Henry Hudson
Hudson, Henry
Henry Hudson, explorer (flourished 1607-11). Little is known of him before the famous voyages of his last 4 years. He searched twice (1607, 1608) for a polar route to Asia via Norway and Russia, and in the service of the Dutch East India Co ascended the Hudson River in 1609. English patrons financed his search for a NORTHWEST PASSAGE in 1610. He sailed in the DISCOVERY to Iceland and entered HUDSON STRAIT in early June, navigating his tiny vessel through fog and ice, passing through the narrow gap between Cape Wolstenholme and Cape Digges (named for his patrons). He descended the east shore into desolate JAMES BAY, tacking to and fro in a futile search for an opening to the Spice Islands. He beached the Discovery and spent a bleak winter, likely by the Rupert River.
Resentment among his crew broke into mutiny in the spring when Hudson announced his intention to continue the search. The leaders, Henry Greene, Robert Juet and William Wilson, forced Hudson, his son and 7 others into a shallop and cut it adrift in the open sea. Robert BYLOT piloted the Discovery home. Greene and Wilson were killed by natives at Cape Digges; Juet died of starvation. Four of the 9 survivors were tried for murder but acquitted - saved as much by mercantile interest in their knowledge of the Northwest as by the blame laid on the dead.
Nothing is known of Hudson's fate. He did not discover Hudson Strait - both M. FROBISHER and J. DAVIS had noted its entrance - but in navigating its treacherous course he far outdistanced his predecessors and discovered a route to the continent's interior of inestimable value to England. However, his favouritism and weak leadership vitiated his accomplishment. The quaint, contentious account by Abacuk Pricket, a survivor, is the sole record of the voyage and mutiny.
Henry Hudson, explorer
Hudson's discovery of a route to the continent's interior proved of inestimable value to England, woodcut (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-17727).
Explorations of Henry Hudson
Author JAMES MARSH
Links to Other Sites
Exploration of the Northwest Passage
An overview of European expeditions to Canada’s northern Arctic region from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Brief bios, illustrations, maps, and other reference material. An Industry Canada website.
Henry Hudson's Daring Exploits
A brief illustrated feature about Henry Hudson’s exploration of northern Canada. From Library and Archives Canada.
The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson
Watch the flim "The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson." Focuses on the challenges and hardships endured by Henry Hudson on his expeditions to North America. From the National Film Board of Canada.
Major Northwest Passage Exeditions and Explorers
This site offers brief accounts of various European expeditions to North America in search of the Northwest Passage. From the website "Of Maps and Men: In Pursuit of a Northwest Passage," Princeton University.
Frozen Ocean
A superb online exhibit about the search for the Northwest Passage. Historic maps and images from books show how the Inuit assisted foreign led expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and how European explorers gradually accepted Inuit techniques of travel and survival. Contemporary maps show the lasting achievement of the expeditions: the mapping of the Canadian Arctic. From the Toronto Public Library.
Sir Thomas Button
A brief biography of Sir Thomas Button, admiral and explorer. From the Welsh Biography Online.
Shawnadithit grew anxious waiting for her uncle, Longnon, to return to camp at the junction of Badger Brook and the Exploits River, deep in the wilds of Newfoundland...
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