Henry Hudson

Hello, my name is Henry Hudson, and I was an English explorer who spent my life chasing the horizon. I was born in England around the year 1565, a time when the world seemed to be getting bigger every day. Sailors were returning with incredible stories of new lands, and maps of the world were constantly being redrawn. I was fascinated by these tales of adventure and discovery. From a young age, I knew I wanted to be one of those sailors who ventured into the unknown. I dedicated myself to studying maps and learning everything I could about navigation and the stars. I dreamed of the day I would captain my own ship and make a discovery that would change the world and find a new way to the rich lands of Asia.

By 1607, I was an experienced captain, and the Muscovy Company of England hired me for a very important and dangerous job: to find a new, shorter sea route to Asia by sailing north, right over the top of the world. On my first voyage that year, I set sail aboard a ship called the Hopewell. We sailed as far north as the icy islands of Spitzbergen, where the air was freezing and the sea was filled with ice. The cold was bitter, and enormous walls of ice blocked our path, forcing us to turn back. The next year, in 1608, I tried again for the same company. This time, I attempted to go northeast over Russia. Once again, the thick, unmoving ice proved to be an unbeatable foe. I was disappointed that I had failed twice, but my determination to find a northern passage only grew stronger with each attempt.

In 1609, I took a job with a different company, the famous Dutch East India Company. They gave me a sturdy little ship called the Halve Maen, which means 'Half Moon' in Dutch, and sent me to try the northeast route one more time. But when my crew faced the terrible cold and treacherous ice again, they became fearful and nearly refused to go on. A mutiny was brewing. I had to make a choice. Instead of turning back to Holland in failure, I made a bold decision. I turned the ship west and sailed clear across the Atlantic Ocean, using maps I had from a fellow explorer. We reached the coast of North America and found the mouth of a magnificent, wide river. We sailed up it for days, through beautiful, lush lands inhabited by Native Americans. I realized this was not the passage to Asia, but I knew it was an important discovery. That river is now named after me: the Hudson River.

My discoveries for the Dutch made my home country of England want to hire me again. In 1610, I set off on what would be my final voyage. I captained a new ship, the Discovery, with the goal of finally finding the Northwest Passage over North America. This time, we sailed further north and west than ever before, entering a vast, churning strait that opened into an enormous inland sea. For a moment, I was sure I had done it—that the Pacific Ocean and a route to Asia were just ahead. We had discovered what is now called the Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay. But as we explored this massive bay, the weather turned against us. Winter came upon us with a terrible speed, and by November of 1610, our ship was completely frozen in the ice in a part of the bay called James Bay. We were trapped miles from home.

The winter of 1610-1611 was long and brutal. Our food ran low, and with little to eat, the crew grew sick, weak, and angry. When the ice finally broke in the spring of 1611, I wanted to continue our search. I truly believed we were so close to our goal. But many of my men had lost all hope and suffered greatly during the cold months. They just wanted to go home to England. My determination clashed with their desperation. On June 22nd, 1611, part of the crew mutinied. They violently turned against me. They put me, my son John, and seven men who were still loyal to me into a small open boat and set us adrift in the vast, cold waters of the bay. We were left behind with no food, water, or supplies, and we were never seen or heard from again.

Though my life ended tragically and I never found the passage I searched for, my voyages were not failures. The river I explored for the Dutch in 1609 helped them establish a new colony called New Netherland in North America. The great strait and bay I sailed into on my final voyage in 1610 gave England claim to a huge part of what is now Canada and opened up a rich fur trade for the country. Today, the Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay all bear my name, reminding people of a time when the world was full of mystery, and explorers like me were willing to risk everything for the sake of discovery.