Hudson's voyages

Henry Hudson
Last voyage of Henry Hudson
Did you know that… ?
  • ... members of Henry Hudson's expedition were the first Europeans to reach the famous Manhattan Island, September 12th, 1609? They met the friendly Indian tribes Algonquin and Lenape.
  • ..., thanks to the mapping and information provided by the English captain in the service of the Dutch, Henry Hudson, Spitsbergen became an important area for fishing and whaling?
  • ... of the crew that mutinied and set Hudson, his son John and seven other loyal men adrift, only eight returned to England?
  • ... the only records of his expeditions survived thanks to the first mate, Robert Juet, who kept the ship's log?
  • ... Hudson discovered the mouth of the river that is named after him, up which he sailed for 200 kilometers and thought he was sailing to the Pacific Ocean?
  • ... Hudson also discovered the island of Jan Mayen?
  • ... the mutineers, after returning to England, became valuable sources of information for subsequent expeditions?
Hudson Bay
Diary
  • Henry Hudson's four expeditions took place between 1607 and 1611.
  • Hudson reached as far north as 1,000 kilometers from the north pole.
  • Hudson's final expedition lasted from April, 1610 to June of 1611, when his mutinous crew set him adrift in a small boat.
  • Only eight of the mutineers made it back to England. They were put on trial, but not convicted.
Summary

In 1610, in the service of the British East India Company on the ship Discovery, Hudson set out on the fourth of his attempts to find the Northwest Passage, this time further to the north. He sailed from the southern tip of Greenland to Labrador, and then turned north. He encountered a wide channel and assumed that this was a way to China. From that day, the bay has been called Hudson's Bay. He sailed into the bay, which he assumed to be part of the Pacific Ocean, then travelled further south, into what is known today as James' Bay. On its shore, at 53° northern latitude, Hudson was forced to spend the winter. In June of 1611, he set out to continue the expedition. Several days after leaving the bay, his crew mutinied. They had had enough exploring and wanted to go home. The captain refused to consider their demands. When the crew was unable to persuade him, they set him, his son John and seven crew members loyal to Hudson adrift in a small boat and left them to their fate in a stormy and freezing sea, with no prospects of rescue. Nothing further is known of their fate. Locating the Northwest Passage eluded Henry Hudson, but his enthusiastic description of the area near the mouth of the Hudson River led to Dutch colonization of the area, and to the founding of New Amsterdam, later New York. At the time of these discoveries, he was in the service of the Dutch.