NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
329 & 331 PEARL STREET,
FRANKLIN SQUARE, 1853.
CHAPTER I. EXERPT
Henry Hudson's Voyages
From London to the North
1608 - 1609
General for the incorporation of a "West India Company,"
to trade exclusively, for thirty-six years, to the coast of
Africa, from the tropics to the Cape of Good Hope, and to
America, from the Straits of Magellan to Newfoundland.
But the Dutch government was now engaged in negotiations
for a peace with Spain, which Grotius and Barneveldt
feared the proposed charter might prejudice; and the
truce, which was finally concluded in 1609, suspended for
several years any definite action on the subject. *
Meanwhile, a shorter passage to China and Cathay, by
way of the Northern Seas, continued to be a favorite theory
in England, as well as in Holland and Denmark. A
company of wealthy and energetic men in London, not discouraged
by the illluck of all previous efforts, determined
to attempt again, in 1607, the enterprise in which so many
others had failed. Contributing the necessary means for
an expedition, they intrusted the command to a skillful
and experienced mariner, Henry Hudson, a native of England,
and a friend of the famous Captain John Smith, who
had just before sailed with the first colony for Virginia,
and whom, in boldness, energy, and perseverance Hudson
strongly resembled. But the expedition was unsuccessfull
as was also a second voyage in the following year, and
the London Company suspended further efforts. †
Not disheartened by his two failures, Hudson now resolved
to go to Holland, in the hope of meeting there encouragement
to attempt again the venturesome enterprise he
was so ambitious to achieve. He was not disappointed.
His proposition to the East India Company, though opposed
by the Zealand department, where Balthazar Moucheron's
long experience in former fruitless voyages influenced his
colleagues, found favor with the more liberal Amsterdam
directors. By their orders, a yacht, or Vlieboat, called
the "HALF MOON," belonging to the company, of forty
lasts or eighty tons burden, ‡ was equipped for the
Voyage, and manned by a crew of twenty sailors, partly Dutch
and partly English. The command was intrusted to Hudson;
a Dutch "underschipper" or mate was appointed;
and instructions were given to explore a passage to China
by the northeast or northwest.*
The Half Moon left Amsterdam on the fourth of April,
1609, and on the sixth took her departure from the Texel.
Doubling the Cape of Norway on the fifth of May, Hudson
found the sea so full of ice, that he was obliged to abandon
his purpose of penetrating eastward of Nova Zembla.
Some of his motley crew, who had been used only to the
East India service, could ill endure the severity of the cold,
and now began to murmur. Upon this, Hudson proposed
to them two alternatives. The first was to sail directly
to America, in about latitude 40 o , where, according to the
letters and charts which Smith had sent him from Virginia,
he would find a sea affording a passage to the East
round the English colony. The other proposition was to
penetrate westward, through Davis's Straits; and this being
generally approved, Hudson sailed toward the island
of Faro, where he arrived on the last of May, and remained
a day to water, Thence he stretched westward across
the Atlantic; but failing to see the islands which Frobisher's
ships had visited in 1578, he shaped his course for
Newfoundland.
After a stormy and perilous voyage, in
which he lost his foremast overboard, Hudson arrived, early
in July, on the Banks, where he was becalmed long
enough to catch more cod than his "small store of salt"
could cure. He then stood further to the west, and run
ning along the coast of Nova Scotia, arrived at Penobscot
Bay, where he remained a week, cutting a new foremast
and mending his tapered rigging. While there, he was
visited by two French-built shallops full of Indians, some
of whom even" spake some words of French," and proposed
to traffic. But Hudson, suspicious of his visitors,
kept a vigilant watch; while a part of his ship's company
seized one of the shallops, with which they landed, and
wantonly despoiled the cabins of the friendly natives.
Fearing that the lawless conduct of his turbulent crew
might provoke retaliation, Hudson set sail the next day to
the southward, and kept at sea for a week, until he made
the land again, and sent his shallop in to sound the shore.
The next morning he anchored at the northern end of a
headland, where his boat's crew landed, and found the natives
rejoicing to see them. Supposing it to be an unknown
island, Hudson named the region NEW HOLLAND,
in honor of his patrons' fatherland. But after trying in
vain to find an opening to the westward, he put about, and
passing the southern headland, which he now perceived
was the one which Gosnold had discovered in 1602 and
named "Cape Cod," he stood off to sea again toward the
southwest.
In a fortnight Hudson arrived off the mouth of the Chesapeake
Bay, which he recognized as "the entrance into
the King's River in Virginia, where our Englishmen are."
But the temptation to meet his friend Smith, who, disgusted
with the distractions in the colony at Jamestown, and
maimed by accidental wounds, was preparing to return to
England, did not divert Hudson from the great object of
his voyage. Contenting himself with a few soundings, he
stood again to sea, and passing northward along the coast
of Maryland, he ran into a "great bay with rivers"—afterward
called the "South River," and "New Port May"
by the Dutch, and "Delaware" by the English where
the Half Moon anchored. *
Finding the navigation so difficult, that "he that will
thoroughly discover this great bay must have a small pinnace
that must draw but four or five feet water, to sound
before him," Hudson stood out to sea again, and, running
northward several days along a low sandy coast, with
"broken islands," arrived, on the evening of the second of
September, in sight of the "high hills" of Navesinck, then,
as now, "a very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant
hand to see." The next morning he sailed onward until
he came to "three great rivers," the most northerly of
which he attempted to enter, but was prevented by the
"very shoal bar before it." * So, sending his boat before
him to sound the way, he went in past Sandy Hook, and
on the evening of the third of September, 1609, anchored
the Half Moon in the bay, where the waters were alive
with fish. †
For a week Hudson lingered in the lower bay, admiring
the "goodly oaks" which garnished the neighboring shores,
and holding frequent intercourse with the native savages
of Monmouth, in New Jersey. The Half Moon was visited
in return by the wondering Indians, who flocked on
board the strange vessel, clothed with mantles of feathers
and robes of fur, and adorned with rude copper necklaces.
Meanwhile, a boat's crew was sent to sound the
river, which opened to the northward. Passing through
the Narrows, they found a noble harbor, with "very good
riding for ships." A little further on, they came to "the
Kills," between Staten Island and Bergen Neck, "a narrow
river to the westward, between two islands." The lands
on both sides were "as pleasant with grass, and flowers,
and goodly trees, as ever they had seen, and very sweet
smells came from them." Six miles up this river they
saw "an open sea," now known as Newark Bay. In the
evening, as the boat was returning to the ship, the exploring
party was set upon by two canoes full of savages; and
one of the English sailors, John Colman, was killed by an
arrow shot in his throat. The next day Hudson buried,
upon the adjacent beach, the comrade who had shared the
dangers of his polar adventures, to become the first European
victim of an Indian weapon in the placid waters he
had now reached. To commemorate the event, Sandy
Hook was named "Colman's Point." The ship was soon
visited by canoes full of native warriors; but Hudson, suspecting
their good faith, took two of the savages and "put
red coats upon them," while the rest were not suffered to
approach.
Cautiously sounding her way through the lower bay,
the Half Moon at length "went into the river" past the
Narrows, and anchored near the mouth of the Kills in "a
very good harbor for all winds." The native savages came
at once on board, "making show of love;" but Hudson,
remembering Colman's fate, "durst not trust them." The
next morning twenty-eight canoes, "made of single hollowed
trees," and crowded with men, women, and children,
visited the yacht. But none were suffered to come
on board, though their oysters and beans were gladly purchased.
In the afternoon the Half Moon ran six miles
further up; and the crew were enraptured by the loveliness
of the surrounding country. "It is as beautiful a
land as one can tread upon," said Hudson, "and abounds
in all kinds of excellent ship timber." *
The first of Europeans, Hudson now began to explore
the great river which stretched before him to the north,
opening, as he hoped, the way to the Eastern Seas. Slowly
drifting upward with the floodtide, he anchored over
night just above Yonkers, in sight of "a high point of
land, which showed out" five leagues off to the north. *
The next day, a southeast wind carrying him rapidly up
Tappan and Hayerstraw Bays, and beyond the "strait"
between Stony and Verplanck's Points, Hudson sailed onward
through the majestic pass guarded by the frowning
Donderberg, and at nightfall anchored his yacht near
West Point, in the midst of the sublimest scenery of the
"Matteawan" † Mountains.
The next morning was misty until the sun arose, and
the grandeur of the overhanging highlands was again revealed.
A fair south wind sprung up as the weather became
clear; and while the Half Moon was getting under
way, the two savages who had been detained captives on
board at Sandy Hook, watching their opportunity, leaped
out of a porthole and swam ashore, scornfully deriding
the crew as the yacht sailed onward. A bright autumnal
day succeeded the misty morning. Running sixty miles
up along the varied shores which lined the deep channel,
and delighted every moment with the everchanging scenery,
and the magnificent virgin forests which clothed the
river banks with their gorgeous autumnal hues, Hudson
arrived, toward evening, opposite the loftier "mountains
which lie from the river's side,"‡ and anchored the Half
Moon near Catskill landing, where he found a "very loving
people and very old men."
The friendly natives flocked on board the yacht, as she
remained lazily at anchor the next morning, and brought
the crew "ears of Indian corn, and pumpkins, and tobacco,"
which were readily bought "for trifles." In the aft
ernoon, Hudson went six miles further up the river, and
anchored over night near the marshes which divide the
channel, opposite the flourishing city which now bears his
name.
Early the next morning he set sail again, and
slowly working his way through the shoaling channel and
among the "small islands" which embarrassed navigation,
anchored, toward evening, about eighteen miles further
up, between Schodac and Castleton.
Here the Half Moon remained at anchor all the next
day. In the afternoon, Hudson went ashore "with an old
savage, a governor of the country, who carried him to his
house and made him good cheer." The visit is graphically
described in the original Journal preserved by De
Laet. "I sailed to the shore," says Hudson, "in one of
their canoes, with an old man who was the chief of a tribe
consisting of forty men and seventeen women. These I
saw there, in a house well constructed of oak bark, and circular
in shape, so that it had the appearance of being built
with an arched roof. It contained a great quantity of
maize or Indian corn, and beans of the last year's growth;
and there lay near the house, for the purpose of drying,
enough to load three ships, besides what was growing in
the fields. On our coming into the house, two mats were
spread out to sit upon, and some food was immediately
served in well-made red wooden bowls. Two men were
also dispatched at once, with bows and arrows, in quest of
game, who soon brought in a pair of pigeons which they
had shot. They likewise killed a fat dog, and skinned it
in great haste, with shells which they had got out of the
water. They supposed that I would remain with them
for the night; but I returned, after a short time, on board
the ship. The land is the finest for cultivation that I ever
in my life set foot upon, and it also abounds in trees of every
description. These natives are a very good people;
for when they saw that I would not remain, they supposed
that I was afraid of their bows; and, taking their arrows,
they broke them in pieces and threw them into the fire." *
With the early flood-tide on the following morning, the
Half Moon "ran higher up, two leagues above the shoals,"
and anchored in deep water, near the site of the present
city of Albany. The people of the country came flocking
on board, and brought grapes and pumpkins, and beaver
and otter skins, which were purchased for beads, knives,
and hatchets. Here the yacht lingered several days. The
carpenter went ashore, and made a new foreyard; while
Hudson and his mate, "determined to try some of the
chief men of the country, whether they had any treachery
in them," took them down into the Half Moon's cabin, and
"gave them so much wine and aqua vitæ that they were
all merry." An old Indian, stupefied with drink, remained
on board to the amazement of his simple countrymen,
who "could not tell how to take it." The traditions of
the aborigines yet preserve the memory of this first revel, *
which was followed, the next day, by another visit from
the reassured savages, one of whose chiefs, addressing Hudson,
"made an oration, and showed him all the country
round about."
Every thing now seemed to indicate that the Half Moon
had reached the head of ship navigation. The downward
current was fresh and clear, the shoaling channel was narrow
and obstructed; yet Hudson, unwilling, perhaps, to
abandon his long-cherished hope, dispatched the mate, with
a boat's crew, to sound the river higher up. After going
"eight or nine leagues" further—probably to some distance
above Waterford and finding "but seven feet water, and inconstant soundings," the exploring party returned late at night, and reported that they had "found it to
be at an end for shipping to go in." *
Hudson now reluctantly prepared to return. His ascent
of the river had occupied eleven days; his descent consumed
as many more. Bidding adieu to the friendly savages
among whom he had tarried so pleasantly, and slowly
descending the difficult channel for nine or ten leagues,
he ran aground again, the next afternoon, on the "bank
of ooze in the middle of the river," opposite the present city
of Hudson. Here he remained windbound for two days,
which were occupied in wooding the vessel, and in visiting
the neighboring shores. While the yacht was lying at
anchor, two canoes full of savages came up the river six
miles from Catskill, where the crew had "first found loving
people" on their upward voyage. In one of these canoes
was the old man who had reveled on board the Half
Moon "at the other place," and who had followed by land
the yacht's progress down the river. He now brought
"another old man with him," who gave "stropes of beads"
to Hudson, and "showed him all the country thereabout,
as though it were at his command." The visitors were
kindly entertained; and as they departed, made signs that
the Europeans, who were now within two leagues of their
dwelling-place, "should come down to them."
But the persuasions of the friendly old chief were of no
avail. Weighing anchor the next day with a fair north
wind, Hudson ran down the river eighteen miles, past the
wigwams of the "loving people" at Catskill, who were
"very sorrowful" for his departure, and toward evening
anchored in deep water near Red Hook, where part of the
crew went on shore to fish. The next two days were consumed
in slowly working down to the "lower end of the
long reach" below Pokeepsie, where the yacht was again
visited by friendly Indians; and then proceeding onward,
Hudson anchored in the evening under the northern edge
of the Highlands. Here he lay wind-bound for a day, in
a very good roadstead, admiring the magnificent mountains,
which looked to him "as if some metal or mineral
were in them."
Early the next morning a fair wind sprung up, and the
Half Moon, sailing rapidly through the winding Highlands,
anchored, at noon, near Stony Point. Here some of the
"people of the mountains" came on board, wondering at
the "ship and weapons." The same afternoon, a thievish
native, detected in pilfering some articles through the cabin
windows, was shot without mercy by the mate; and
the stolen things were promptly recovered from the canoes
of the frightened savages, who lost another life in their
flight. This was the first Indian blood shed by Europeans
on the North River. After this sanguinary atonement had
been exacted, the yacht dropped down two leagues further,
through Haverstraw Bay to Teller's Point, near the mouth
of the Croton.
The next day, a brisk northwest wind carried the Half
Moon seven leagues further down, through Tappan Sea to
the head of Manhattan Island, where one of the captive
Indians, who had escaped from the yacht in the Highlands,
on the upward voyage, came off from the shore with many
other savages. But Hudson, '"perceiving their intent,"
would suffer none of them to enter the vessel. Two canoes
full of warriors then came under the stern, and shot
a flight of arrows into the yacht. A few muskets were
discharged in retaliation, and two or three of the assailants
were killed. Some hundred Indians then assembled
at the point near Fort Washington, to attack the Half
Moon as she drifted slowly by; but a falcon shot killed
two of them, "whereupon the rest fled into the woods."
Again the assailants manned another canoe, and again the
attack was repulsed by a falcon shot, which destroyed their
frail bark; and so the savages "went their way," mourning
the loss of nine of their warriors. The yacht then "got
down two leagues beyond that place," and anchored over
night "on the other side of the river," in the bay near Hoboken.
Hard by his anchorage, and upon "that side of
the river that is called Mannahata," Hudson noticed that
"there was a cliff that looked of the color of a white
green." * Here he lay wind-bound the next day, and "saw
no people to trouble" him. The following morning, just
one month after his arrival at Sandy Hook, Hudson weighed
his anchor for the last time, and coming out of the
"great mouth of the great river" into which he "had run
so far," he set all sail, and steered off again into the main
sea. †
The Half Moon's company now held a council, and were
of various minds. They were in want of stores, and were
not on good terms with each other, "which, if they had
been, they would have accomplished more." The Dutch
mate wished to winter at Newfoundland, and then explore
the northwest passage through Davis's Straits. But Hudson,
fearing his mutinous crew, who had lately begun to
"threaten him savagely," opposed this proposition, and
suggested their immediate return to Holland. At last they
all agreed to winter in Ireland. So they sailed eastward
for a month, without seeing any land by the way, and on
the seventh of November, 1609, arrived safely at Dartmouth,
in Devonshire.
Thence Hudson immediately sent over an account of
his voyage to the Dutch East India Company, at Amsterdam,
proposing to renew the search for the northwest passage
in the following spring, after refitting the Half Moon
in England, and superseding several of the most turbulent
of her crew. But contrary winds prevented his report
from reaching Amsterdam for some time. When at length
the East India directors heard of Hudson's arrival at Dartmouth,
they instructed him to return with his vessel to
Holland as soon as possible. As he was about complying
with these orders early in the following year, he was arbitrarily
forbidden to leave his native country by the English
authorities, who were jealous of the advantages
which the Dutch had gained by reason of Hudson's discoveries
while in their service; and the Half Moon was
detained for several months, quietly at anchor in Dartmouth
harbor. *
* Van Meteren, 527, 528, 553, 556, 601, 603; Grotius, 721; Bentivoglio, i., 37; Bancroft,
ii., 262, 263; Muilkerk, A., 10-17; Davies, ii., 404, 405.
† Purchas, iii., 567; N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 61-102; Yates and Moulton, i., 198-200.
‡ "Ship book" found, in 1841, in the Archives of the old East India Company at Amsterdam.
A "Vlie-boat" is so called from its being built expressly for the difficult navi-gation
of the Vlie and the Texel. It is a very fast-sailing vessel, with two masts, and
usually of about one hundred tons burden. The name, as well as the model of this Dutch
craft, was soon adopted in other countries. The French caUed it "Flibot;" the English,
"Fly-boat;" and the Spaniards, "Flibote." Some of oar writers have, unfortunately, al-tered
the historical name of the "Half Moon" to the fanciful name of the "Crescent."
Hudson's vessel was really called by her owners "de Halve-Maan," and not "de Was-sende-
Maan," of which latter phrase only is "Crescent" the proper English equivalent.
* Van Meteren, xxxi., 674; N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii. (second series), 368-370; Lambrecht-sen,
9, 10, and in N. Y. H. S. Coll., i. (second series), 84, 85; Muilkerk, 18, 19. Robert
Juet, of Limehouse, England, who wrote the Journal printed by Purchas, acted as Hud-son's
own clerk, but not as "under-schipper" of the Half Moon. Van Meteren expressly
says that that officer was a Netherlander.
* Van der Donck, p. 7, adds, and "took the first possession." This bay and river the
Dutch called the South River, to distinguish it from the North or Hudson River; and also
New Port May, after Cornelis Jacobsen May, of Hoorn. Many of our writers assert that
Lord Delawarr touched at this bay, on his way to Virginia in 1610. But this is an error.
On that occasion Lord Delawarr sailed by way of the West Indies, and approached Vir-ginia
from the southward. Indeed, there is no evidence that Lord Delawarr ever saw the
waters which now bear his name, as will be shown in a note (D) in the Appendix,
* Two of these were, no doubt, the Raritan and the Narrows; and the third one, to the
northward, with the shoal bar before it, probably Rockaway Inlet.
± "So we weighed and went in, and rode in five fathoms ooze ground, and saw many
salmons, and mullets, and rays very great. The height is forty degrees thirty minutes."
This statement in Juet's Journal agrees, very nearly, with the actual latitude of Sandy
Hook, which is forty degrees twenty-eight minutes. Doctor Mitchill, in N. Y. H. S. Coll., i.,
41, however doubts the correctness of the accounts in the Journal respecting the abund-ance
of salmon in the North River when first visited by Hudson, though he admits that
that fish has been taken there.
* "Is soo schoonen landt als men met voeten betreden mach." — Hudson's Report,
quoted by De Laet, cap. x.
*The North River schippers afterward named this well-known landmark, just north
of Nyack, in Rockland county, "Verdrietig Hook," or Tedious Point. It is about seven
hundred feet high, and obtained its name because it was generally so long in sight of the
slow-sailing sloops of former days. The name, formerly so expressive, is still retained;
though our flitting modern conveyances hardly allow it now to tire the eye.
† The Indian name for the Highlands, according to Spafford, and Moulton, i., p. 240.
‡ The "Kaatsbergs," or Catskill Mountains, the most elevated range along the river,
are about eight miles inland from the west bank, and extend northward from back of
the town of Saugerties, in Ulster county, to the town of Durham, in Greene county. Ac-cording
to Captain Partridge's measurement, in 1818, "Round Top," the highest point in
the chain, is 3804 feet above tide water; "High Peak," the next in altitude, is 3718 feet.
"Pine Orchard," the famous summer resort of tourists, is a level tract of about seven
acres, on the edge of a precipice about 2214 feet above the river, of which it commands a
magnificent view for sixty miles.
* Juet, in his account of the voyage, says that the person who went ashore with the
"old savage," was the "master's mates" or onder schipper, who, according to Van Mete-ren,
was a Dutchman. On the other hand, De Laet expressly states that it was Hudson
himself, and he quotes, from Hudson's own Journal, the passage which I have inserted
in the text. The place where Hudson landed is stated by De Laet to have been in lati-tude
42° 18'. This would seem to fix the scene of the event at about five or six miles
above the present city of Hudson, which is in 42° 14'. But latitudes were not as accurately
determined in those days as they are now; and a careful computation of the distances run
by the Half Moon, as recorded in Juet's log-book, shows that on the 18th of September,
when the landing occurred, she must have been "up six leagues higher" than Hudson, or
in the neighborhood of Schodac and Castleton.
* "It is very remarkable that, among the Iroquois or Six Nations, there is a tradition,
still very distinctly preserved, of a scene of intoxication which occurred with a company
of the natives when the first ship arrived."—Rev. Dr. Miller's Discourses in N. Y. H. S.
Coll., i., p. 35; Heckewelder, in Moulton's N. Y, i, p. 551-254; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i.,
71-73. See Note A, Appendix.
* De Laet, in cap. vii., states that Hudson explored the river "to nearly 43° of north
latitude, where it became so narrow and of so little depth, that he found it necessary to
return." As Albany is in 49o 39', the boat must, therefore, have gone above that place
"eight or nine leagues" further—the distance given in Juet's Journal.
* The mineralogist may spend an agreeable day in visiting this cliff, near the "Elysian
Fields" at Hoboken. Hudson supposed it to be a copper or surer mine.
† See Juet's Journal of Hudson's third voyage, in Purchas, and in i. N.Y. H. S. Coll,
i., 102-146; and De Last, in second series of same collections, i., 289-316. An interesting
analysis of the Half Moon's voyage up and down the river, is in Yates and Moulton's His-tory
of New York, vol. i., p. 201-272.
* N. Y. H. S. Coll. (second series), ii., 370. "Et comme Hudson était prêt de partir
avec la navire et ses gens, pour aller faire rapport de son voyage, il fût arreté en Angle-terre,
et reçut commandement de ne point partir, mais qu'il devait faire service à sa pa-trie;
ce qu'on commanda aussi aux autres Anglais qui étaient au vaisseau. Ce que plu-sieurs
trouverent fort étrange, de ce qu'on ne permettait pas au patron d'aller faire
compte, et de faire rapport de son voyage et de qu'il avait fait, à ses maîtres, qui l'avaient
envoyé en ce voyage; puisque cela se faisait pour le bien commun de toutes sortes de
navigations. Ceci se fit en Janvier. 1610. On estimait que les Anglais le voulaient en-voyer
avec quelques navires, vers Virginia, pour rechercher plus avant la susdite Riviére."
