The Patience and Heartsease put to sea on their return voyage on the 4th August, and beat up against a foul wind. Baffin was now on board the Heartsease, which parted company with the Patience in a gale on September 4th. On the 15th she arrived in Yarmouth Roads and Captain Huntriss took her on to the Thames, entering the river on the 19th. He caused the flag to be hoisted half mast, in token of the death of his beloved Commander James Hall, and the ship was brought up to St Katherine’s Pool. On September 17th, 1612, Barker brought the Patience into Hull Roads[68].
William Baffin, under the auspices of Sir Thomas Smith, then entered the service of the Muscovy Company and made two voyages to Spitsbergen[69].
CHAPTER XIV
EARLY SPITSBERGEN VOYAGES
The greatest English navigator in the Spitsbergen quadrant during the first century of the renewal of Arctic discovery was Henry Hudson. Scarcely anything is known of the personal history of this famous sailor previous to the last four years of his life, during which his four voyages were undertaken.
Hudson was a servant of the Muscovy Company, he had a house in London, was married and had children. His selection is a proof that he was an experienced seaman. It has been conjectured that he was a grandson of another Henry Hudson who died when he was an Alderman of London in 1555[70]. There is also some reason for the belief that Thomas Hudson, a merchant of London who had a house at Mortlake and was a promoter of the voyage of John Davis, was his uncle and guardian[71].
Our first introduction to him is sufficiently striking. After morning service on the 19th April, 1607, a party of sailors might have been seen to issue from the door of St Ethelburga’s church in Bishopsgate Street, where they had partaken of the Holy Communion with the parishioners, and to wend their way to the river side. At the head of the little procession was the master, Henry Hudson, with his little son John by his side, followed by William Collins the mate, John Colman the boatswain, and James Young, most vigilant of look-out men. Then came the men, John Cooke, James Benbery, James Scrutton, John Playse, Thomas Baxter, Richard Day, and James Knight. These eleven men and a boy formed the crew of the little Hopewell of 80 tons, waiting for them at Ratcliffe, for in four days she was to sail on her great enterprise. The intention was to find the passage to Cathay by sailing due north from Spitsbergen, instead of north-west.
Hudson had studied the accounts of the voyages of Stephen Burrough, Arthur Pet, and William Barentsz. He was led to the conclusion that the attempts to the eastward had offered small hope of success, so he reverted to the advice of Master Thorne to shape a course northward and make boldly for the Pole itself. It was then thought that ice did not form on the open sea, but only on the coast in bays and inlets.
On the 1st May, 1607, the Hopewell sailed from Gravesend, was off the Shetlands on the 26th, and on 13th June was in sight of very high land. James Young was the first to report it, so it received the name of Cape Young. Soon a coast-line was visible extending for 9 leagues. It was the east coast of Greenland. Hudson always calls it Groneland, while the name of Greenland (or Newland) is given to Spitsbergen in accordance with the belief of Barentsz. He got the first name from the misleading Zeno map[72].
Behind Cape Young a high mountain, like a round castle, received the name of the Mount of God’s Mercy. On the 22nd, Hudson found himself in 72° 38′ N., and high land was again sighted in 73° N., which received the name of Hold-with-Hope.
Hold-with-Hope is a little to the south of the Pendulum Islands, visited by Clavering 200 years afterwards, and is a position which does credit to the skill and perseverance of Hudson and his companions. His conclusion was that he was too far to the westward, so he resolved to follow the edge of the ice to the north-east, seeking for an opening. This course brought the little Hopewell to 78° N., and in sight of the Newland or Greenland of Barentsz, afterwards named Spitsbergen. This was on June 27th, when Hudson supposed himself to be near the “Vogel Hoek” (Bird Cape) of Barentsz.