Henry Hudson biography

Synopsis

The search for the Northeast Passage

Of Hudson's early life, nothing is known. Several Hudsons were associated with his sponsors, the Muscovy Company of London, a generation before his own time. A 1585 voyage by the English navigator John Davis, who sailed to the Arctic to make the first attempt to find a Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia, was planned in the home of a Thomas Hudson in Limehouse, now in the docks area of London's East End. Henry Hudson may have been present on that occasion and consequently developed a lifelong interest in Arctic exploration. It is certain that he was well informed about Arctic geography and that his competence as a navigator was such that two wealthy companies chose him to conduct hazardous explorations.

In the spring of 1607, sailing for the Muscovy Company, Hudson, his son John, and 10 companions set forth “for to discover a Passage by the North Pole to Japan and China.” Believing that he would find an ice-free sea around the North Pole, Hudson struck out northward. On reaching the edge of the polar ice pack, he followed it east until he reached the Svalbard (Spitsbergen) archipelago. From there he extended explorations made earlier by the 16th-century Dutch navigator Willem Barents, who had also sought a Northeast Passage to Asia.

A year later, the Muscovy Company again sent Hudson to seek a Northeast Passage, this time between Svalbard and the islands of Novaya Zemlya, which lie to the east of the Barents Sea. Finding his way again blocked by ice fields, he returned to England.

Shortly after his return, Hudson was lured to Amsterdam to undertake a third northeast voyage under contract to the Dutch East India Company. While there, he heard reports of two possible channels to the Pacific across North America. One of these, said to be in about latitude 62 N, was described in the logbooks of a voyage made in 1602 by an English explorer, Capt. George Weymouth. The other, said to be in the vicinity of about latitude 40 N, was newly reported from Virginia by the English soldier, explorer, and colonist Capt. John Smith. Although his interest in a Northwest Passage had been aroused, Hudson agreed to return directly to Holland if his northeast voyage should prove unsuccessful.

Hudson sailed from Holland in the Half Moon on April 6, 1609. When head winds and storms forced him to abandon his northeast voyage, he ignored his agreement and proposed to the crew that they should instead seek the Northwest Passage. Given their choice between returning home or continuing, the crew elected to follow up Smith's suggestion and seek the Northwest Passage around 40 N. While cruising along the Atlantic