“HENRY HUDSON

“JODOCUS HONDIUS

“Witness”

The period of the tercentenary of Henry Hudson’s exploration, in 1609, of the “Grande river,” which for centuries has been called the “Hudson river,” approaches, and already plans and preparations, on a grand scale, have been begun to commemorate that highly important event.

Albanians are especially interested and participating in the preparations for this celebration, for the site of Albany was deemed the most important in the New Netherlands, that of the city of New York alone excepted, and in many respects, early, even more important than that. For at Albany, near the confluence of the two great rivers of the territory of New York, the Hudson from the north and the Mohawk from the west, the Indians from the north and west came in their canoes with their peltry and furs, as a market place, designed by nature, for the exchange of articles between the red men and the white men for what they did not want, to get what, respectively, they did want. Then, too, it was where the Indians assembled to make their important treaties; where the governors of the American provinces met to consider and decide important measures; and where the first provincial congress, in 1754, met and prepared a plan for the union of the colonies. It was, moreover, the great strategic point contended for by the French and English on American soil, and later by the English against the United States in the War of the American Revolution. Albany’s charter, as a city, under the date of 1686, is the oldest unrevoked charter of a city in the United States and during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries no place in the western world surpassed it in historic interest; and for the last hundred years and more, as the capital of the Empire State, it has been considered, next to Washington, the most influential and important legislative center in the United States.

The Scandinavians were the earliest and boldest Arctic navigators and Iceland was their rendezvous. A great part of the Arctic shores that have been visited in modern times was known to the Scandinavians.

Columbus visited Iceland fifteen years before he sailed in 1492. S. Cabot went to North America in 1498 by way of Iceland. Scandinavians were seeking fisheries, as were the exploring nations of that period, and many of their acts were those of freebooters. The Portuguese, the Spanish, and the French, the three nations which had followed in the track of Cabot and his English companions and had then arrived at the northern shores of America in search of a passage to Asia, did not abandon the newly explored region.

The Portuguese continued their surveys of the northern coasts most likely to discover advantageous fisheries. They advanced slowly along the shores of Newfoundland and then up to the mouth of Hudson strait, then through that strait, and at last into Hudson bay. With a certain number of ancient maps, ranging from 1529 to 1570, before us we can trace the progress step by step. In 1554 the Portuguese seemed not yet to have reached the mouth of the Hudson strait. In 1558 their geographical knowledge extended beyond the mouth of the strait and in 1570 they had reached the bay. The authorities for all this are our ancient geographical delineations. Much geographical intelligence in those days was kept secret. We can therefore state with the greatest certainty that Hudson bay had been discovered before the publication of Ortelius’s Atlas, published 1570. So said Dr. Asher.

General J. M. Read, Jr., with competent assistants, much time and ample means, pursued a thorough, exhaustive examination to ascertain all possible about the Hudsons, of which Henry was one; and while the book is very interesting and many ingenious theories presented, yet rock-foundation of evidence seems to be lacking.

While neither the parents of Henry Hudson nor the date of his birth have been ascertained, that he was born in England, and almost beyond question in Hoddersdon (where so many of the Hudsons lived) in Hertfordshire, about seventeen miles north by east of London, seems settled. It, moreover, seems highly probable that our Henry Hudson was the grandson of Henry Hudson, a Londoner of great wealth and influence, one of the founders and the first president of the Muscovy or Russian Company which Sebastian Cabot suggested and of which he became its first governor, and that in the service of that company our navigator there had his first service and won the rank and distinction of captain. The Muscovy or Russian Company was formed of London merchant adventurers for the purpose of seeking an all-water route to the Indies by sailing north of Russia and then down the Pacific, greatly shortening the route via the Cape of Good Hope. This company was held in such high esteem that both England and Russia granted it a charter in 1555. Several unsuccessful voyages for this purpose were made, the ice and storms proving insurmountable obstacles. It was in the employ of this company where, and in his own journal, our Henry Hudson first makes himself known as the captain of the “Hopeful,” which sailed April 19, 1607, with ten sailors and his son John, a boy, aboard, with directions to explore the coast of Greenland, pass around it to the northeast, or directly under the Pole or, in his own words, “for to discover a passage by the North Pole to Japan and China.” The “Hopeful” left Gravesend May 1, 1607, and in twenty-six days reached the Shetland Islands, where supplies were taken on. Four days after leaving these islands it was observed that the magnetic needle was deflected, which created consternation among the sailors. They believed the voyage was under an evil spell and would meet with disaster. Then the resources of the captain were evoked to carry out instructions or plans and prevent mutiny. Hudson managed his crew, sailed along the east coast of Greenland and thence along the ice barrier to Spitzbergen (discovered by the Dutch in 1596), going as far north as 80° 23′. Prevented by ice, he sailed back to England, which he reached September 15, 1607.