mutinied and Hudson and eight other crew members were cast off in a sloop (a large row boat) into the frigid waters of the ocean-like body of water that we call “Hudson Bay”[7] today. These nine were never heard from again and most certainly perished in the desolate and unforgiving waters. Among those nine was Hudson’s own son, thirteen-year old John Hudson.

Henry Hudson’s legacy

While his courage and tenacity cannot be questioned, Henry Hudson is no hero. A rogue explorer who increasingly proved that he was beholden to no man nor nation, Hudson and his crews engaged in multiple avoidable violent encounters with the North American native people. And while we cannot ever know the true circumstances of each of these tragic encounters, what we can do is compare Hudson’s behavior with that of subsequent explorers and settlers. And by comparison, the aforementioned navigator Adriaen Block had no such encounters with the natives of this land. In fact, Block would prove instrumental in forging an increasingly positive diplomacy with the native Algonquins that would prove pivotal to the progress not only of the cultivation of this fur trade, but of colonization here entirely. In many ways Adriaen Block was the great grandfather of American trade[7] and in essence, of the United States of America. Henry Hudson, in spite of his innovations and discoveries, most certainly was not.

Henry Hudson did in fact change the world …albeit inadvertently. His innovations served to not only inspire trade and exploration into the western hemisphere, but in fact served to catalyze the development of what would result in what we call “ the United States of America” today.

Embark upon a journey through the extraordinary Henry Hudson and the Discoveries of all those who followed him as we unravel his legacy and the lasting impact of his expeditions. The podcast Island explores this and remarkable components of our lost American history.

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Henry Hudson North-West Passage expedition 1610–11

Why did Hudson's crew mutiny against him?

Henry Hudson was a well-known English explorer and navigator in the 17th century. He was the third explorer to search for the North-West Passage.

The North-West Passage was a fabled seaway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the Arctic Circle and a sought-after trade route. The Virginia Company and the British East India Company, both keen to capitalise on the potential trade route, funded Hudson's expedition. It was to be his last ever voyage.

Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay

Hudson set sail in his ship Discovery in May 1610 and was swept by tides into what is now known as Hudson Strait, at the northern tip of Labrador, Canada. Pushing westwards, through ice-choked water, the Discovery reached the end of the strait six weeks later. Hudson then spent time mapping and exploring the area. In his journal he describes passing a narrow channel between two capes, which he named Cape Wolstenholme and Cape Digges, on what is now known as Digges Islands, both named after financiers of the voyage. From there he found ‘a sea to the westward’, today known as Hudson Bay.

Hudson then pushed south, reaching James Bay by 1 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 23 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 took the long journey home, losing many of the remaining crew on the way. The navigator was Robert Bylot, who would return in search of the North-West Passage several times, notably as captain of the Discovery accompanied by William Baffin in 1615.

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8 Henry Hudson Has a Very Bad Day, 1607, 1608, 1609, 1610

• Published: August 2012
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This chapter focuses on Henry Hudson's voyages of exploration in 1607, 1608, 1609, and 1610: the first two for the Muscovy Company of England, the third for the Dutch East India Company, and the last for the Merchant Adventurers. Hudson, English sea captain, had tried to sail to China across the North Pole in 1607, hoping to encounter an open polar sea, but ice prevented his success. Hudson also made two unsuccessful attempts to find a sea route through North America in 1609 and 1610. Given these experiences, Hudson might be considered a failure, but he saw possibilities for new sea routes and accomplished many things during his four attempts to find a route to China.

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Henry Hudson

Article by Douglas Hunter

Published Online January 2, 2008

Last Edited January 9, 2019

Early Life and Career

Little is known about Henry Hudson’s origins. He was probably born around 1570 and in his late thirties when he began making his known voyages in 1607. He may have been related to a number of men named Hudson (sometimes spelled Hoddesdon or Herdson) who were associated with the Muscovy Company, a London-based trading enterprise. He had a wife, Katherine, and three sons, Oliver, John and Richard. Together they lived in London’s St. Katherine district.

First Voyage (1607)

Henry Hudson (with his son John) made his first known voyage in 1607 in the Hopewell, with a crew of 12. The voyage was associated with Sir Thomas Smythe, a leading figure in the East India Company. It was an attempt to find a passage through the Arctic, over the North Pole , to Asia. At the time, Hudson and others thought that the long summer days of the high Arctic might create an ice-free zone at the top of the world. Hudson was able to sail above Spitsbergen, one of the islands of Svalbard, an archipelago between Norway and the North Pole. This placed him beyond latitude 80° north, a record-setting effort, but the cold reality of Arctic ice made further progress impossible.

On the way home Hudson sailed about 800 km off course and in the process sighted a volcanic speck of rock north of Iceland that became known as Hudson’s Tutches. English whalers subsequently called it Trinity Island, while Dutch whalers gave the landfall its enduring name, Jan Mayen island. Hudson was probably trying to gather additional information on the feasibility of the Northwest Passage , which would lead to Asia through what is now the Canadian Arctic, as his course was taking him towards southern Greenland. Although he failed to reach Asia, Hudson’s exploration in and around Spitsbergen led to a new whale and walrus fishery.

Second Voyage (1608)

In 1608, Hudson sailed again in the Hopewell , again in association with Sir Thomas Smythe, but now with the aim of finding the Northeast Passage, a route to East Asia over the top of Russia. Hudson and his crew of 14 were unable to progress beyond Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The voyage was otherwise noteworthy for a remark in Hudson’s journal that crewmembers had sighted a pair of mermaids: one was “as big as one of us; her skin very white; and long hair hanging down behind, of colour black; in her going down they saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like a mackerel.”

Third Voyage (1609)

For his third voyage Hudson was hired by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to make another attempt at finding the Northeast Passage. He was provided a small, nimble vessel called the Halve Maen ( Half Moon ).

Hudson and the Half Moon , with a total crew of 17 (13 of them Dutch) left Amsterdam in April. He was no more successful in overcoming Novaya Zemlya than he had been with the Hopewell in 1608. Despite explicit instructions from the VOC to return home should he not find the Northeast Passage, Hudson made an extraordinary detour — all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, to the east coast of North America.

Hudson’s motivations are unclear. He may have made off with the Half Moon in hope of making a major discovery that could land another voyage commission. After crossing the Grand Banks , Newfoundland , Hudson had a dangerously close encounter with Sable Island before stopping at present-day LaHave , Nova Scotia , to replace a broken mast. There, Hudson met friendly Mi’kmaq , but after a few days a rift erupted between the English minority and the Dutch majority of his crew. A dozen heavily armed men, who were probably the Dutch faction, went ashore and “drove the savages from their houses,” according to crewmember Robert Juet’s journal. The Half Moon crew’s aggression may explain why in 1611 the Mi’kmaq took captive six men from a Dutch voyage that anchored at LaHave. None were ever seen again.

Hudson continued south to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and then briefly into Chesapeake Bay (an inlet between Maryland and Virginia), before turning north. He inspected Delaware Bay (between Delaware and New Jersey) before arriving at Upper New York Bay and the island of Manhattan. Upon entering Upper New York Bay he followed north the river that now bears his name. He probed 240 km of navigable water, all the way to present-day Albany, New York, before turning back.

Instead of returning to Amsterdam, Hudson sailed back across the Atlantic to the English port of Dartmouth. There he secured new backing for an English attempt at finding the Northwest Passage, and in July 1610 the Half Moon returned to Amsterdam without him.

Fourth Voyage (1610–11) — Exploration of Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay and James Bay

For his fourth voyage, Hudson was backed by a wealthy and influential group of men, including the Prince of Wales, and provided with the Discovery . The Discovery left London on 17 April 1610 with a crew of 23, among them Hudson’s son, John, and Robert Juet, who had been with him since at least his second voyage in 1608. Before he had even reached the sea, Hudson brought aboard another man, Henry Greene, to serve as a spy on the crew.

Provided with only a single ship and no messenger vessel, Hudson likely had only been expected to make a preliminary, one-season search for the Northwest Passage. But he sailed all the way across the strait named for him before turning south into a massive expanse of open water that also would bear his name. From Hudson Bay he probed still farther south, into James Bay , in which he sailed back and forth, “for some reasons to himself known,” according to one crewmember. In September, Hudson held an ad hoc trial of his mate, Juet, to air allegations that he was plotting to seize control. Hudson spared him from punishment, but replaced him as mate with Robert Bylot .

The voyage paused for the winter at the southern end of James Bay, probably in Rupert Bay. Remarkably, the Discovery crew endured the winter with the loss of only one man, but Hudson had a serious falling out with his shipboard spy, Henry Greene. In June 1611, after returning from a reconnoitering expedition in the ship’s boat, Hudson agreed to sail back to England. Before leaving, though, he replaced Bylot as his mate with another sailor, John King. The Discovery was stalled in ice on James Bay when a faction of the crew that included Juet, Greene and Bylot seized control of the ship on the morning of 22 June. Hudson, his son John, and seven other crewmembers (including King) were forced into the ship’s boat and cast adrift. They were never seen again.

Five mutineers died on the return voyage. Four, including Greene, were killed in a clash with Inuit at Digges Islands at the northern end of Hudson Bay; Juet died of starvation only days before the ship reached the British Isles. When the battered Discovery drifted into the company of a fishing fleet off the south coast of Ireland on 6 September, the original crew of 23 was down to eight.

Hudson’s third and fourth voyages ignited a flurry of exploration and trading activity. The Half Moon voyage led to fur trading opportunities for the Dutch. Dutch merchants were in the Manhattan area by 1612, and the colony of New Netherland was soon formed.

The French explorer Samuel de Champlain was told by a translator, Nicolas de Vignau, that Anishinaabe people at Lake Nipissing had secured an English boy from the Cree , the lone survivor of a wreck in the “northern sea” ( Hudson Bay ), and wanted to make a gift of him. The boy sounded like John Hudson and inspired Champlain to mount his 1613 journey up the Ottawa River . While the information Vignau provided was likely false, the failed 1613 journey led to Champlain’s more ambitious 1615–16 visit to Georgian Bay and the Huron-Wendat people.

Hudson’s explorations on the fourth voyage also inspired immediate follow-up voyages by the English in search of the Northwest Passage . Three survivors, Robert Bylot , Habakkuk (Abacuk) Prickett and Edward Wilson, participated in a 1612–13 voyage into Hudson Bay under Thomas Button. With William Baffin , Bylot made two significant voyages into the Canadian Arctic. Only after the final Baffin-Bylot voyage failed to locate the passage did Bylot and other survivors of the 1610–11 Discovery voyage stand trial for the murders of Henry and John Hudson and their companions. All were found not guilty in 1618.

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The Twin Mysteries of Henry Hudson - His 1609 Voyage The Twin Mysteries of Henry Hudson - His 1609 Voyage

The twin mysteries of henry hudson—his 1609 voyage.

Introduction On September 2, 1609, the Dutch ship  Half Moon  sailed into what is now New York Harbor and anchored near Staten Island. For the next five weeks, the Englishman Henry Hudson and his crew of sixteen men explored the river that now bears his name. They traveled approximately 150 miles northward making contact with Native Americans and recording the observations that would eventually lead to the colonization of New Netherland. Then they returned to Europe, stopping first in England and continuing on to the Netherlands. End of story? Not quite, for two aspects of this voyage have puzzled historians and others for centuries.

The first mystery is why the  Half Moon  was in North American waters. The orders given to Hudson by his employer, the Dutch East India Company, were quite explicit: find a route to the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia) by sailing northeast past the northern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, sail along the northern coast of Russia, and eventually enter the North Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait.

The second puzzlement is that Hudson departed from Amsterdam and was expected by his sponsors to return directly there. In fact, part of his contract stipulated that Hudson’s family actually move to Holland and remain there until his return. Why did he stop in England first?  

The Age of Discovery Before exploring the rationale for Hudson’s actions, a quick review of certain aspects of early seventeenth-century geopolitics is in order. Since the days of Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator, the Portuguese had a virtual monopoly on the southern trade routes linking the Far East with Europe. It was this trade that brought tropical goods, especially spices, silks, and cotton to European markets through Portuguese ports. The newly independent Dutch, seeking to avoid conflict with the Portuguese, decided to investigate the northeastern route to the Orient. The year 1609 also marked two important events: first, it was the year that the Bank of Amsterdam was established, an important part of the system of commerce then developing. This year also marked the beginnings of a twelve-year truce between Holland and Spain, thus freeing the smaller nation to concentrate on trade and exploration. In addition, in response to French explorations of North America, especially by Cartier and Samuel de Champlain, traders and men of commerce in England were also interested in alternate routes to the Orient. Indeed, John Cabot was sent to explore the North Atlantic shortly after the news of Columbus’ discoveries. Cabot was interested in the mythical Northwest Passage to the Orient. Although he was unsuccessful in finding such a route, it was suspected that traveling north or northeast past the northern tip of Norway might be ice-free for at least two or three summer months. Finally, it should be noted that this era was in the middle of what was known in the northern hemisphere as the Little Ice Age, a time when cold winters caused the canals of Holland to freeze for months at a time. (Remember Hans Brinker and his silver skates?) It is evident that this period of the mid-sixteenth century appealed to the adventurous spirit of those looking to the New World to satisfy their ambition. And Hudson was definitely one of these ambitious and courageous men.

Hudson’s Qualifications Almost nothing is known regarding Hudson’s education. He must have known how to read and write, analyze charts, and perform accurate readings of celestial navigation. His expertise in ship-handling in foul weather and unknown waters, and his leadership as a ship’s captain, are evidenced by the four voyages of exploration that he undertook. Hudson is known to have had direct contact with the foremost cartographers of his day1 as well as corresponding with John Smith, the leader of the Virginia Company’s colony at Jamestown.2 There is little known about how Hudson was able to secure the position as Captain of his first two voyages to the northeast; only conjecture provides any insight. Although no record of previous leadership has emerged, he was a seafaring man in his mid- to late-thirties; no one would have been named to lead such a perilous journey without either prior experience of command at sea or the influence of men of high standing in the circles of commerce or government. There is some evidence that Hudson’s older brother was at the Muscovy Company, which had been established in London in 1553. One co-founder of the Muscovy Company was Sebastian Cabot, the son of John Cabot, the explorer. Interestingly, another co-founder was one Henry Heardson. As the spellings of names were not exact at this time, it is possible that one of Heardson’s eight sons might have been Henry Hudson’s father.

From documents of the time, it is clear that Hudson was the captain of four voyages of discovery, two of which were prior to the voyage of 1609 and the last in 1610. His first two voyages on behalf of the English were unsuccessful, in that his ship was unable to penetrate the Arctic ice, or proceed further than the twin islands of Novaya Zemlya, in the Arctic Ocean north of Russia. Even though both voyages found his ship in these waters in mid-June, sea ice as well as ice in the riggings prevented further progress. The Muscovy Company, a private stock company looking for a route to the East, had sent Hudson on these trips. But after the second unsuccessful voyage, which may have included a mutiny by the ship’s crew in late 1608, Hudson found himself ashore with no immediate prospects for a ship or voyage.  

The  Half Moon Early seventeenth-century ships the Dutch used for ocean trade were built with a hold designed to carry approximately thirty to 100 tons of cargo and supplies, much of which was food and water for the crew. In size, a ship like the one Hudson used on his third voyage would not have been much larger than four inter-city buses parked two abreast. It would have had three masts and been capable of no more than ten knots of speed in optimum conditions. A minimum safe depth of water for such a vessel would have been two fathoms (approximately twelve feet). A typical crew would have been fifteen to twenty men. These ships did have a high stern and considerable freeboard along each side which made for safer sailing, even in stormy weather. And as demonstrated by the survivors of Hudson’s fourth voyage, a crew of six or seven sailors would have been able to keep her afloat. After this voyage, little is known of the  Half Moon , except that five years later it ran aground and sank off the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, suggesting it was used for trade with the Orient.  

The Dutch Connection Seeing no likelihood of a third posting as a ship’s captain in England, Hudson began to look to the Continent, specifically France, and then Holland for more opportunity. France was an early entry into the utilization of the resources of the New World, as evidenced by the explorations of Jacques Cartier in the first half of the sixteenth century. Hudson was able to use James LeMaire,3 a Dutch navigator living in France, as his agent to secure another voyage. And through Hudson’s acquaintance with Flemish mapmaker Jodocus Hondius,4 discussions with the Dutch had begun. These discussions were the first to bear fruit. With Hondius acting as interpreter, the contract for the  Half   Moon’s  exploration via the northeast route to the Orient was signed in Amsterdam with two representatives of the Dutch East India Company on January 8, 1609.

The contract stated that Hudson would be provided with a vessel of about thirty tons (rather small for a voyage to the Arctic region) to depart on or about April 1, proceeding north and then  east  past Novaya Zemlya until he was able to sail south to about latitude sixty degrees. This location would have demonstrated that Hudson had entered the Pacific Ocean. Upon returning directly, he was to report to the Dutch East India Company’s director, and furnish all  journals, logs, and charts .5 In addition, the contract stated that neither Hudson nor his crew was to enter into any other arrangement or employment agreement, and the captain’s wife and children were to remain as virtual hostages in Holland until his return. Hudson began to equip his ship for the voyage.  

Juet’s Journal Robert Juet was an English sailor of considerable skill and experience. In addition to his seamanship, he could write. He kept the only firsthand and complete account of the 1609 voyage that has survived.6 He had accompanied Hudson on the 1608 voyage, which was unable to pass further than Novaya Zemlya.

Juet’s journal is a daily account of all manner of navigational, ship-handling, and other events, including position statements from which we are able to approximate the location of the ship at any time.7 Included in it are items such as sightings of quantities of fish and marine mammals, storms and fogs, birds (which indicate the ship’s proximity to land), as well as notations regarding the injury or death of crew members, sightings of land, etc. Because most of Hudson’s papers have not survived, Juet’s journal gives the most complete picture of the voyage.  

The Voyage On March 25, 1609, Hudson and his crew of sixteen sailed the  Half Moon  away from Amsterdam into the North Sea. For almost the next two months, the ship sailed further north and east, only to encounter cold, ice, and storms. Quarrels and fighting broke out among the crew, and perhaps a mutiny ensued. The mixed crew of English and Dutch may have had different expectations regarding the voyage. The Dutch were experienced in warmer-weather sailing; the English, especially those who had accompanied Hudson on the previous voyages, may have been more accustomed to the cold. In any event, by May 19, the ship seems to have progressed as Far East as ice would permit. Juet’s log conveniently skips most of the first part of the voyage with the notation “because it is a journey usually known,”8 and so, if a mutiny was instrumental in Hudson changing course to the west, it cannot be confirmed. What is confirmed by Thomas Janvier’s work in the nineteenth century is that Hudson sought out Emanuel Van Meteren, the former Dutch consul in London, upon his return to England following the voyage to show him the charts and logs.9 Relying on information from Van Meteren, Janvier’s work states that upon encountering pack ice, Hudson presented two choices to his crew: either go to North America to explore an area north of Virginia, or proceed due west to explore the Davis Strait, the entrance to Hudson’s Bay. The crew agreed to the latter proposal, and after a watering stop in the Faeroe Islands, proceeded westward. At this point, it is important to note that if the above is true, namely that Hudson would allow the crew to set the sailing direction, he must either have lost control of the crew (as in a mutiny), or he had intended all along to ignore the Dutch East India Company’s directions.  

Into North American Waters With the decision made to sail toward Davis Strait, the ship sailed slowly westward, losing its foremast in a storm on June 15. Gradually moving southwestward, the first landfall was Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. By mid-July, the ship was off the coast of central Maine, where Hudson took the opportunity to get freshwater, lobsters and fish from the local waters. By August 24, the ship, having skirted Cape Cod, was in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras. Interestingly, although Hudson was aware of his proximity to Jamestown and his friend John Smith, he made no attempt to enter the Chesapeake area. Four days later, Hudson entered Delaware Bay, but soon found the river too shallow to be a possible northwest passage to the Orient. On September 2, the  Half Moon  passed Sandy Hook on its port side and entered lower New York Harbor.  

Exploring the River The  Half Moon  was to spend almost five weeks in the river. On the second day in the harbor, three rivers were sighted (possibly the East River, the Hudson, and a body of water separating Staten Island from Bayonne, New Jersey, which is still called the Kill Van Kull). The latter river was determined to be too shallow to explore, and Hudson used these first few days to send a small ship’s boat to take soundings to determine the depth of the waterways. On one of these trips on September 6, the Europeans were attacked by hostile natives and one crew member, John Colman, was struck in the throat with an arrow and killed. The men had to spend a stormy night in the bay; the next morning they were able to return to the ship. Later, Hudson led another party ashore, and John Colman was buried on a point of land, probably in Brooklyn.10

By September 14, the  Half Moon  had proceeded north into the Tappan Zee (the term  zee  meaning sea in Dutch), and Hudson was encouraged by the fact that here the river is more than a mile wide, giving all indications of being a channel or strait between two oceans. Also, the water was still salty, adding to this possibility. By September 18, the ship was near the present village of Catskill, and here Hudson went ashore. An old chief and sixty members of his clan prepared a meal for the Europeans. In a fragment of Hudson’s log that does survive, he describes them “as a very good people...and when they supposed that I would not stay overnight with them for fear of their bows, they broke the bows and arrows and threw them into the fire”11. On September 22, Hudson anchored and directed the small boat to proceed further upriver to take more soundings. It returned in the early evening, with Juet reporting that some twenty miles further the water was but seven feet deep. The search for the Northwest Passage in this region had ended.

The return trip, taking advantage of the river’s flow and the ebbing tide, was concluded in ten days. Some of the same natives the crew had met on the way north now wanted Hudson to come ashore again. The old chief and another older native, along with four women, did have a meal with Hudson on board the ship. Through signs and gift exchanges, the natives made the point that they wished Hudson to again have a meal with them on shore. He refused, wishing to take advantage of a favorable wind. By September 30, the ship anchored near present-day Newburgh, which Juet in his log called “a very pleasant place to build a town…”12 By October 2, the  Half Moon  was near its original anchorage, where Colman had been killed. This time, the ship was attacked over a period of several hours. Using muskets and a light cannon, the crew was able to disperse the attackers, killing about a dozen.

The following day, a storm arose which caused the ship to go aground on a soft, sandy beach, but the crew was able to refloat her at high tide. By midday on October 4, the  Half Moon  had cleared the Narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn and turned toward Europe. Juet’s entry for October 5 is telling, for he writes:

“We continued our way to England….”13 Clearly, upon their departure, the first mate was well aware that they would again break contract with the [Dutch East India Company] and not return directly to Amsterdam. The ship arrived at the English port of Dartmouth on the south coast on November 7.

Here, therefore, is the second mystery. What was the reasoning for Hudson, with his family in Holland, to ignore a very important stipulation of the agreement he had signed in January? Unfortunately, there is scant evidence upon which to make a determination of intent. But there are a few potential reasons Hudson might want to break his contract.  

Conclusions The first mystery has at least three possible answers as to why Hudson ultimately sailed westward, in direct contradiction of his orders. He had two recent prior voyages into Arctic waters north and east of Scandinavia; both had encountered pack ice in May or June, theoretically the warmest season of the year. Knowing this, Hudson may have agreed to his contract with the Dutch East India Company while secretly planning that if conditions were similar to his prior experiences, he would turn westward and search for the mythical Northwest Passage. Another possibility is that his crew may have been near mutiny as they struggled with the ice and cold in the northern latitudes, with little prospect for continuing further east. Handling rigging and sail in severe conditions is dangerous, especially when considering the primitive clothing and living conditions onboard such a small ship. Turning away from the ice may have enabled Hudson to continue his voyage in better conditions. Finally, Hudson was English, and the Dutch were rivals on the world stage of trade and commerce. Hudson is known to have corresponded with Captain John Smith, leader of the English colony in Virginia. It is possible that Hudson and Smith had a previous agreement to share navigational information in support of the English colonies. Unfortunately, there is little beyond circumstantial evidence to provide clues to attempt to solve this mystery. One letter of Smith’s to Hudson does survive, but nothing of a reply from Hudson. The reader is left to her choice in deciding on a solution.

Regarding the second mystery, as to why the ship returned to England first, speculation provides the only avenue of analysis. Here are the known facts: the ship arrived in an English port, the English crew was allowed to leave, Hudson and the remaining Dutch crew were held in virtual house arrest. During the course of his forced delay in England, Hudson was able to show at least some of his logs, charts, and other information to Emanuel Van Meteren. By April 1610, Hudson again was captain of a voyage of discovery, backed by private English investors, on a ship called  Discovery . In that interval, Hudson and the  Half Moon’s  Dutch crewmen were released and allowed to return to Amsterdam. Juet’s log makes no reference to the return voyage at all after October 5, only noting the fact that they made no landfalls until arriving at Dartmouth about five weeks later.

So, as to why Hudson detoured to England, the answer seems lost to history. He may have been moved by his allegiance to his native England, or it could have been that his crew had turned on Hudson and forced him to return to England so they could see their families sooner.

If his final voyage in 1610-1611 had ended with Hudson’s return, there might have been more incentive to retain the records of the 1609 voyage. Because his fourth trip ended in mutiny, abandonment, the death of several remaining crew members, and official inquiries as to the circumstances of the end of the voyage, it probably made more sense to suppress his logs and charts so as not to stir up more controversy. The Dutch East India Company now concentrated on direct sailings to the Orient. It was left to a new company, the Dutch West India Company, founded in 1624, to look westward and begin to colonize New Netherland.

There seems to be no one logical reason for the  Half Moon  to have deviated from its final destination. The only thing that can shed more light on this final mystery of the 1609 voyage is new documentary discovery.  

Endnotes 1. Sandler, Corey  Henry Hudson, Dreams and Obsession  (Citadel Press, New York, 2007), p. 146. Hondius had lived and worked in London and was acquainted with Hudson.

2. Ibid, p. 42. Hudson and Smith were both acquainted with Richard Hakluyt, a director of the Muscovy Company.

3. Ibid, p. 142. LeMaire recommended Hudson to the French king, Henry IV.

4. Ibid, p. 146.

5. Ibid, p. 145.

6. Juet’s log of this voyage was published in London in 1625 by Samuel Purchas, in Part Three,  Purchas, His Pilgrimes . The practice of a ship’s log as a formal, running account of a vessel’s daily activities continues to this day in all the navies of the world. It is usually written in the wheelhouse, signed by the officer of the watch, and preserved for future reference.

7. Sandler, p. 149.

8. Ibid, p. 149.

9. Ibid, p. 150.

10. “Legacy: A Hudson Crewman is killed”, by S. Wick  New York Newsday , copyright. 2007.

11. Sandler, p. 164.

12. Ibid, p. 167.

13. Ibid, p. 169.

Hudson River Valley Institute 3399 North Rd Poughkeepsie NY 12601 Phone: 845.575.3052 Fax: 845.575.3416 Email: [email protected]

World History Edu

• Famous Explorers / Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson: Facts and Major Achievements

by World History Edu · November 4, 2021

Henry Hudson – Biography and achievements

Henry Hudson was the English navigator and explorer who devoted much of his professional career searching for a “Northeast Passage” from Europe to Asia. Along the way, he made some very important discoveries that in so many ways enhanced the Age of Exploration in Europe.

Although all four attempts to find the northeast passage and northwest passage to Asia failed, his contributions had profound impact on future navigators and explorers of the North American continent. For example, Hudson was the first European to encounter the Hudson Strait and the Hudson Bay. In addition to those water bodies, the famous Hudson River in New York, U.S., was named for him.

What else was Henry Hudson most known for? World History Edu explores the life and major achievements of this renowned English explorer and navigator.

Quick facts about English navigator and explorer Henry Hudson

Born: c. 1565

Place of birth : England

Disappeared: June 23, 1611?

Place of disappearance and death : Hudson Bay?

Son: John Hudson

Most famous for : attempting to find the northeast passage as well as the northwest passage to Asia

Ships: Discovery , Halve Maen (“Half Moon”)

Major Accomplishments of Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson voyages

Below are 6 major accomplishments of English explorer Henry Hudson.

Henry Hudson’s quest for a short route from Europe to Asia through the North Pole

Henry Hudson’s search for the Northeast Passage from Europe to Asia began in the spring of 1607.

Being one of the few explorers in Europe who had extensive knowledge of the Arctic, Henry Hudson was able to secure financial backing from the Muscovy Company of London in his attempt to get to Asia via the North Pole.

In 1607, Hudson, along with a crew of 11 men, which included his son John Hudson, began his journey towards the Arctic. His goal was to find the highly-sought after passage via the North Pole to Asia. He hoped there would be an ice-free route that would enable him and his crew make it around the North Pole and then into the Pacific Ocean.

Henry Hudson experienced very minimal challenges until his journey was halted by a massive ice pack at the Svalbard archipelago (also known as the Spitbergen) near the Arctic Circle. Hudson and his crew, therefore, had to discontinue their journey.

In spite of that, Hudson’s first voyage into the Arctic was remarkable in the sense that it helped enhance what we knew about the North Pole at the time. His findings, thus, built upon the chartings made by early Arctic explorers like Dutch navigator Willem Barents.

Hudson’s Second Voyage (1608)

Although the first expedition of Henry Hudson was met with some challenges, his backers, the Muscovy Company of London, were inspired by the findings that emerged from it. And so, Hudson was once again commissioned to discover the Northeast Passage. The English explorer deployed a different approach this time.

Sailing from England on April 22, 1608, the explorer chose to pass between Svalbard and the islands of Novaya Zemlya. From there he made his way to the east of the Barents Sea. To his disappointment and that of his crew members, Hudson again encountered a big ice pack that prevented him from going further. After about 4 months at sea, Hudson sailed back to England.

The Third voyage – quest to discover the “northwest passage”

No sooner had he arrived in England from his second voyage than did he begin to receive reports of a two likely routs to the Pacific Ocean. According to those reports, the first possible route, which was said to be around latitude 62° N, was based on the findings from George Weymouth’s 1602 voyage. The second possible route, around latitude 40° N, had been inspired by the voyage of Captain John Smith.

Taking all of those reports into consideration, Hudson decided to embark upon a third voyage. This time, he was sponsored by the Dutch, i.e. the Dutch East India Company. On April 6, 1609, on board the ship the Half Moon (known in Dutch as the Half Maen ), Henry Hudson sailed from Holland and headed northeast. Unlike his first two voyages where massive ice packs halted him in his track, his third voyage was impeded by unfavorable winds. Rather than throw in the towel and return to Holland, Hudson sailed on, seeking the Northwest Passage instead. This went against the agreement that he signed with his Dutch financiers.

Hudson placed his bets on Captain Smith’s route and sailed for latitude 40° N. The Half Moon ’s journey took them along the Atlantic seaboard. Hudson and his crew arrived at Newfoundland in present day Canada. They then continued their travel south, along the Atlantic Coast, where they encountered the great river which was first discovered by Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524.

Hoping to discover an outlet, Hudson went up the river for almost 150 miles (240 km) until he made it to present-day Albany, New York. He and his crew came to a conclusion that there existed no route via the river to the Pacific. Therefore, Hudson turned his ship around and headed back to Holland.

Henry Hudson quotes

Henry Hudson’s fourth and final voyage

On his return journey to Europe from his third voyage, Hudson is said to have docked in England. He hoped to proceed from Dartmouth, which along the English Channel, to Holland. Around this same time, the English government had issued a ban on explorers and navigators from taking commissions on behalf of other European nations. Therefore, Hudson was left with no option than to send his findings from the third voyage to Holland.

Still committed to discovering the Northwest Passage, Hudson took the reports of English Captain George Weymouth’s 1602 voyage and planned sailing around latitude 62° N.

In April 1611, about a year after his third voyage, Hudson raised his sail again and journeyed from London aboard the 55-ton ship called the Discovery. His fourth and what eventually ended up being his final voyage was sponsored by the British East India Company, the Muscovy Company and other private individuals.

Hudson passed through Iceland before going west, hoping to follow Weymouth’s proposed Pacific-bound channel. By August of that year, he had sailed through an inlet (now called Hudson Strait) and then entered a bay area (the Hudson Bay). Thinking the Hudson Bay offered an outlet to the Pacific, Hudson continued heading towards the east coast until he encountered the James Bay, where he came to a dead end. There was no route to the Pacific, and the ship had to turn back and return to England.

Hudson had an enduring interest in finding a short route from Europe to Asia

Prior to Hudson, an English navigator John Davis journeyed (in 1585) to the Arctic on a quest to find the Northwest Passage to (from Europe) Asia. Some historians suggest that Henry Hudson was part of the preparation process of Davis’ expedition to the Arctic. If that were the case, that would likely explain Hudson’s interest in finding the Northwest Passage to Asia.

He was a committed and knowledgeable explorer

The fact that he  was commissioned for a whopping four times to discover a short route from Europe to Asia is testimony to the confidence people had him as an explorer and a navigator. Hudson must have thoroughly read the accounts of some of the first European explorers of the Age of Exploration, particularly the ones that ventured into the Arctic. It is therefore safe to say that Hudson was a well-versed explorer on Arctic geography.

Hudson is also most known for the sheer level of commitment he displayed on the four expeditions that he embarked upon. The extremely dangerous nature of the expeditions did not faze him as he went one expedition after the other. This trait of his was also one of the reasons why his wealthy sponsors had a tremendous amount of trust in him as an explorer and navigator.

How did Henry Hudson die?

John Collier’s painting of Hudson, his son, and loyal crew set adrift

Biting winter conditions compounded Hudson’s already despondent situation. The disappointment soon evolved into a bitter quarrel among his crew members, who were by this time restless and aggressive. Soon, some crew members accused Hudson of hoarding rations for his close crew members.

On his way back to England, crew members Henry Green and Robert Juet led a mutiny against Hudson. The mutineers took into custody Hudson, his son John Hudson, and seven other alleged allies of the captain. After a few deliberations, the mutineers cast Hudson and the eight men adrift on Hudson Bay.

On June 22, 1611, Hudson and the eight men, seven of which were suffering from scurvy, were given a small open lifeboat and then left to fend for themselves in a very hostile and unfamiliar environment.

It is unclear what fate Henry Hudson or the eight men suffered after they were cast away. None of them were ever heard from again. To this day, the whereabouts of the bodies of Hudson and the eight men remain unknown.

As for some of the leaders of the mutiny, it’s been stated that they were killed during a deadly confrontation with Eskimos. According to Abacuk Pricket’s account, alleged mutineer Juet died of starvation just a few days before the ship arrived in Ireland.

The ship, Discovery, did eventually make it back to England, however, with significantly fewer men than it had at the start of the voyage. No punishment was meted out to any of the eight sailors that returned with the Discovery .

Henry Hudson’s sponsors and patrons

Henry Hudson accomplishments | Image: Replica of the Halve Maen (Half Moon)

Henry Hudson was commissioned three times by England, i.e. the British East India company – 1607, 1608, and 1610/11. He was commissioned once by the Dutch, i.e. the Dutch East India Company, in 1609. Other sponsors and financiers of Hudson include: Muscovy Company of London and the Virginia Company of Plymouth.

More on Henry Hudson

Hudson took quite a lot of inspiration from voyage reports and findings of Dutch explorer Willem Barents and Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano.

Before the mutineers left Hudson and the eight other castaways in the Hudson Bay, they gave them some clothes, pikes, some food and other provisions. This account is from navigator Abacuk Pricket, one of the survivors, possibly a member of the mutineers, that made it back to England.

The leaders of the mutiny, Henry Green and Robert Juet, were very close friends of Henry Hudson. The latter even accompanied Hudson during his 1609 voyage. It remains unclear why Greene and Juet took such drastic decision as casting away Hudson.

All in all, Henry Hudson embarked upon four very dangerous voyages in his lifetime.

Henry Hudson was described by many as a strong-willed sea captain. He was never the kind to back down from challenges. However, he has been accused of endorsing favoritism on his ship. If the accounts are true, then it was very much evident towards the latter part of the fourth voyage.

In addition to the Hudson Bay, the Hudson River and the Hudson Strait bearing Henry Hudson’s name, the Hudson County in New Jersey, the town of Hudson in New York, and the Henry Hudson Bridge in New York City are named after the English navigator and explorer.

While cruising up the Hudson River, Henry Hudson came about 100 miles away from the expedition team led by French explore Samuel de Champlain. Even though the two explorers were so close to each other, they were not aware of each other’s presence in the region.

Known as Muhheakunnuk (“Great Waters Constantly in Motion”), the Hudson River served as an important waterway during the American Revolution. However, did you know that it was named in honor of English explorer and navigator Henry Hudson? Hudson exploration in the area in the early 17th century allowed for the Dutch settle in the Hudson Valley.  | Hudson River – The Bear Mountain Bridge across the Hudson River as seen from Bear Mountain

Bibliography

Butts, E. (2009).  Henry Hudson: new world voyager . Toronto: Dundurn.

Rink, O. A. (1986).  Holland on the Hudson: an economic and social history of Dutch New York . Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 29

Mancall, P. (2009).  The Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson . Basic Books

Sandler, C. (2007).  Henry Hudson: Dreams and Obsession . New York: Kensington Publishing Corp

Tags: English Explorers Henry Hudson Hudson Bay Hudson Strait

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The Four Voyages of Henry Hudson – by Joe Santacroce

• By Joe Santacroce
• February 19, 2019
• No Comments

The Four Voyages of Henry Hudson

By joe santacroce.

It may be fair to say that Henry Hudson is one of the world’s most famous explorers. Yet there is much we do not know. Henry Hudson’s actual date of birth is not known. It is estimated around 1570 which would have made him around 37 years old when he made his first big voyage in 1607. He was married and had three children. He was English, not Dutch. By today’s standards, they might be considered middle class in that they could afford to live in a decent dwelling near the Tower of London and even afford a Maid Servant to help wife Katherine with the three boys, Oliver, John, and Richard.

We do know that his name was Henry and not Hendrick, as so often called and emblazoned on the newest and finest steamboat on the Hudson River at the time. Evidenced in his contract with the Amsterdam directors of the Dutch East India Company where he signed as Henry Hudson.

Nothing of certainty is known about his family or parents. There are family trees for Henry Hudson but many are filled with question marks. What is known is that he could read and write, understood mathematics, and knew how to navigate the stars.

It is said that the portraits that commonly refer to him are certainly not him and that no authenticated portrait of him is known to exist. The pictures alleged to be likenesses of him were made after his death coming from the artists’ imaginations. All that is known about Henry Hudson covers his four voyages that occurred between 1607 to 1611.

Henry Hudson had one goal. That goal was to find a passage to the Orient and he wasn’t the first to try. Many had attempted before him. Europe’s population was growing, the economy was changing as well as strained. Food and clothing prices were at an all-time high and food was scarce. People were moving from the countryside to the city.  Henry Hudson was on a mission and he had friends and influences in London to help him get started on his first voyage.  It became his passion and that passion is what probably led to his death.

Henry Hudson – The First Voyage

His first of four voyages began on May 1, 1607, as Captain of the ship Hopewell, sponsored by the English Muscovy Company for which it is believed his family had a history and\or stake in working for.  He had a crew of 10 plus himself and his son John. The purpose of the trip was to discover a passage past the North Pole to Japan and China. Incredibly, Hudson, and others believed the waters would be warmer because the days were longer near the North Pole. At one point weather was so bad that he sailed blindly in snow along the coast of Greenland. Ice prevented him from reaching his goal. However, a great deal geographically was learned.

His report on the number of Whales led to others to begin Whaling in that area. Some writers and historians claim that the whaling boom that followed was a direct result of Henry Hudson’s sighting and that other nations sent expeditions as a result. Other accounts attribute this to explorer Jonas Poole in 1610 and others who followed.

From Henry Hudson’s Own Log “July 14, 1607. At noon being a thick fog, we found ourselves near land . . . and running farther we found a bay open to the west. . . . The northern side of this bay’s mouth … is a small island which we called Collin’s Cape by the name of our boatswain who first saw it. In this bay we saw many whales, and one of our company having a hook and line overboard to try for fish, a whale came under the keel of our ship and made her held. Yet by God’s mercy we had no harm, but the loss of the hook and three parts of the line. In the bottom of this bay, John Colman, my mate, and William Collin, my boatswain, with two others of our company went on shore and there they found and brought aboard a pair of morse’s [Walrus] teeth in the jaw; they likewise found whale’s bones, and some dozen or more of deer’s horns, they saw the footings of beasts of other sorts, they also saw rote-geese, they saw much driftwood on the shore, and found a stream or two of fresh water. Here they found it hot on the shore, and drank water to cool their thirst. This night proved clear, and we had the sun on the Meridian, on the North and by East part of the compass, from the upper edge of the horizon with the cross-staff we found [its] height 10°40′ . . . from a north sun to an east sun, we sailed between north and north north east for eight leagues”.

Whether Henry Hudson or Jonas Poole can be credited with the find, within a decade the whale and walrus population was depleting. Sad commentary and footnote to the voyage but at the time this was seen as the highlight of the trip and if it was Hudson that got the credit it is what helped him to be able to make the second voyage after failing in the first. On September 15th after 3 ½ months away they pull back into port.

Henry Hudson – The Second Voyage

The second voyage begins eight months later on Friday, April 22, 1608, again sailing for the Muscovy Company on the Hopewell. This time Hudson is in search of a northeast passage going above Novaya Zemlya, an Island above Russia. His crew totals 13 including son John. Hudson demands additional men and that the ship is reinforced. Robert Juet joins the crew and is older than Hudson, literate, and an able seamen. But Juet also becomes part of the problem. Hudson himself describes Juet in his log as a man “filled with mean tempers” ,

It is believed that Robert Juet also kept a log on the second voyage as he did on the third. But when pieces of Hudson’s journal were printed in 1625, Juet’s was not. The belief being in the interest of brevity. But if that was really the case we will never know as Juet’s log was never found. An investigation in 1841 by the New York State Legislature also turned up nothing more.

Near the end of June, they reach the island of Novaya Zemlya above Russia but ice prevented them from going further. They did some exploration and finding not only signs of many Walrus, Deer, Bear, and birds, they also find pieces of a broken Cross indicating they were not the first to pass this way.

Whether due to the cold, rough seas, or something else several of the men became ill on this voyage. At the end of May, beginning of June, the ship ran into snow and gales.

From Henry Hudson’s Own Log:  “June 9, 1608. In latitude 75°29′ we entered into ice, being the first we saw in this voyage; our hope was to go through it. We held our course between northeast and east northeast . . . until four in the afternoon at which time we were so far in and the ice so thick and firm ahead . . . that we had endangered us. We returned the way we had entered, with a few rubs of our ship against the ice.”

During the second voyage and documented in Hudson’s own hand was the Mermaid Incident. On June 15, 1608, as follows:

“This morning one of our companie looking over boord saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the companie to see her,one more came up and by that time shee was come close to the ships side, looking earnestly on the men. A little after a sea came and overturned her. From the navill upward her backe and breasts were like a womans, as they say that saw her, but her body as big as one of us. Her skin very white, and long haire hanging downe behinde of colour blacke. In her going downe they saw her tayle, which was like the tayle of a porposse, and speckled like a macrell. Their names that saw her were Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner.”

It’s been suggested that this “Mermaid” was a seal, or perhaps just a faulty observation. But one has to wonder why did he give the names of witnesses?

Hudson decides to sail to North America. There were weeks of rain and the crew had enough. In his log, Hudson hints at a mutiny rising and decides it best not to waste time getting back to England and on August 26, 1608, he returns. The Muscovy Company Directors are none too pleased. Henry Hudson is now without a ship or employment.

Henry Hudson – The Third Voyage

Hudson’s third voyage was for the Dutch East India Company on the Half Moon. He had fallen out of favor with the Muscovy Company after the last voyage. The French also wanted to hire Hudson but the Dutch, who were initially stalling, jumped at the chance when they heard the French wanted to employ his services.

While Hudson was negotiating a strict contract with the Dutch to sail back over Novaya Zemlya he received a package from his friend and famous Jamestown Settler, Captain John Smith, stating the belief that a passage to the West lay to the North through America. He sent Hudson some maps given to him by the Natives which later proved to include the Great Lakes.

As they head toward Novaya Zemlya it was frozen over and the men were freezing. Hudson propositioned the men to sail to America. Speculation that he used the information provided to him by Captain John Smith. The other option was to sail through Davis Straights which would provide no further comfort, or warmth. They headed for America.

Through the rest of May, June, July, and August the crew of the Half Moon sailed along charting the coastline and at different points stop and trade with the natives. They also had several altercations, particular on July 25th where Robert Juet writes in his log that:

From Robert Juet’s Log: “In the morning we manned our scute with four muskets and six men, and took one of their shallops and brought it aboard. Then we manned our boat and scute with twelve men and muskets, and two stone pieces, or murderers, and drave the salvages from their houses, and took the spoil of them, as they would have done us.”

This seems to be his justification. What is troublesome is that it appears that Hudson does nothing about it or perhaps even condones it. What really happened, we will never know.

What we now know is that in September of 1609 Henry Hudson and his crew entered

New York Bay and the now named Hudson River with the ultimate goal of finding a passage west. Although Hudson’s discovery can be disputed including Verrazzano’s log of 1524 describing entering the mouth of the bay, and earlier maps showing the Hudson River, including the 1569 New France Mercator Map showing a Fort near what is now Albany. What cannot be disputed is that to this point in time no one had clearly documented the river, it’s beauty, it’s natural resources, or the Native American life from where its mouth empties into the sea, to where their small ship could go no further. The trip up and down the river was full of excitement and surprises that reads like an adventure novel. It was not without misfortune and it was not without altercation and violence with the natives. Scholars to this day still debate the logs.

They anchored near what is now Albany on the 19th of September. They trade with the Natives. Then on the 20th, the small boat is sent out with several crew and they return at night with measurements for the river ahead which confirms they can go no further.

Hudson realizes at this point his quest is over. On the 23rd the ship is turned around and they start to head back down the river. While making their way down the river they have several more encounters with the natives both good and bad. What remains of Hudson’s log entries describe this new world as “pleasant a land as one can tread on”. He tells of visiting with the natives and of being treated well by them. Robert Juet’s log has a different perspective, stating more than once – “but we durst not trust them”.

On October 29th it is generally agreed that they anchored in Newburgh Bay. Robert Juet writes in his journal on the 29th:

From Robert Juet’s Log: “The nine and twentieth was drie close weather ; the wind at south, and south and by west; we weighed early in the morning, and turned downe three leagues by a lowe water, and anchored at the lower end of the long reach ,- for it is sixe leagues long. Then there came certaine Indians in a canoe to us, but would not come aboord. After dinner there came the canoe with other men, whereoff three came aboord us. They brought Indian wheat, which we bought for trifles. At three of the cloeke in the after-noone wee weighed, as soone as the ebbe came, and turned downe to the edge of the mountaines, or the northermost of the moun- Moun- taines. taines, and anchored : because the high land hath many points, and a narrow channell, and hath manie eddie winds. So we rode quietly all night in seven fathoms water.”

They stop and trade with the natives along the way down and on the 30th the Half Moon anchors near Peekskill which although historians differ, many believe this is the location that refers to as “a very pleasant place to build a town on”.  Some believe it was Newburgh. Others believe it was Cornwall.

On the 2nd of October, they are ambushed by approximately 100 Natives including one of them that they held captive after an earlier altercation. Arrows are shot at the half moon and the Natives try to board but none of the crew are hit. Hudson orders the guns to be fired and several Natives are killed. The ship heads for the mouth of the river and then for Europe. The trip takes a month to return after being away for 7 1/2 months.

From Robert Juet’s Log: “October 5, 1609- We continued our course toward England, without seeing any land by the way. All the rest of this month of October. And on the seventh day of November, being Saturday, by the grace of God we safely arrived in the range of Dartmouth, in Devonshire.”

What is interesting is they return to England, not Amsterdam. The ship is seized as are the logs and Henry Hudson is arrested for Treason and put under House Arrest for sailing for another country.

Henry Hudson did not find his passage. But the New World was about to change forever.

Henry Hudson – The Fourth Voyage

Henry Hudson’s fourth voyage began in April of 1610. Once again in search of a Northwest passage, and surprisingly sailing for England after his house arrest. He kept a journal but only pieces survive. The rest probably being destroyed by the mutinous crew.

After sailing towards Greenland and then across Davis Straight, he turns into the bay which now carries his name. In late June they ran into Ice. By November, and after a number of issues with the crew including jealousy, disobedience, scurvy, and freezing cold, a decision needed to be made whether to turn around and give up seeking a Northwest Passage or wait out the winter. They would need to build shelter, hunt, and fish, get firewood and hope that the Natives are not hostile. They would need to ground the ship to relieve the pressure on the hull so ice doesn’t crack it. One crew member had already died.  Henry Hudson decides that they will stay and move on in the spring. A decision that will cost him his life.

On June 12, 1611, after a long and arduous winter, they were once again ready to set sail. Hudson had made some changes in the crew which did not go over well. They again get stuck in Ice and on June 20th Hudson turns the ship West but the crew wants to return. Provisions are running low and he orders a search of the ship and divides the remaining food including that which is spoiled, but some feel cheated.

On June 21st things go very bad.

The only account of the mutiny written by passenger Abacuck Prickett is disputed by all who have studied his account. But it is the only account we have. What is certain, is that Henry Hudson, his son John, and seven other men never returned.

Of the 12 remaining men, 4 died on the way home, including three responsible for the mutiny, including Robert Juet. Justice Served, – perhaps.

Although the remaining crew was questioned and recommended to hang. A trial did not officially take place until 1618 and several had already passed and some believe the sentence was never carried out. There are those that also believe that Hudson’s Voyage, and the reason he was allowed to sail for England again after his arrest upon his return from his third voyage and sailing for the Dutch, was a secret mission to search for Gold and Treasures for England.

From 1607 to 1611 Henry Hudson made four attempts to find a passage to the far east. Each failed to meet their goal. Like other men and women, he was driven by a passion to succeed at no matter what the cost.

During his four voyages, there were at least three attempted mutinies, probably four. The last mutiny put him, his son, and seven others adrift in the icy waters of Hudson’s Bay. He sailed on three different ships during those four voyages, the Hopewell, Half Moon, and the Discovery. All three ships were subsequently sunk or captured after having gone on and sailed by other captains. There is little doubt that he was not the first to enter the river and bay at New York harbor. Yet Henry Hudson was a sought after captain, has more bodies of water named after him, and is carved in history, book, stone, and song.

The Video Version of this Article can be viewed at:  “The Four Voyages of Henry Hudson”

References:

• Life and Voyages of Henry Hudson, by Ian Chadwick:
• Henry Hudson New World Voyager, by Edward Butts, 2009
• Henry Hudson – Dreams and Obsessions, by Corey Sandler, 2007
• Henry Hudson and the Dutch in New York. By Milton W. Hamilton, 1959.
• Hudson Tercentenary – An Historical Retrospective, by Frank Chamberlain, 1909
• A Brief Statement of his aims and Achievements, by Thomas Janvier, 1909
• Henry Hudson, Fatal Journey, The Final Expedition and of Henry Hudson, A Tale of Mutiny and Murder in the Artic, by Peter C. Mancall, 2009
• Henry Hudson and Robert Fulton, A Brief History of the Discovery of the Hudson River, by Edward Hagaman Hall, 1909
• Troys One Hundred Years 1789 1889, by Arthur James Weise, 1891
• Henry Hudson The Navigator, by George Michael Asher, 1860
• Adventures of Henry Hudson, by Alpheus Richards, 1842
• #HenryHudson , #northwestpassage

Joe Santacroce

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History Resources

Landing of Henrick Hudson, 1609

A spotlight on a primary source by martin, johnson & co..

In 1609, Henry Hudson was chosen by the Dutch East India Company to search for a passage to Asia. In September of that year, Hudson landed on the shores of the river that would be named for him and claimed the lands along it for the Dutch. This nineteenth-century engraving, based on a painting by Robert W. Weir (1803–1889), an American artist of the Hudson River School, depicts the English explorer’s anchoring on the Hudson River. Hudson and his men approach the shore in a small boat, signaling their arrival and claim with a horn’s blow and the Dutch flag. Their ship, the Half Moon , looms in the background and dwarfed Indian canoes paddle out to meet it.

The logbook of Hudson’s ship records the landing on September 5: "Our men went on Land there, and saw great store of Men, Women and Children," and notes that the "people of the countrie" were "very civill" and "very glad of our coming." [1] The image conveys the native peoples’ eagerness to meet the group of Europeans, with several men helping to pull the boat ashore as others look on. They offered Hudson’s men food, tobacco, and other goods, but Hudson "durst not trust them." [2] Hudson and his crew ascended the river northward for ten days, meeting and trading with native groups, before returning to Europe. Hudson’s exploration of the river had profound implications for both Europeans and Native Americans. The waterway would prove to be an important route to trade, colonization, and conflict.

[1] Robert Juet, "The Third Voyage of Master Henry Hudson, toward Nova Zembia, and at his Returne, his Passing from Farre Islands to Newfound Land, and along to Fortie-foure Degrees and Ten Minutes, and thence to Cape Cod, and so to Thirtie-three Degrees; and along the Coast to the Northward, to Fortie-two Degrees and an Halfe, and up the River Neere to Fortie-three Degrees," in Benson John Lossing and Woodrow Wilson, Harper Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1909 (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1905), 444.

[2] Juet, "Third Voyage," in Harper Encyclopaedia , 443.

Questions for Discussion

Read the introduction and examine the engraving before answering the following questions:

• It was recorded that the American Indians greeted Henry Hudson and his sailors in a friendly way and offered to trade with them. How then can we explain Hudson’s comment that he “durst not trust them”?
• What clues does the artist provide to help us understand the importance of this first meeting between the Dutch sailors and the American Indians?
• Put yourself in the position of the Native Americans in this engraving. How would they describe this scene upon their return to their village?

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49 Facts About Henry Hudson and His Voyages

Published: Dec 21, 2014 · Modified: Nov 11, 2023 by Russell Yost · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Henry Hudson was a famous explorer who sailed for both England and the Dutch during the Age of Exploration . He explored modern New York City, Canada, and a large body of water that would be named after him, Hudson Bay.

He laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the New World and may have been the first man to circumnavigate the globe by taking the northern passage, but his crew mutinied and abandoned him, his son, and those loyal to him in Canada.

Early Life and Family

First voyage, second voyage, third voyage, fourth voyage.

They were never heard from again, although many legends survive.

There is some disagreement as to when Henry Hudson was born. The range of dates is from 1550 - to 1570s. There was a Henry Hudson in England who died in 1555, which suggests a possible father or grandfather. The 1550s date seems off since he would have been 60 by the time of his last voyage, which is unlikely.

He was from Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, about 17 miles northwest of London.

As a young man, he was most likely employed by the Moscavy Company. His family had shares in the company.

In 1587, he may have sailed for the Northwest Passage with explorer John Davis. During the voyage, Davis named what would later be called the Hudson Strait the Furious Overhaul.

Henry married Katherine and had three sons: Richard, John, and Oliver.

By all accounts, Katherine was an incredibly strong woman. After Henry and John failed to return from their voyage, she petitioned for rescue missions. Henry and John's death left her poor and destitute, but she managed to acquire much wealth through her own ingenuity and resourcefulness.

Henry's son Richard also accumulated much wealth in India. He was one of the first Europeans to be given a permit to live in Imperial Japan. He stayed in India for the rest of his life and lived a life of luxury. Several of his children migrated to the New World.

Hudson's first voyage took place in 1607. During this time, the English and the Dutch were competing for different trade routes and trying to find a northern passage to Asia.

His first command was of the Hopewell and was financed by the Muscovy Company. The vessel was old and had a small crew.

After some initial delays, Henry Hudson set sail with his crew on May 1, 1607.

By May 26, Hudson reached the Shetland Islands

On June 13, Hudson sighted the eastern coast of Greenland. Greenland is known for its rough weather and difficulty to navigate. Even today, these waters are considered treacherous to vessels - even today's modern steel-hulled ships with manganese-bronze propellers.

Sailing Directions, published by the U.S Defense Mapping Agency, notes the waters around southern Greenland as "Notorious for foul weather and heavy seas... Dangerous rocks up to four leagues... Very strong mountain squalls... Winds from the southeast very strong gale strength..."

Small, wooden ships like the Hopewell would have had to progress carefully, always watching for ice, rock, and sudden shifts in weather. A little inattention could quickly result in disaster.

Early-Mid June, the weather became treacherous. Hudson had been mapping the unexplored coast of Greenland and was forced to proceed without any visibility. This shows remarkable bravery and skill.

By June 20, the weather cleared, and Hudson steered away from Greenland.

There was little success in finding a northwest passage, although Hudson did discover a few islands and different wildlife.

Unfortunately, his discoveries led to the decimation of wildlife around many of those islands. The whale and walrus populations were destroyed by hunters wanting their tusks.

Hudson's first voyage ended on September 15, 1607. He still believed there to be a northwest passage and began to prepare for a second voyage.

While making some discoveries in his first voyage, Hudson still believed there to be a shorter passage to the north that would take them to the wealthy Indies.

He took command of the Hopewell for a second time and again sailed for the Muscovy Company of England. This time, he would sail to the northeast around Russia, where he believed there would be a northeast passage.

On April 22, 1608, Hudson and his small crew set sail for the Northeast Passage.

On June 15, 1608, the crewmen sighted what they believed to be a mermaid. Hudson also described what they saw as a mermaid. He recorded what they saw in his log, saying that the creature had a tail like a porpoise, very white skin and was speckled, and had a woman's breast.

By June 27, Hudson reached an impasse. The waters were frozen, and he could not get through to the Kara Sea.

By July 5, Hudson decided that there was not a feasible northeast passage. He had explored many different rivers that proved to be too shallow, much of the arctic water remained frozen, and he had begun to fix his eyes on seeking the northwest passage. He secretly decided to set sail for the New World again.

The crew learned of Hudson's plan and forced his hand to return to England. They arrived in England on August 26, 1608.

After Hudson's second failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage, he could not find a sponsor for his mission. He would eventually be approached by the Dutch East India Company and sail under a different flag.

The Dutch East India Company made Hudson sign a contract that required him to search for the Northeast passage, which he failed to find on his second voyage.

By May, he reached the coast of Nova Zemlya and saw nothing but ice and worse conditions than the year prior. He turned west towards the new world, and the crew began to mutiny.

Hudson was able to calm the crew by showing them maps from a good friend of his, Captain John Smith. John Smith is known for his contributions at Jamestown, but he also explored the coast of the New World and made maps. He had heard the natives talk of a northwest passage but had not been able to document it.

By July, the crew had dealt with much treacherous weather but reached the coast of Newfoundland.

The crew met and traded with many peaceful natives. Unfortunately, the natives put their trust in the wrong place because even though they showed much kindness and fed the crew well, the Europeans would pillage their village and rob them of their spoils.

Hudson explored the coast of New York and met many friendly native tribes. There were many instances where he and his crew traded for food, were invited to the local Indian village for dinner, and had drinks with the natives.

Hudson returned to the Old World after his crew threatened to mutiny. They sailed into Dartmouth, England, where Hudson was put under house arrest for sailing with the East India Company. It was not uncommon for mariners to sail under different flags, which suggests that Hudson was a victim of jealous merchants.

He and his crew never returned to Amsterdam

Despite his arrest, Hudson was able to convince the Virginia Company to fund an exploration of the Northwest Passage.

Hudson and his crew left in mid-April and, by May 11, were passing Iceland.

Hudson was unable to navigate the Hudson Strait (which would be named later) due to ice and was forced to look for another passage.

By July, Hudson was trapped in Ungave Bay. He was forced to navigate slowly through the ice and deal with his mutinous crew, who began to want to go home. Hudson convinced them to press forward, and morale was boosted.

On August 2, 1610, Hudson came into what is now called Hudson Bay. He and his crew spoke of its beautiful waters and believed they had found the Northwest Passage.

He sailed along Hudson Bay and eventually James Bay, where he would eventually set up winter quarters.

Hudson's crew had shown signs of mutiny for months, and this did not change throughout the winter. His crew grew unhappier as time passed. By June of 1611, the crew wanted to head back to England, but Hudson wanted to press forward.

He continued to push his crew hard, and finally, they broke. They mutinied and left Hudson, his son John, and others behind.

Hudson and the others pursued in a small boat until the Discovery was out of sight.

Hudson and his remaining crew were never heard from again. He left behind many helpful resources for future mariners.

The Northwest Passage would not be successfully navigated until the Norwegian Explorer Roald Amundson explored it between 1903 - 1906.

Almost 300 years after Henry Hudson.

Hudson explored the northeastern coast of America, eventually sailing into the mouth of a wide river near today's New York City. He hoped the river - now named the Hudson River - would provide a passage west to the Pacific. But after 150 miles (240 km) - and reaching a location near where Albany sits today - he found the river had become too shallow to continue. Hudson had to turn around and head home, again proving unsuccessful at finding a way to the Orient.

The primary record of the voyage - and the only surviving English record  - is the journal of Robert Juet, who had sailed with Hudson previously as mate, and would again in 1610.  He noted numerous fights with the natives, killing, drunkenness, looting and even a kidnapping. The crew was generally negative towards native Americans, and somewhat afraid of them, which may have influenced later relations between native groups and European settlers. It was hardly a "glorious" expedition in terms of future diplomacy. The real importance of this voyage was in the explorations and its influence would come later, when the Dutch settled around today's Manhattan Island and founded their New World colony. Hudson's third voyage was the first to record the European discovery of today's New York State.

There is considerable contention among historians and geographers as to which landmarks Juet identified. Dr. George Asher, whose 1860 work on Hudson remains among the most important, tried to determine modern settings from Juet's record, but many of his choices were later challenged by Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes in The Iconography of Manhattan Island and other interpreters.

On his return, Hudson stopped in England, where he was arrested for sailing under another nation's flag, considered treason at the time. He and his crew stayed in England while the Dutch ship and the Dutch sailors in the crew went home, apparently with Hudson's record of the voyage.

Hudson's own log and journal went with the Half Moon back to Amsterdam, and was not seen by English eyes again. However, parts of it were quoted and reproduced in Dutch books in 1625 (see my list of sources ). Only fragments of Hudson's own journal were ever reprinted. The originals were sold at auction in the early 19th century and subsequently vanished.

There have been suggestions that Hudson acted as a spy for England, using his contract to get Dutch maps for areas where the English had none. Hudson met with three Dutch cartographers during his negotiations with the United Dutch East India Company, and likely got from them maps that showed parts of the area he planned to explore on his next voyage. There is no other good explanation why Hudson broke his contract and turned away from his voyage north to sail across the ocean and explore the coast of the New World. Nor is there a good reason he sailed into England on his way home, instead of continuing to nearby Amsterdam where his employers were. Hudson was soon released from his 'arrest' to command the Discovery for his final voyage.

Or perhaps Hudson was on a mission from the English trading companies to derail or sabotage the Dutch efforts to find a shorter passage to the rich spice islands. Certainly the rivalry between the two nations was at its peak and Hudson was a product of the aggressive Muscovy Company, a direct competitor to the Dutch. England had been an ally of the Netherlands since 1577, and had sent aid and military units to help them fight the Spanish in 1584. But the Dutch were aggressive and active traders and their interests conflicted with the goals of the English. By 1600 the Dutch were the supreme European trading power in the Indonesian archipelago, displacing the Portuguese who had held a monopoly for much of the 16th century.

In 1591 Dutchman William Usselinx returned and began to agitate among his countrymen for increased trade with the New World. He kept arousing public opinion until his death at 80, leaving behind 50 printed works. He was also responsible for the founding of the Dutch West India Company, in 1621. Before then, the States-General offered a prize of 25,000 guilders to anyone who discovered a Northeast Passage to China and Japan. That reward may have lured Hudson to Amsterdam.

Dutch merchantmen had already navigated the St Lawrence river in 1607. But the most naval event of the year was the battle of the Bay of Gibraltar. The Dutch States-General sent 26 small vessels to the Spanish coast where the Dutch admiral saw an opportunity to challenge the Spanish war fleet, then in the Bay of Gibraltar. Heemskerk attacked the Spaniards on April 25th. Both the admirals were slain, but the Spanish fleet was totally destroyed; the crews and the soldiers were put to the sword. This convinced Spain that the 40-year-old war with the Dutch would not end with victory any time soon. it also made Spanish reconquest of the Spice Islands and the forcible extinction of the Dutch East India Company seem remote. The restoration of Spanish influence in the Indian seas never came about.

Dutch merchants, denied trade with France and Spain because of the state of war, aggressively sought new markets in Italy, Russia, Turkey and the Orient.

The year 1609 saw the beginning of a cease-fire in the Dutch war for independence, which had been raging since 1548. Called the Twelve Years' Truce, it temporarily ended hostilities between the United Provinces and the southern states. The truce was mediated by France and England at The Hague. This allowed the Dutch to turn their energies to trade and consolidating their hold on the spice trade. The head of the United Dutch East India Company (VOC) at this time was the ruthless Jan Pieterzoon Coen. Coen destroyed plantations in Indonesia so he could raise the prices of spices like nutmeg and clove artificially high, destroying the livelihood of much of the island populations in the process.

Amsterdam had become the trading capital of Europe by 1600. It had eclipsed Antwerp when the latter was captured by the Duke of Parma in 1585 and by 1622 was one of the wealthiest - if not the wealthiest - city in Europe. Her population tripled between 1585 and 1622 to more than 100,000 people, and her port was dense in ships, her warehouses full of merchandise.

In 1609, the Bank of Amsterdam was founded. Before the end of the century the bank had deposits worth $180,000,000, a treasure more prodigious than any European financier at that time thought could be possibly accumulated.

• Sometime in the autumn, Hudson was visited by Emmanuel van Meteran (Emanuel van Meteren), former Dutch Consul in London and English representative of the Dutch East India Company. He also invited Hudson to dinner at the Dutch Consulate. van Meteren may have persuaded Hudson to enlist in the service of the Dutch East India Company. van Meteren would have been aware that the Dutch States-General had posted an offer of reward of 25,000 guilders to anyone who could discover a northeastern route to China and Japan - through the Arctic waters north of Russia.
• September: (?) Hudson attended the christening of his granddaughter, Alice (Oliver's daughter), at the church of St. Mary Aldermary, in London.
• November : The Consul presented Hudson with a letter indicating the directors of the Dutch East India Company would like to meet him and would pay his expenses to get to Holland. The Company, which had a monopoly on trade with the Orient, wanted to shorten the lengthy and expensive voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to the source of the spices.
• At first, the 17 Company directors were impressed by Hudson, but a few were skeptical that he could find a passage through the northern route. It had been more than 12 years since a Dutch vessel attempted to find a passage through the northeast. The powerful director de Moucheron wrote "Master Hudson's plans are not a good investment for the Dutch East India Company." The skeptics managed to get the others to agree to hold a full meeting of the board on March 25 to vote on the issue, but that would be too late for Hudson to outfit a ship. So they paid Hudson for his trip to Amsterdam and dismissed him.
• Hudson turned to Dutch geographer Peter Plancius, and convinced him a passage could be found to the northwest. Plancius favoured the northeast route as more likely and they debated the merits of both many times, in the process becoming close friends. Hudson drew freehand maps of his voyages for Plancius to keep.
• In Holland, Hudson also met with Jodocus Hondius, an engraver. Hudson helped Hondius create his famous map of the Far North. Hudson stayed at Hondius's home in The Hague. According to Chamberlain, Hondius may have warned Hudson that there was no passage to the northwest because a relative had explored the bay and found no exit.
• King Henry IV (Henry of Navarre) of France met with James Lemaire, a Dutch navigator who was residing in Paris. Lemaire apparently knew Hudson and told Henry he was the best man to lead France's northern voyages.
• Pierre Jeannin, French ambassador, was instructed by King Henry IV to meet with Hudson in a secret interview. Hudson told him his needs, and in January Jeannin reported back to his king in a letter, recommending France should hire Hudson to search for a northwest passage. He wrote, "With regard to the northern passage, your majesty might undertake the search openly, and in your majesty's name, as a glorious enterprise."
• December 29: When they learned of Hudson's meeting with their rivals, the French, the Dutch Company directors relented before the French could make an offer. They decided to hire Hudson to look for a northern passage, but only along the way of his last voyage (northeast).
• The DEIC sent Hudson a letter in The Hague, and requested him to return to Amsterdam. Hudson replied he would do so after he celebrated the New Year.
• January 8: Hudson (assisted by Jodocus Hondius as interpreter and witness) and the Dutch United East India Company signed a contract for Hudson to search for a northeast passage. He would receive 800 guilders for leading the expedition; his wife would get an additional 200 guilders, plus more, if he failed to return in a year. The Company also agreed to pay the expenses of his family living in Amsterdam, during his absence, and stipulated they had to live in Holland without working for anyone but the Dutch East India Company. It is unlikely, however, that Hudson intended to fulfill the terms of the contract.
• The contract was quite specific as to where Hudson was meant to explore, and stipulated, "the above named Hudson shall, about the first of April, sail in order to search for a passage by the north, around the north side of Nova Zembla, and shall continue thus along that parallel until he shall be able to sail southward to the latitude of sixty degrees. He shall obtain as much knowledge of the lands as can be done without any considerable loss of time, and if it is possible return immediately in order to make a faithful report and relation of his voyage to the Directors, and to deliver over his journals, log-books, and charts, together with an account of everything whatsoever which shall happen to him during the voyage without keeping anything back."
• In order to further bind Hudson, the contract stated his wife and children were required to live in Holland, where they would be under the watchful eye of the company and its agents. "It is stipulated and agreed with the before named Hudson that he shall make his residence in this country with his wife and children..."
• Only two of the 17 directors signed the contract, which may have been done to excuse the Company of legal liability later, should Hudson fail. Or it may have been done simply to prevent Hudson from entering another employ.
• Hudson spent the next three months outfitting the ship and working out possible routes with Plancius. Since neither spoke the other's language, they conversed in Latin, an indication Hudson had some higher education.
• During this time, Hudson received a letter and a set of maps from his friend Captain John Smith, of the English settlement of Jamestown in the colony of Virginia. Smith had heard the Indians tell of a river - possibly a sea - that opened to the west, possibly to the north in Canada, but he didn't have the resources to explore it. Both Hudson and Plancius were intrigued. Plancius gave Hudson George Weymouth's journal of his 1602 voyage, which had taken him 300 miles (100 leagues) into what Davis called the 'Furious Overfall.'
• Possibly sensing Hudson's potential duplicity, just before he sailed, the DEI Company amended the contract to define Hudson's goal: "To think of discovering no other route or passage, except the route around the north or northeast above Nova Zembla."
• It had been seven months since Hudson's last voyage. He had in his possession a translation of a book written in 1560 by Greenlander Iver Boty, later reprinted by Purchas in 1625. Richard Hakluyt also translated and published the travels of Ferdinand de Soto in 1609.
• Hudson signed Robert Juet on again, this time as one of the mates (another was Dutch, as was the b'o'sun). Juet's journal survived and was published in 1625, although it has several significant gaps in it. Juet also kept a journal on this trip, suggesting he was also literate and he understood navigation.
• Hudson's son John was aboard again, on the manifest this time as a passenger. John Coleman (Colman), mate on Hudson's first voyage, was also part of the crew, as second mate.
• There was a crew of 20 selected for the journey, a mix of English and Dutch sailors, most of whom did not speak the other's language. Hudson himself did not speak Dutch. The Dutch crew were more used to sailing temperate and warm waters (many had sailed in the East Indies the previous year). In a letter to his wife before the voyage, Coleman wrote of the Dutch sailors, "I hope that these square-faced men know the sea. Looking at their fat bellies, I fear they think more highly of eating than of sailing." Also critical of the Dutch, Juet wrote, "They are an ugly lot."
• Some records show the crew at only 16 members. Twenty would be a large number for such a small ship.
• Juet would later claim the directors decided that, since Hudson exceeded their budget, they would only give him an old, inferior ship rather than a new one. The ship they selected was the Half Moon, a cramped, ungainly 60-80 ton ship that rode high in the water. La Maire, who complained of the choice, wrote "she will prove difficult to handle in foul weather." When Hudson tried to get another ship, the Van Os wrote to him "The Half Moon is the only ship at the disposal of the Dutch East India Company... We can give you no other ship. If you do not want the Half Moon, the Company will be obliged to find another Captain to carry out this assignment."
• The Half Moon was named after the victorious flagship in which Vice-Admiral Kant had beaten the Spaniards in a great naval battle in 1602.
• Hudson received a retainer from the directors for a second voyage under the Dutch flag, supposed to take place in 1610.
• March : The directors wrote to Hudson, instructing him to sail "no later than the fifteenth day of March." But yet Hudson delayed.
• The Half Moon was one of the speedy type of vessels built for the difficult navigation of the Vlie and Texel. They were known as "Vlie-boats,' fast sailing yachts called "fly-boats" by the English. Usually, they were of about 50 lasts (100 tons) burden, but the Half Moon was only 40 lasts (80 tons).
• Since Hudson's logs were returned to Holland with the ship after its return, the full identity of the crew is not fully known. A few fragments from Hudson's logs were published in Amsterdam in 1625. The main record comes from Juet's own journal, published in England in 1625. Juet started his journal using the Julian calendar (March 25 by 'the old account') but quickly switched to the Gregorian calendar ('stilo novo' - new style) for May 5. England did not officially accept the Gregorian calendar until 1752, at which point the 'new' calendar added 14 days to the Julian date.
• Samuel Purchas opens Juet's account with, "The third Voyage of Master Henrie Hudson toward Nova Zernbla, and at his returne, his passing from Farre llands, to New-found Land, and along to fortie foure degrees and ten minutes, and thence to Cape Cod, and so to thirtie three degrees; and along the Coast to the Northward, to fortie two degrees and a. haÏf, and up the River neere to fortie three degrees. Written by Robert Juet of Lime-house."
• 8: Two days after they set sail, Half Moon cleared the island of Texel, and left all Dutch land behind. Hondius wrote to Plancius on this day, saying, "I have heard that Hudson began his adventure two days ago." Obviously Hudson's friends were not at the dock when he left, so the start may have been inauspicious, and lacking any of the usual ceremony and religious service that preceded voyages.
• 5 : Thirty miles off the North Cape (Norway), Hudson directed his course back toward the islands of Nova Zembla ("Novaya Zemlya"). Juet wrote, " On Saturday the five and twentieth of March, 1609 after the old Account, we set sayle from Amsterdam; and by the seven and twentieth day we were downe at the Texel: and by twelve of the clocke we were off the Land, it being East of us two leagues off. And because it is a journey usually knowne, I omit to put downe what passed, till we came to the height of The North Cape of Finmarke, which we did performe by the fifth of May (stilo novo) being Tuesday. On which day we observed the height of the Pole, and found it to be 71 degrees and 46 minutes; and found our Compasse to vary six degrees to the West: and at twelve of the clocke, the North Cape did beare South-west and by South, ten leagues off, and wee steered away East and by South, and East."
• Mid-late May: The ship was blocked by bad weather and icy waters along the north coast of Europe, near Norway. The crew was quarrelsome and fights broke out often between English and Dutch sailors.
• After contending for more than a fortnight with head winds, continual fogs, and ice, Hudson found it impossible to reach even the coast of Nova Zemlya, where he had been the year before. The crew was cold and quarrelsome.
• Hudson decided to change course and go to the New World. He showed the crew the maps of John Smith and the crew agreed to head west towards North America for warmer sailing. He offered the crew a choice: sail west looking for the Indies by way of a sea that Capt. John Smith told Hudson was just north of the English colony in Virginia, or to search for a more northerly passage via Davis' Strait.
• Van Meteren described it thus, "This circumstance, and the cold, which some of his men, who had been in the East Indies, could not bear, caused quarrels among the crew, they being partly English, partly Dutch, upon which Captain Hutson laid before them two propositions. The first of these was to go to the coast of America, to the latitude of 40 degrees, moved thereto mostly by letters and maps which a certain Captain Smith had sent him from Virginia, and by which he indicated to him a sea leading into the western ocean, by the north of the southern English colony."
• Hudson then turned back west, heading across Atlantic. He probably planned to look for a northwest passage all along, and may have told some of the crew this when they rebelled. During this time, Hudson may have sent the second Dutch ship home. It is not noted in Juet's journal, but an account was provided in Historie der Nederlanden by Emanuel van Meteren, 1614.
• 19: The Half Moon doubled the North Cape again, and in a few days saw a part of the western coast of Norway, in the latitude of 68 degrees. A violent snowy storm blew them west for a few days, about 200 miles. From this point Hudson sailed for the Faeroe Islands, where he wanted to get fresh water and supplies.
• 19 : During stormy weather, Juet reported the sun "having a slake," which some writers suggest meant he saw a sunspot. However, this is unlikely without a telescope (a working telescope was not even made until 1609, when Galileo built the first one), and he probably meant a 'slackening' or lowering of intensity due to cloud cover. The first sunspot would not be reported until 1610, when Thomas Hariot recorded one on December 8.
• 26 : Another violent storm, the worst of the voyage, rocked the ship.
• 29 : Stopped at the Faeroe Islands for water. Hudson bartered with local natives for food.
• 2 : Juet wrote the Half Moon sailed southwest to look for Busse (Buss) Island, supposedly discovered in 1578, at around 57 degrees N, by one of Frobisher's ships (The Emmanuel, known as the "Busse of Bridgewater"). But they never found it - nor did anyone else. The island was never seen again and may have been a mirage, a myth or even a mistaken reading of the ship's position.
• 3: The sailors were surprised at the force of the current, today known as the Gulf Stream.
• 15 : More storms beset the ship on her western passage. Her foremast was swept overboard and her deck damaged.
• 19 : A temporary mast and foresail were erected during a calm.
• 25 : The crew spotted another ship and attempted to catch her, chasing her most of the day, probably hoping to capture her for booty. But the other ship managed to outrun the clumsy Half Moon.
• 27 : Another storm forced the ship south.
• 2: The Half Moon sounded the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.
• 3 : They moved south, where they spotted a fleet of French fishing vessels, but didn't speak with them. The crew took soundings and caught 100-200 cod.
• 8: The Half Moon reached Newfoundland and sails west-southwest.
• 12: Hudson sighted the coast of North America, a "low white sandie ground,"
• 13 : Off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.
• 14 : Off Penobscot Bay, Maine. For three days the ship was trapped in a deep fog, which lifts on the fourth day. The crew was able to go ashore where they met and trade with natives who offered them no harm.
• 17 : The crew went ashore again to trade and meet the natives.
• 18 : Anchor in George's Harbour. Hudson went ashore, his first landing in the New World.
• 19 : Crew traded with natives. Juet wrote: "The people coming aboard showed us great friendship, but we could not trust them." He remained suspicious of the natives, despite no effort to do them harm. The crew continued to trade with the natives for several days while they remained at anchor, fixing their mast. They caught and cooked 31 lobster. Hudson ate with his men at this feast, providing two jugs of wine from his private stores.
• 21-22 : The crew cut several spare masts and stores them in the hold. On July 21, the ship's cat went crazy, upsetting the superstitious crew. It "ran crying from one side of the ship to the other, looking overboard. This made us wonder, but we saw nothing."
• 24 : Juet wrote: "We kept a good watch for fear of being betrayed by the people, and noticed where they kept their shallops." The crew catch 20 "great cods and a great halibut" in nearby waters.
• 25: Juet took an armed crew of six men to the native village and wrote in his journal "In the morning we manned our scute with four muskets and six men, and took one of their shallops and brought it aboard. Then we manned our boat and scute with twelve men and muskets, and two stone pieces, or murderers, and drave the salvages from their houses, and took the spoil of them, as they would have done us."
• The crew stole a boat that morning, then later in the evening, 12 armed crew went back and drove the Indians away from their encampment, stealing everything they could, on the pretense the natives would have done the same to them. No one was punished for this act.
• 26: Fearful of an Indian counterattack, Hudson sailed away at 5 a.m.
• 3: Hudson passed Cape Cod which he named "New Holland," until he realized it is the land discovered by Capt. Gosnold in 1602. He sailed on and discovered Delaware Bay. The crew went ashore again. Inexplicable events such as the self-destruction of the native boat being towed behind the ship convinced the superstitious crew that the voyage was doomed to failure. The men became surly and angry again.
• 4: The crew went ashore to trade with the "savages" (you can read Juet's journal at www.lihistory.com/vault/hs216a1v.htm ).
• 18: Amid gusts of wind and rain, Half Moon was off the Accomac peninsula and sighted an opening, probably Machipongo Inlet, which Hudson mistook for the James River.
• 19: The Half Moon headed north again, hugging the shoreline.
• 21 : A severe storm tore the sails, but no other damage was recorded.
• 28: The lookout reported sighting a large bay, (Delaware Bay). Hudson tried to navigate it, and sailed about nine miles, but it became too shallow and full of shoals. He found many shoals, and several times the Half-Moon was struck upon the sands; the current, moreover, set outward with such force as to assure him that he was at the mouth of a large and rapid river. This was not encouraging. After a day, he gave up, went back and headed north again.
• 2: The lookout saw a "great fire" ashore on the highlands of Navesink. Hudson anchored near what is now Sandy Hook.
• 3: He lifted anchor and sailed into the bay, passing Staten and Coney Islands by 3 p.m. He reached the mouth of a wide river (now Hudson River) and decided to sail up it, hoping it will widen into a passage. This river had been noted before by earlier explorers and was indicated on French maps sent to Hudson earlier by Capt. John Smith as the "Grande River."
• An Italian, Giovanni da Verranzano, was the first recorded European to discover the mouth of the river when he was sailing for the French in 1524. He wrote, "We found a very pleasant situation amongst some steep hills ... ," but did not continue exploring what he called, "The River of the Steep Hills" and the "Grand River." A Portuguese explorer, Estevan Gomez, also arrived at the mouth of the river a few months later in 1524. Gomez called it the Rio de San Antonio.
• Hudson claimed the area along the river for the Dutch, who had employed him, and opened the land for settlers who would follow. His voyage came 10 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
• 4 :Natives greeted Hudson and give him his first taste of American corn, which Hudson called 'Turkish wheat.'

"Our men went on Land there, and saw great store of Men, Women and Children, who gave them Tabacco at their coming on Land. So they went up into the Woods, and saw great store of goodly Oakes and some Currants. For one of them came aboord and brought some dryed, and gave me some, which were sweet and good. This day many of the people came aboord, some in Mantles of Feathers, and some in Skinnes of divers sorts of good Furres. Some women also came to us with Hempe. They had red Copper Tabacco pipes, and other things of Copper they did weare about their neckes. At night they went on Land againe, so wee rode very quiet, but durst not trust them."

• 6 : Hudson sent John Colman (Coleman) and four others to sound another river, about 12 miles away. During the exploration along the journey north, some of the crew were assaulted by natives in two canoes; one contained twelve and the other fourteen. Colman, who had accompanied Hudson on his first voyage, was killed by an arrow shot into his throat, and two more were seriously wounded.
• 7 : The dead were buried ashore the next day at a place they named Colman's Point. The ship remained at anchor that night "keeping a careful watch."
• 8 : Traded with natives onboard Half Moon again. Juet recorded they kept a careful watch to "see if they would show any sign of the death of our man, which they did not."
• 9 : Two "great canoes" full of natives came on board. Juet wrote: "in an attempt to deceive us, pretended interest in buying knives. But we were aware of their intent and took two of them prisoners" as insurance against further attack. The natives were dressed in red coats from the crew's wardrobes.
• According to Vail, Hudson wrote, "Had they indicated by a cunning light in their eyes that they had knowledge of the foul murder (of Sept. 6), I was prepared to order my company to exterminate all without delay." Another pair of natives was grabbed later, one was held captive, and the other released. But the second one jumped overboard and escaped.
• Kidnapping natives was a common practice for European explorers. For example, in the 1560s, an Inuit mother and child were kidnapped by the French and taken back to Europe where they were put on display. People could pay to gawk at them. In 1576 Martin Frobisher returned to England with an Inuit he had kidnapped. The Inuit man soon sickened and died. In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano's crew kidnapped an Algonquian child, but were unsuccessful in their attempt to kidnap a native woman. In 1525, Estban Gomez kidnapped Native Americans as slaves. On his second trip to America, 1525, Jacques Cartier kidnapped his host, Chief Donnacona, and nine other Indians, who were taken to France where they all died. Squanto, the interpreter for the Plymouth Colony, was captured along with 27 other natives, by Capt. Thomas Hunt in 1614 and taken to Europe where they were sold as a slave. In 1605, Captain George Weymouth kidnapped five Indians from the New England coastline.
• 10: Hudson set sail and heads up the river.
• 11: Hudson sailed through the Narrows and anchored in New York Bay. The first night he anchored off the northern tip of Manhattan.
• 12: A flotilla of 28 canoes, filled with men, women and children approached, but, Juet wrote, "we saw the intent of their treachery and would not allow any of them to come aboard." However, the crew bought food from them. Hudson noted the natives used copper in their pipes and inferred there was a natural source nearby.
• 13 : The crew traded for oysters with the Native Americans; the ship was near today's Yonkers.
• 14: Hudson thought he may have found the long-sought passage when he saw the wide Tappan Zee, but when he reached the shallower area near Albany, he realized his mistake. Juet wrote, "the 14th, in the morning, being very fair weather, the wind southeast, we sailed up the river 12 leagues ... The river is full of fish."
• 15 : Two captive natives escaped and swam ashore where they taunted the crew. At night the crew found another native village with "a very loving people and very old men and we were well taken care of."
• 17 : The Half Moon ran aground, but was soon pulled free.
• 18 : Hudson accepted an invitation from a chief to eat with him and went ashore. The natives "killed a fat dog and skinned it in great haste" for dinner. Hudson was invited to stay overnight, but was suspicious. Sensing his discomfort, the natives broke their arrows and threw them into the fire to indicate their good intentions. But Hudson returned to the ship anyway. He wrote, "The land is the finest for cultivation that I ever in my life set foot upon."
• Some authorities suggest Hudson landed at latitude 42° 18', five or six miles above the present city of Hudson. However, a careful computation of the distances covered each day, as entered in Juet's book, shows that on September 18 the "Half Moon" was six leagues higher up the river; the real landing probably was in the neighbourhood of today's Schodack and Castleton.
• 19 : Anchored near present-day Albany, where they traded with natives. De Laet states that Hudson explored the river "to nearly 43° of north latitude, where it became so narrow and of so little depth that he found it necessary to return." As Albany is in 42° 39', the boat must therefore have gone above that place "eight or nine leagues" further as Juet wrote in his journal.
• 20 : The mate and four others took the ship's boat upriver to sound for depth. They returned at night, with measurements of two fathoms about six miles further, which deepened to six and seven past that.
• 21 : The crew got some natives drunk on wine and Aqua Vitae -"hooch," from the Indian word "hoochenoo" for the hard liquor Hudson and his crew plied them with. One passed out and slept aboard the ship. The natives returned the next day and were relieved to find him unharmed.
• 22: Another row boat sent out returned with the bad news: the river became shallower further ahead. They travelled about 24-27 miles and found the water only seven feet deep. After sailing 240 km (150 miles) from the mouth of the river, Hudson decided he must turn back.
• 23 : Half Moon headed six miles back down river.
• 24: After wasting a day stranded on a shoal, the Half Moon got free and started down river again.
• 27 : Half Moon ran aground again.
• Hudson called the river the "River of Mountains" although the Native Americans, with whom the skipper and crew met, called it "Muhheakunnuk" (great waters constantly in motion).
• 1: Near Peekskill, the ship stopped and crew traded with natives. One native snuck into Juet's cabin and stole some clothes and a pillow. The Dutch mate discovered the theft and shot the Indian, killing him. Another was killed by the cook as he attempted to climb aboard. The other natives jumped overboard and fled, pursued by some of the crew. The Half Moon lifted anchor and sailed six miles before stopping for the night.
• 2: Twenty miles further, as the ship neared Manhattan (the river "Manna-hata;" the name of the natives living on the island was Mannahattes), about 100 natives ambushed the Half Moon and chased it in their canoes. Both sides traded shots. Hudson ordered guns to be fired at them. Several natives were killed, and the event was remembered by the natives 15 years later when the Dutch came to settle in Manhattan in 1624.
• 4: Hudson returned to the mouth and left to return to the Old World.
• The Dutch mate suggested they winter over in Newfoundland and continue to explore for a northwest passage through Davis' Strait the next year, but the men had begun to "threaten" Hudson "savagely," if they were not taken home. So, after leaving Sandy Hook, Hudson set his course "straight across the ocean' for home.
• Van Meteren wrote, "While at sea, they held counsel together, but were of different opinions. The mate, a Dutchman, advised to winter in Newfoundland, and to search the northwestern passage of Davis throughout. This was opposed by Skipper Hutson. He was afraid of his mutinous crew, who had sometimes savagely threatened him; and he feared that during the cold season they would entirely consume their provisions, and would then be obliged to return, [with] many of the crew ill and sickly. Nobody, however, spoke of returning home to Holland, which circumstance made the captain still more suspicious. He proposed therefore to sail to Ireland, and winter there, which they all agreed to."
• 7: The Half Moon returned, sailing into Dartmouth (England, not Holland) after being away 7 1/2 months. Robert Juet (who may have been Hudson's clerk, since it was recorded the mate was Dutch) recorded in his journal, "by the grace of God we safely arrived in the range of Dartmouth, in Devonshire." There is no record left to say why Hudson chose to land in England, rather than continue on to Amsterdam. His ship was not damaged and there was nothing recorded to suggest supplies were running out.
• Van Meteren wrote, "At last they arrived at Dartmouth, in England, the 7th of November, whence they informed their employers, the Directors in Holland, of their voyage. They proposed to them to go out again for a search in the northwest, and that, besides the pay, and what they already had in the ship, fifteen hundred florins should be laid out for an additional supply of provisions. He [Hudson] also wanted six or seven of his crew exchanged for others, and their number raised to twenty. He would then sail from Dartmouth about the 1st of March, so as to be in the northwest towards the end of that month, and there to spend the whole of April and the first half of May in killing whales and other animals in the neighborhood of Panar Island, then to sail to the northwest, and there to pass the time till the middle of September, and then to return to Holland around the northeastern coast of Scotland. Thus this voyage ended."
• 8 : Less than 24 hours after landing, Hudson wrote to the directors of the East India Company, recommending a trip to find a northwest passage could begin around March 1, 1610. However, he wanted to replace six or seven of his crew for more tractable and docile members - giving his employers only the barest hint of the problems he had faced. The letter took weeks to arrive, and while he waited, Hudson and the crew continued to live aboard the Half Moon.
• When they received Hudson's letter, the directors sent for Hudson to bring the Half Moon to Amsterdam immediately.
• Van Meteren wrote, "A long time elapsed, through contrary winds, before the Company could be informed of the arrival of the ship in England. Then they ordered the ship and crew to return as soon as possible. But, when this was about to be done, Skipper Henry Hutson and the other Englishmen of the ship were commanded by the government there not to leave [England], but to serve their own country. Many persons thought it strange that captains should thus be prevented from laying their accounts and reports before their employers, having been sent out for the benefit of navigation in general. This took place in January, [1610]; and it was thought probably that the English themselves would send ships to Virginia, to explore further the aforesaid river."
• Hudson, however, couldn't leave. An English Order in Council censured Hudson for 'voyaging to the detriment of his country' and forbade him to undertake any foreign service, and even forbade further correspondence with the East India Company. This was unusual, because many mariners worked for countries other than their own. Jealous English merchants may have been behind Hudson's arrest.
• In mid-December, the adventurers were escorted to London to appear before the King (James), who was apparently angry at Hudson. A guard was placed on Hudson's house and he was under a form of house arrest, kept in the district around the Tower of London..
• Hudson and the English members of his crew never returned to Amsterdam.
• The Sea Venture , a ship of the Virginia Company was wrecked in the Bermudas during a hurricane on the 25th of July. It carried the interim governor of the colony onboard. News of its apparent loss was devastating to both the colony and the company in England. But all aboard survived and soon built two ships to take them to their destination. In May, 1610, they sailed into Jamestown. News of the dramatic arrival was in London’s bookstalls in October.
• Tea from China is shipped to Europe for the first time, by the Dutch East India Company.
• The Spanish Inquisition expelled the Moors from Spain in 1609-10, forcing its most educated and faithful subjects to leave, weakening Spain's future and its ability to explore and trade further.
• After its eight-month detention in England, the Half Moon finally reached Amsterdam by summer, 1610. Although initially disappointed at Hudson's failure to find the hope-for passage to the Indies, Dutch merchants realized the area of the New World Hudson had explored was worth further exploration and exploitation. As a result of these discoveries, they claimed a territory that extended from the mouth of the Delaware on the South, to Cape Cod on the Northeast. The St. Lawrence, in Canada, was its northern frontier, and its western boundaries were unexplored and unknown. The Dutch immediately recognized this land could be a potential source of trade and commissioned Adriaen Block , a Dutch navigator, and fellow captain Hendrick Christiaensen to return to the area Hudson had explored. The ships brought back furs (especially in beaver pelts, which were a lucrative market in Europe) and two sons of a native chief. Hudson, of course, never returned to these lands. Block made four voyages to the area from 1611 to 1614, Christiaensen made two.
• Dutch historian Hessel Gerritz wrote that many in Holland believed Hudson "purposely missed the correct route to the western passage" because he was "unwilling to benefit Holland and the directors... by such a discovery." Some historians believe Hudson was secretly working for the English, to get the information at the cost of the Dutch, but his treatment by the court on his return suggests otherwise. Hudson may have been spying on the English colony of Virginia, trying to ascertain whether there was a passageway in that area. I have reprinted some classical or out-of-print sources on my page at hudson_quotes.htm
• The Dutch East India Company, which had sent Hudson on his original voyage, decided it was worthwhile to send Block on two additional voyages to the Hudson River, aboard the Fortuyn.
• Adriaen Block, sailing the Tyger accompanied by other Dutch ships, continued to explore the area discovered by Hudson in 1609. It was his fourth voyage to the lower Hudson. While moored along southern Manhattan, the Tyger caught fire and was destroyed. Block and his men, with help from the crew of the Lenape, built the 42-foot ship 16-ton Onrust (Restless).
• Block took command of the Restless and explored the East River. Block sailed up the Hudson river and wintered near Albany where he established trade with the natives in the area.
• Adriaen Block returned down the river into Long Island Sound (which he may have been the first European to enter). He then sailed through the East River passage, naming it Hellegat (Hell Gate). He explored Long Island Sound and sailed up the Housatonic River (which he named "River of Red Hills"). He turned north and discovered the Connecticut River, which he entered and sailed at least as far as present day Hartford, about sixty miles. Block sailed past and named Block Island for himself, and explored Narragansett Bay.
• When Block reached Cape Cod, he rendezvoused with one of the other ships of the expedition and left the Restless behind when he returned to Amsterdam.
• Block's 1614 "Figurative Map," made after his return, showed details of the southern coast of New England and was the first to show Long Island and Manhattan as separate. He was the first explorer to name the area "New Netherland" to the area between English Virginia and French Canada.
• Block, Christiaensen, and 12 other merchants formed a new company called the United New Netherland Company. On October 11 they asked the States General for exclusive trading privileges in the area, and the company was granted exclusive rights for three years.
• Flemish (Dutch) historian Emmanuel Van Meteren 's book, Historie der Nederlanden says a mutiny took place on Hudson's 1609 voyage, originating in quarrels between Dutch and English sailors. Van Meteran was the Dutch counsel in London when Hudson returned, and had access to Hudson's journals, charts and logbooks at the time.
• The first Dutch settlement, Fort Nassau, was founded on Castle Island, near present-day Albany. The settlement served mostly for the fur trade with the natives. It was later replaced by Fort Oranje (or Fort Orange) at present-day Albany.
• Juet's journal of the voyage was published in Purchas His Pilgrims . Portions of Hudson's journal of the voyage were published in John De Laet's history, Nieuwe Werelt.

Here's a contemporary article by Emanuel Van Meteren about the third voyage:

"We have observed in our last book that the Directors of the East India Company in Holland had sent out in March last, on purpose to seek a passage to China by northeast or northwest, a skilful English pilot, named Herry Hutson, in a Vlie boat, having a crew of eighteen or twenty men, partly English, partly Dutch, well provided. "This Henry Hutson left the Texel on the 6th of April, 1609, doubled the Cape of Norway the 5th of May, and directed his course along the northern coasts towards Nova Zembia; but he there found the sea as full of ice as he had found it in the preceding year, so that they lost the hope of effecting anything during the season. This circumstance, and the cold, which some of his men, who had been in the East Indies, could not bear, caused quarrels among the crew, they being partly English, partly Dutch, upon which Captain Hutson laid before them two propositions. The first of these was to go to the coast of America, to the latitude of 40 degrees, moved thereto mostly by letters and maps which a certain Captain Smith had sent him from Virginia, and by which he indicated to him a sea leading into the western ocean, by the north of the southern English colony. Had this information been true (experience goes as yet to the contrary), it would have been of great advantage, as indicating a short way to India. The other proposition was to direct their search through Davis's Straits. This meeting with general approval, they sailed thitherward on the 14th of May, and arrived on the last day of May with a good wind at the Faroe Islands, where they stopped but twenty-four hours, to supply themselves with fresh water. After leaving these islands, they sailed on, till on the 18th of July they reached the coast of Nova Francia, under 44 degrees, where they were obliged to run in, in order to get a new foremast, having lost theirs. They found one, and set it up. They found this a good place for cod-fishing, as also for traffic in good skins and furs, which were to be got there at a very low price. But the crew behaved badly towards the people of the country, taking their property by force, out of which there arose quarrels among themselves. The English, fearing that between the two they would be outnumbered and worsted, were therefore afraid to pursue the matter further. So they left that place on the 26th of July, and kept out at sea till the 3d of August, when they came near the coast, in 42 degrees of latitude. Thence they sailed on, till on the 12th of August they again reached the shore, under 37 degrees 45'. Thence they sailed along the shore until they reached 40 degrees 45', where they found a good entrance, between two headlands, and entered on the 12th of September into as fine a river as can be found, wide and deep, with good anchoring ground on both sides. 'Their ship finally sailed up the river as far as 42 degrees 40'. But their boat went higher up. In the lower part of the river they found strong and warlike people; but in the upper part they found friendly and polite people, who had an abundance of provisions, skins, and furs, of martens and foxes, and many other commodities, as birds and fruit, even white and red grapes, and they traded amicably with the people. And of all the above- mentioned commodities they brought some home. When they had thus been about fifty leagues up the river, they returned on the 4th of October, and went again to sea. More could have been done if there had been good-will among the crew and if the want of some necessary provisions had not prevented it. While at sea, they held counsel together, but were of different opinions. The mate, a Dutchman, advised to winter in Newfoundland, and to search the northwestern passage of Davis throughout. This was opposed by Skipper Hutson. He was afraid of his mutinous crew, who had sometimes savagely threatened him; and he feared that during the cold season they would entirely consume their provisions, and would then be obliged to return, [with] many of the crew ill and sickly. Nobody, however, spoke of returning home to Holland, which circumstance made the captain still more suspicious. He proposed therefore to sail to Ireland, and winter there, which they all agreed to. At last they arrived at Dartmouth, in England, the 7th of November, whence they informed their employers, the Directors in Holland, of their voyage. They proposed to them to go out again for a search in the northwest, and that, besides the pay, and what they already had in the ship, fifteen hundred florins should be laid out for an additional supply of provisions. He [Hudson] also wanted six or seven of his crew exchanged for others, and their number raised to twenty. He would then sail from Dartmouth about the 1st of March, so as to be in the northwest towards the end of that month, and there to spend the whole of April and the first half of May in killing whales and other animals in the neighborhood of Panar Island, then to sail to the northwest, and there to pass the time till the middle of September, and then to return to Holland around the northeastern coast of Scotland. Thus this voyage ended. "A long time elapsed, through contrary winds, before the Company could be informed of the arrival of the ship in England. Then they ordered the ship and crew to return as soon as possible. But, when this was about to be done, Skipper Herry Hutson and the other Englishmen of the ship were commanded by the government there not to leave [England], but to serve their own country. Many persons thought it strange that captains should thus be prevented from laying their accounts and reports before their employers, having been sent out for the benefit of navigation in general. This took place in January, [1610]; and it was thought probably that the English themselves would send ships to Virginia, to explore further the aforesaid river." From Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives of Early American History),  ed by J. Franklin Jameson, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909.

The Ages of Exploration

Henry hudson interactive map, age of discovery.

Quick Facts:

Henry Hudson made several voyages along upper North America and into the Arctic while searching for the Northwest Passage route to Asia

Click on the world map to view an example of the explorer’s voyage.

How to Use the Map

• Click on either the map icons or on the location name in the expanded column to view more information about that place or event

• Original "EXPLORATION through the AGES" site
• The Mariners' Educational Programs

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Help! Our Cruise Operator Went Bankrupt and We Are Out $17,905.

A couple purchased an Arabian Sea voyage, but Vantage, the cruise company, went under. Their travel insurance was supposed to cover financial default, but the claim was repeatedly denied.

By Seth Kugel

Dear Tripped Up,

In September 2022, I booked a 17-day Arabian Sea cruise through Vantage Travel Services to celebrate my 80th birthday with my wife. The cruise was to set sail in October 2023. I used my credit card to leave a $2,000 deposit and paid the remaining $17,905 shortly afterward by bank transfer. I also bought the Worldwide Trip Protector plan from Travel Insured International (for $1,954), in part because it covered financial default and bankruptcy of cruise lines. Vantage then canceled the cruise and offered me an alternative date I could not make; I also declined their offer of credit and asked for a refund, which they agreed to. But no refund ever came, and they stopped answering the phone. My credit card returned the $2,000, and I filed an insurance claim for $17,905. It was denied, as was my first appeal. Then Vantage filed for bankruptcy, and my second appeal was denied too. The reasons given by the insurer were outrageous. They cited a vague parenthetical phrase in the policy’s bankruptcy clause, claiming I wasn’t covered because I purchased the cruise directly from the cruise line (rather than, say, through a travel adviser). Then they said my policy lapsed when I canceled the trip. But I did not cancel; Vantage did. I also filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Financial Services, which was rejected. Can you help? Michael, Smithtown, N.Y.

Dear Michael,

When Boston-based Vantage filed for bankruptcy last year, it owed thousands of customers a total of $108 million for cruises and other travel products they had paid for but never received. The company’s former owner is facing lawsuits in New York and Pennsylvania. But you had purchased an insurance policy to cover just such a risk, a smart move. Or so you thought until the insurance company, Travel Insured International, denied your claim and then used exasperating logic to fend off your two appeals, first interpreting the policy’s financial default and bankruptcy clause in a maddening way and then twisting the meaning of the word “cancel.”

You made a few mistakes as well — most notably, by making a claim based on a financial default that had not yet happened. But after speaking with law professors, insurance experts and competing insurance companies, I believe Travel Insured International was wrong, at least by the time of your second appeal, and should pay up.

What does it have to say for itself? For nearly five months, Travel Insured International and its parent company, Crum & Forster, did not respond to my detailed inquiries. Days before publication, however, a spokeswoman, Amy Whilldin, sent the following statement:

“The claim was properly considered, and the correct determination was made based on the facts of this claim, which was to the satisfaction of both the New York Department of Financial Services and the New York State attorney general.”

Ms. Whilldin is correct about the state’s financial services department . An examiner with the department, which regulates the insurance industry, rejected your complaint. “After a review of the policy language," he wrote, “we do not find they are acting in an arbitrary or capricious manner,” referring to Travel Insured International. I disagree with that determination, as we are about to get into.

But the attorney general’s office was not satisfied. You had complained to its Department of Consumer Frauds and Protection, and they did not receive a response from the company. “Despite our repeated efforts,” an employee wrote, “they have failed to respond.” The letter goes on to recommend you consider suing the company.

I have a better idea. You should file a formal grievance with Travel Insured International, which under your policy allows you to submit new evidence, and if that fails even argue your case in person. (You told me you are not interested in a third option, to accept travel credits under the conditions offered by the Australian company that bought Vantage’s assets.)

In the meantime, your story provides great lessons on how travelers should choose the appropriate travel insurance policy, and what can go wrong even when they do.

In your initial claim to Travel Insured International, filed in late 2022, you cited Vantage’s “very poor record” in refunding its customers and your “assumption that the company is in default in making payments.”

This was an error: Your policy defines financial default as “the total cessation of operations,” and Vantage at the time was running at least some cruises. Travel Insured International’s response simply said that “your travel supplier canceling your trip is not a covered reason.” True.

When you first appealed in April, Vantage was two months short of declaring bankruptcy outright, and was not yet in financial default as defined by the policy. But it was teetering. (That one of its cruises left at all made headlines in The Boston Globe .) This time, Travel Insured International denied your claim, citing the bankruptcy clause, which protects policy holders in case of “Bankruptcy or default of an airline, cruise line, tour operator or other travel provider (other than the Travel Supplier, tour operator, travel agency, organization or firm from whom you purchased your travel arrangements).”

That parenthetical says you are not covered if the organization that sold you the cruise goes bankrupt. You purchased the cruise directly from Vantage, so you are not covered, according to the claims adjuster’s reasoning. (Why the company even cited this clause, if the cruise line was not yet in default, remains a mystery.)

Similar clauses appear in many travel policies, but that’s not what they’re supposed to mean, said Loretta Worters, vice president for media relations at the Insurance Information Institute , an industry group.

Such provisions, she explained, are intended to exclude coverage for an unscrupulous or financially flailing middleman that goes belly-up after collecting your money but before passing it along to the actual travel provider.

“Some of these are fly-by-night, travel-agencies-in-their-kitchen kinds of things,” Ms. Worters said. ( We encountered one such agency in a previous Tripped Up column .)

Guess who agreed with Ms. Worters: The agent who answered the phone when I called Travel Insured International’s customer care line as a potential customer. I asked about the clause and she agreed it was ambiguous, checking with a supervisor before saying: “If you are booking directly with the company and the company itself goes under default or bankruptcy, you would be able to file a claim for the nonrefundable portion of your trip.”

Ms. Whilldin, the spokeswoman for Travel Insured International, did not specifically answer my question about this apparent conflict. But it seems their claims adjuster made a mistake, aided by the ambiguous language of the underwriter who wrote the policy. (That’s United States Fire Insurance, another Crum & Forster company.)

Now, let’s discuss the second appeal. “Once you cancel your trip, the coverage under the plan ends,” Travel Insured International said. Your argument is that you did not cancel; Vantage did.

I think almost anyone who isn’t a lawyer would agree with you. But Oren Bar-Gill , a professor at Harvard Law School and the author of “Seduction by Contract: Law, Economics and Psychology in Consumer Markets,” explained to me the opposing argument. Vantage was contractually allowed to change the dates or offer credit, and you refused, the equivalent of canceling.

But, he added, when Vantage agreed to refund your cruise, it could be “considered a waiver of their contractual rights,” weakening the argument that you canceled your contract.

In a lawsuit New York State filed against the now-defunct Vantage and its former owner, Henry Lewis, the issue also comes up: The suit says Vantage “deceptively” mislabeled cancellations as “postponements.”

Even Travel Insured International admitted that Vantage had canceled, in its original letter rejecting your claim. “It is our understanding that your travel supplier, Vantage, canceled your cruise,” the claims adjuster wrote. Somehow, however, by the third response you had gone from cancelee to canceler.

You also missed a red flag when you chose your policy. Suzanne Morrow, the chief executive of InsureMyTrip , where you found your plan, told me you called the company within minutes of your purchase and asked an agent to point you to the bankruptcy clause. (You confirmed this to me.)

That means you’re not the typical insurance customer blindsided by small print you never read. If you were so concerned about the cruise line’s solvency, you could have canceled your plan during the insurer’s “free look” period and chosen one with more straightforward language — I found several on the InsureMyTrip website.

What lessons can we take away from your debacle?

To begin with, pay for everything with a credit card when your credit limit allows. Because of an odd quirk in a 1974 law , card issuers are required to reimburse you if the company you interacted with goes bankrupt.

Beyond that, the basic advice for travel insurance remains unchanged: Shop for a plan separately through a provider you trust or an aggregator like InsureMyTrip, rather than adding trip protection by checking a box just before you purchase a big-ticket item. Read the policy summaries fully and click through to the actual policy document to read fine print on issues that concern you most (say, bankruptcy protection or medical coverage for pre-existing conditions).

If you don’t understand anything, call the company. If it cannot answer satisfactorily and follow up in writing, choose another provider.

If you need advice about a best-laid travel plan that went awry, send an email to [email protected] .

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

Seth Kugel is the columnist for “ Tripped Up ,” an advice column that helps readers navigate the often confusing world of travel. More about Seth Kugel

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