Henry Hudson: A Brief Statement of His Aims and His AchievementsJanvier, Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone)
History
Henry Hudson: A Brief Statement of His Aims and His Achievements
Janvier, Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone)
Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Hudson, Henry, -1611
What happened to Hudson when he reached Dartmouth has been
recorded; and, broadly, why it happened. Hessel Gerritz wrote that
"he ... returned safely to England, where he was accused of having
undertaken a voyage to the detriment of his own country." Van
Meteren wrote: "A long time elapsed, through contrary winds, before
the Company could be informed of the arrival of the ship [the "Half
Moon"] in England. Then they ordered the ship and crew to return
[to Holland] as soon as possible. But when they were going to do
so, Henry Hudson and the other Englishmen of the ship were
commanded by government there not to leave England but to serve
their own country." Obviously, international trade jealousies were
at the root of the matter. Conceivably, as I have stated, the
Muscovy Company, a much interested party, was the prime mover in
the seizure of Hudson out of the Dutch service. But we only know
certainly that he was seized out of that service: with the result
that he and Fate came to grips again; and that Fate's hold on him
did not loosen until Death cast it off.
Hudson's fourth, and last, voyage was not made for the Muscovy
Company; but those chiefly concerned in promoting it were members
of that Company, and two of them were members of the first
importance in the direction of its affairs. The adventure was set
forth, mainly, by Sir Dudley Digges, Sir Thomas Smith, and Master
John Wolstenholme--who severally are commemorated in the Arctic by
Smith's Sound, Cape Digges, and Cape Wolstenholme--and the
expedition got away from London in "the barke 'Discovery'" on April
17, 1610.
Purchas wrote a nearly contemporary history of this voyage that
included three strictly contemporary documents: two of them
certainly written aboard the "Discovery"; and the third either
written aboard the ship on the voyage home, as is possible, or not
long after the ship had arrived in England.
The first of these documents is "An Abstract of the Journal of
Master Henry Hudson." This is Hudson's own log, but badly
mutilated. It begins on the day of sailing, April 17th, and ends on
the ensuing August 3d. There are many gaps in it, and the block of
more than ten months is gone. The missing portions, presumably,
were destroyed by the mutineers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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