DATA FOR HUDSON’S VOYAGES
DATA FOR HUDSON’S VOYAGES
Purchas’ Pilgrimscontains the bulk of the data regarding Hudson’s voyages. The account of the first voyage is written by Hudson, himself, and by one of the company, John Playse, Playse presumably completing the log-book directly from Hudson’s journal. This is supplemented by facts taken from Hudson’s manuscripts (long since lost) now to be found inEdge’s Discovery of the Muscovy Merchants(Purchas III, 464) andFotherby’sstatement concerning Hudson’s journals (Purchas III, 730), the whole being concisely stated with ample proofs in theHakluyt Society’s1860 publication on Hudson byDoctor Asher. The account of the second voyage is given by Hudson, himself. On the third voyage, the journal was kept by Juet, the mate. The story of the last voyage is told inAn Abstract of Hudson’s Journalsdown to August 1610; and in an account written by that Prickett who joined the mutineers, plainly to excuse his own conduct. Matter supplementary to the third voyage may be found outsidePurchasin such Dutch authorities asVan MeterenandDe LaetandLambrechtsenandVan der Donck. Also inHeckewelderandHessel Gerritz. Every American historian who has dealt with the discovery of Hudson River draws his data from these sources.Yates,Moulton,O’Callaghan,Brodheadare the earliest of the old American authorities. Supplementary matter concerning the fourth and last voyage is to be found in almost any account of Arctic voyaging in America, though nothing new is added to what is told by Hudson, himself, and by Prickett. Both theNew York Historical Societyand theHakluyt Societyof England have published excellent and complete transcripts of Hudson’s Voyages with translations of all foreign data bearing on them including the voyages ofEstevan GomezandVerrazanopast New York harbor. For data bearing on the navigation of Hudson Straits, the two reports of the Canadian Government on two expeditions sent to ascertain the feasibility of such a route—are excellent; but not so good, not so detailed and beautifully unguarded as the sailing records kept by the old sea captains in the service of the Hudson’s Bay furriers. The Government reports are too guarded. Besides, the ships stayed only one season in the straits; but these old fur company captains sailed as often as forty times to the bay—eighty times in all through the straits; and I have availed myself of Captain Coat’s sailing directions especially. In the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, London, are literally shelf loads of such directions. That modern enterprise will ultimately surmount all difficulties of navigation in the straits cannot be doubted. What man sets himself to do—he does; but the difficulties are not child’s play, nor imaginary ones created by politicians who oppose a Hudson Bay route to Europe. One has only to read the record of three hundred years’ sailing by the fur traders to realize that the straits are—to put it mildly—a trap for ocean goers. Still it is interesting to note, it is typical of the dauntless spirit of the North, that a railroad is actually being built toward Hudson Bay. Not the bay, but the straits, will be the crux of the difficulty.When I speak of “Wreckers’ Reef” Sable Island, it is not a figure of speech, but a fact of those early days—that false lights were often placed on Sable Island to lure ships on the sand reefs. Men, who waded ashore, were clubbed to death by pirates: See Canadian Archives.The Indian legends of Hudson’s Voyage to New York are to be found in early missionary annals: see New York History, 1811.The report of the Canadian Geologic Survey of Baffins Land and the North was issued by Mr. A. P. Low as I completed this volume.All authorities—as seen by the map—place Hudson’s wintering quarters off Rupert River. From the Journals, it seems to me, he went as far west as he could go, and did not come back east, which would make his wintering quarters off Moose. This would explain “the old house battered with bullets,” which Radisson records.My authority for data on Moose Factory is Bishop Horden.
Purchas’ Pilgrimscontains the bulk of the data regarding Hudson’s voyages. The account of the first voyage is written by Hudson, himself, and by one of the company, John Playse, Playse presumably completing the log-book directly from Hudson’s journal. This is supplemented by facts taken from Hudson’s manuscripts (long since lost) now to be found inEdge’s Discovery of the Muscovy Merchants(Purchas III, 464) andFotherby’sstatement concerning Hudson’s journals (Purchas III, 730), the whole being concisely stated with ample proofs in theHakluyt Society’s1860 publication on Hudson byDoctor Asher. The account of the second voyage is given by Hudson, himself. On the third voyage, the journal was kept by Juet, the mate. The story of the last voyage is told inAn Abstract of Hudson’s Journalsdown to August 1610; and in an account written by that Prickett who joined the mutineers, plainly to excuse his own conduct. Matter supplementary to the third voyage may be found outsidePurchasin such Dutch authorities asVan MeterenandDe LaetandLambrechtsenandVan der Donck. Also inHeckewelderandHessel Gerritz. Every American historian who has dealt with the discovery of Hudson River draws his data from these sources.Yates,Moulton,O’Callaghan,Brodheadare the earliest of the old American authorities. Supplementary matter concerning the fourth and last voyage is to be found in almost any account of Arctic voyaging in America, though nothing new is added to what is told by Hudson, himself, and by Prickett. Both theNew York Historical Societyand theHakluyt Societyof England have published excellent and complete transcripts of Hudson’s Voyages with translations of all foreign data bearing on them including the voyages ofEstevan GomezandVerrazanopast New York harbor. For data bearing on the navigation of Hudson Straits, the two reports of the Canadian Government on two expeditions sent to ascertain the feasibility of such a route—are excellent; but not so good, not so detailed and beautifully unguarded as the sailing records kept by the old sea captains in the service of the Hudson’s Bay furriers. The Government reports are too guarded. Besides, the ships stayed only one season in the straits; but these old fur company captains sailed as often as forty times to the bay—eighty times in all through the straits; and I have availed myself of Captain Coat’s sailing directions especially. In the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, London, are literally shelf loads of such directions. That modern enterprise will ultimately surmount all difficulties of navigation in the straits cannot be doubted. What man sets himself to do—he does; but the difficulties are not child’s play, nor imaginary ones created by politicians who oppose a Hudson Bay route to Europe. One has only to read the record of three hundred years’ sailing by the fur traders to realize that the straits are—to put it mildly—a trap for ocean goers. Still it is interesting to note, it is typical of the dauntless spirit of the North, that a railroad is actually being built toward Hudson Bay. Not the bay, but the straits, will be the crux of the difficulty.
When I speak of “Wreckers’ Reef” Sable Island, it is not a figure of speech, but a fact of those early days—that false lights were often placed on Sable Island to lure ships on the sand reefs. Men, who waded ashore, were clubbed to death by pirates: See Canadian Archives.
The Indian legends of Hudson’s Voyage to New York are to be found in early missionary annals: see New York History, 1811.
The report of the Canadian Geologic Survey of Baffins Land and the North was issued by Mr. A. P. Low as I completed this volume.
All authorities—as seen by the map—place Hudson’s wintering quarters off Rupert River. From the Journals, it seems to me, he went as far west as he could go, and did not come back east, which would make his wintering quarters off Moose. This would explain “the old house battered with bullets,” which Radisson records.
My authority for data on Moose Factory is Bishop Horden.