The following year this intrepid man tried to go to China north of Asia, but failed as Barentz had done, and returned “void of hope of a northeast passage.” Nevertheless, he tried it again a year later in the service of Amsterdam merchants, but his men were obstreperous, and, yielding to his own inclination as well as to theirs, he turned west to find that “Northwest Passage” in which everybody then believed because they hoped, and because of the difficulty of getting so great a fact as the real North American continent proved to be accepted by the popular imagination, which was used to small things in geography. Very willingly, then, Hudson’s little ship, the _Half Moon_, was turned toward the southwest; and it found something better than it sought, for the Hudson River and the site of the future metropolis of the New World were added to the map. Hudson’s success in this voyage led to his immediate engagement by a company of English merchants and speculators, who were willing to risk additional money in searching for a northwest passage if he would lead. In 1610, therefore, Hudson took command of a new ship, the _Discoverie_, and sailing in her to Baffin’s Bay, found the great opening of Hudson Strait, and with high hope that his goal was now in view followed it westward into Hudson Bay. Here he coasted south to what we term James Bay, and, after a comfortable winter, resumed his examination of the west coast, whereupon the majority of his men mutinied, set Hudson and several sick men adrift in a rowboat, and turned back. Most of the mutineers died, but the vessel was finally taken back to London, where the murderers were promptly questioned and nearly as promptly hanged. The story of another remarkable voyage closes the story of this early attempt at the problem which, two hundred and fifty years afterward, was to be solved only by proof of its uselessness. In 1616 another _Discovery_—a caravel of only fifty-five tons—went north from England in charge of William Baffin. “On the 30th of May he had reached Davis’ farthest point, Sanderson’s Hope, in 72° 41´ N., ... and reached, 1st July, an open sea, the ‘North Water’ of the whalers of to-day. Passing Capes York, Atholl and Parry, he yet pushed northward, and on 5th July attained his farthest point within sight of Cape Alexander. His latitude, about 77° 45´ N., remained unequaled in that sea for two hundred and thirty-six years.” Arctic success depends on good luck. [Illustration: FANTASTIC ICEBERGS IN HUDSON STRAIT.]