IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I^|2j8 |2^ ■^ Uii 122 1.1 l.-^KS L25 iu .6 0> ^ 71 7. Hiotographic Sciences Corporation '^.V^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSM (716) 873-4503 ■^ (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol V (moaning "END"), whichavar applias. Un daa symbolaa suh/ants apparattra sur ia darnlAra imaga da chaqua microficha, salon la cas: ia symbols ^^ signifia "A SUiVRE", la symbols V algnifia "FIN". aira Maps, piatas, charts, ate, may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too iarga to ba antlraiy includad In ona axposura ara filmad baglnning In tha uppar laft hand cornar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framas aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama lllustrata tha mathod: Las cartas, planchas, tabiaaux, ate, pauvant Atra fllmto A daa taux da reduction diffirants. Lorsqua la documant ast trap grand pour Atra raproduit an un saul cllchA, II aat film* A partir da I'angla sup^rlaur gaucha, da gaucha A droita, at da haut an bas, an pranant la nombra d'imagas nAcassaira. Laa diagrammas suivants iilustrant ia mAthoda. by arrata ned to lant una palura, fapon d I. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 Arms of H K N R Y H TJ r? B O N' F>--in\of'i & 1" Asyistj-iit .■!' tl-ie MVeCOVY COMPANY OBIIT 1555. .,0^=^rl ilviu'n llu.'Om i:^]>-. Kl \.M\S KS > f Ui/V l.i! . XKCT^'iV V. ;!-U Tim M' m •;■ \ ■ > 'Aff D! ' (ijp. M).i; !':?)!'[• li \{\, ... i ^ -<.N, V L.^"' feiJ A^Ua Mi .,*i=»' '^.jtfl*^'*^"* ? } HISTORICAL INQUIRY CONCGnNINO (^i '^-J ulison. HIS FRIENDS, RELATIVES AND EARLY LIFE, CONNECTION WITH THE MUSCOVY COMPANY DISCOVERY OF DELAWARE BAY. BY JOHN MEREDITH READ Jr. ALBANY : J E J. M L' X S J:: L L MDCCCLXVI. Entered according to Act of CongroBs in the year 1866, By John MEREniTii Read Jn. In tlie Clerk's Office of tlio Bistrict Court of tlie United States, for the Northern District of New York. 33 III TO MY FATHER THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE lJct)«rcntlij Sttacribcb. COKKESPONDKNCE. Wii.MiNdTON, i:itli October, 1H(U. Gkn. John M. Ukad Jk., Allmiiy. Dcur Sir : At a niet'tiii'^ oftlic Historical Society of Delaware, lieltl this evening', tlie t'oilowinii: resolutions wore unaniinoiisiy a(l<)i)teil; '^ liesolvcd : Tliat tlie tliauks of this Society are eminently due and are hereby presented to Gen. John Meredith Head Jr., for theelofiuent and highly interesting oration delivered before the Society this evening." " Jicsolccd: That Gen. Head be requested to furnish a copy of his Address, to be pniserved in our archives, and that the same bo pub- lished by the Society." The undersigned, a committee appointed by the Society to transmit the resolutions to you, beg leave to express the hope that you will comply with the request therein contained, so that your valuable dis- course may be rendered the more generally accessible to our fellow citizens. We remain. Very truly youi-s, WiLLAKD Hall, Alfrkd Lek, ClIAUI.KS BuiX'K, Leuuitox Coi.e.man, L. p. Bi sii, D. 31. Bates. VI !i;JO Statk Stiikkt, Albiiiiy, N. Y., .Iimimry, liilli, 18«r>. (nil III' men : It ;,'ivi's lue plcnHure to luccdf to your ro(iuoHt hy placing; my miinu- Hcrlpt nt your cUhimwiiI. Ah you will icailily iicrccivi', it contains iin lunplitlnitlon of dctailM, out of place in an oral lu'i-fornianta', hut t'sscntial in ii written discourisc, wherein new facts and views arc ad- vanced. Accustomed to rcfrard the developments of Individual as well as of national history, as so many exhihitions of the Trovidenco of God, I have endeavored faithfully to invest ij^ate the early life and tralninju' of one, who was the instrument in His hands, to practically reveal to the inhabitants of the Old World u great extent of territory, which has tinally become the Innne of a free and enlightened people. With sentiments of the highest respect, I am, gentlemen, very sincerely yours, J. M. Kead Jk. To The Hon. WiiiLAiiD IIai.i,, President of the Society, The KuiiiT Rev. Dh. Alfiikd Lee, The Keveuend Ciiaui-es Bheck, The Reveuend Leiohton Colem^vn, L. P. Bi;sii, Esquire, M.D., and D. M. Bates, Esquire. HENRY HUDSON. A DISCOURSE DKr,IVEllED AT WlLMFNOTON, llEKORE THE IIlSTOniCAI, SOCIETY OK Delawaue, on its Fni8T Annivekhauy. vtte- w I I DISCOURSE. M^ S I stand hero to-night, upon the soil of Delaware, sacred to rae as the cradle and the grave of many of my family, my heart is filled with grate- ful emotions awakened by the thought, jj)' that a Historical Society, composed of the most distinguished citizens, has at last been in- augurated within these borders, and is about to engage in the agreeable duty of gathering up and preserving for all time, the invaluable but hitherto sadly neglected records of the State and Province. From the precious materials thus collected, I hope to see arise, at no distant day, a clear, lumi- nous and connected narrative, embodying the story of our ancestors' heroic lives. The discovery and early settlement of America have always been to me subjects replete with in- tensest interest, and the attempted solution of G some of the questions connected therewith, has fur- nished nie with many delightful hours of reflection. On this, the first anniversary of an assoc'iation henceforth piedged to link the glorious memories of the past with the great living realities of the present, I propose to examine critically the life and antecedents of Henry Hudson, — with special reference to his discovery of Delaware Bay, — hoping thus to develop the prominent traits of his character, and to reveal with clearness and pre- cision the origin of his visit to these shores. If the views which I am about to present, shall appear to clash with the generally received opi- nions respecting this remarkable man, and the causes that led him to undertake the voyage which had such important results, I can only say that my convictions are the fruits of patient study, and that I am confident further investigations will substantially confirm the conclusions I have thus deliberately reached. At the same time, I wish it distinctly understood that my sole desire is to obtain an entirely truthful idea of the important, yet obscure points involved in the suggested enquiry. I am therefore quite as anxious to elicit information, as to impart knowledge concerning the subject which I have chosen to illustrate. ■M People have been so long accustomed to regard Henry Hudson as the peculiar property of New York, that scarcely any one dreams of associating his name with the history of Delaware, and very few are aware that in point of time the latter state has a prior claim to him as her discoverer. Yet such is the fact. To him belongs the first position on your roll of honored names, for he first revealed to the world this bay and river, and made known the beautiful region in which you live. On the 28th of August, 1609, he entered and explored the waters to which your Common- wealth owes its name, whereas the Half Moon did not anchor within Sandy Hook until the evening of the 3d of September. New York is accordingly Delaware's younger sister. Although the fame of Henry Hudson is coexten- sive with the civilized world, few men of equal distinction have existed, of whose personal history so little lias been ascertained. Detailed accounts of four extraordinary voy.'iges accomplished by him, have been preserved in the curious pages of Purclias; but the most diligent efforts of the learned have thus far failed to elicit from any quarter, a single authentic incident con- nected with his early life. 8 I } if l Nearly a century ago George Steevens said of one of Hudson's great contemporaries : " All that is known with any degree of certainty concerning Shakespeare is, that he was born at Stratford- upon-Avon ; married and had children there ; went to London, where he commenced actor, and wrote poems and plays ; returned to Stratford, made his will, died, and was buried." Here, however, are the outlines of an ample biography, within which, by the aid of parish registers, town deeds and records, diaries, and the gossip of contemporaries, a narrative may be con- structed illustrating the career of the poet, from his cradle to his grave. No such materials have up to the present time been revealed, upon which reliance can be placed for aid in sketching the life of Hudson. That he was an Englishman may indeed l)e readily and satisfactoril}' proved, ]mt as to where or when he was born, we have no evidence whatever. His birth, his parentage, his home, his boyhood, the early days of his manhood, and the influencea under which the character and genius of tlie great discoverer were first developed, would be, to all, matters of deepest interest. Unfortunately, we are met at the very threshold of our investigations, 9 by the fact that absolutely nothing is known of Hudson, prior to the 19th of April, 1007, when he suddenly appears upon the stage of action as a captain in the employ of the Muscov}^ Company, and after the brief period of live years of brilliant explorations in the service of the English and the Dutch, prematurely perishes by treachery amid the scenes of his triumphs. The story of his wonderful discoveries, his hair- breadth escapes, his ronumtic vojages in Avintry seas, are as familiar to us as household words, and we are prepared to recognize in Hudson, the man who, two centuries and a half ago, braving untold danuers, reached a degree of northern latitude sur- passed by few modern explorers, and there, noting the singular amelioration of the climate, originated the great idea of an open polar sea,'^ a theory which later invest! ;»:ators have adopted and fully confirmed. In Englanu ^ve find that his memory is perpetu- ated in the tit ie of a gigantic trading corporation, and in America, by common consent, his name is affixed to most of the great discoveries which he inaugurated and effected. 1 American (scholars arc indebted to the Hon. Ilonry C Mur- phy for establishing Hudson's claim to be considered as the originator of this theory. 10 ■■'^« I 'I El ii * !:! : I From the capes of the Delaware to the ice-bound shores of the Pole, our continent has associations connected with Hudson. The same tides which glistened in the sun when he first beheld them, still rise and fall in jour bay ; the waters of a noljle river in the state of New York, as they roll to the ocean, kiss the green banks wliere his footsteps lingered two hundred and fifty years since, Avhile the stormy waves of a great inland sea, far away in the north, chant an eternal requiem over the remains of the ill-fated discoverer who, centuries since, found his grave in their gloomy depths. Yet the previous life of this interesting and re- markable man, who filled the world with his name, still remains an entire blank, and is to all as a sealed book. Surely this is a fact well calculated to excite astonishment and provoke enquiry, and I must confess that I have entered upon this por- tion of my subject with a degree of interest and zeal which has carried me, far beyond my first inten- tions, into a thorough and extended cxaminntion of all the sources at my command, with the hope of eventually throwing light upon a matter so entirely obscure. I am consoled for many hours of patient, and apparently fruitless research, by the 11 reflection that I have liecome intimately acquainted with many of the original materials from which the historians of Europe and America have drawn their facts, and have thus been enabled, in quite a num- ber of instances, to modify and correct opinions of men and affairs, which I had derived from writers who were sometimes swayed by party prejudice or personal dislike. But were these the entire results of m}- labors, I should feel that however valuable or interesting they might have proved to myself, as far as the subject in hand was concerned, my investigations had indeed been comparatively useless. It gives me, therefore, great pleasure to believe myself cor- rect in the assertion that I have discovered a series of curious facts and striking coincidences, which, have escaped the attention of scholars for the last two hundred years, and which, taken in connection with authorities soon to be indicated, may enable a person having access to the treasures of the British Museum, and the ancient records of the Russia Company, to ascertain the antecedents and e.irly history of Henry Hudson. Before proceeding to sketch that portion of his history which is known, including his discovery of Delaware Bay, I shall endeavor to place before 12 you as clearly as possible, the fruits of my re- searches. After examining all the biographies and notices of this great navigator within my reach, which alone embraced a wide range of reading, I found that, with scarcely an exception, they referred to Purchas, His Plhjrimes and Pilgrimage, as the foun- tain head of knowledge on the subject, or were based upon statements made by that author. Having accordingly procured one of the original editions of Parchas, published in 1625, fourteen years after Hudson's death, I studied it carefully, page by page, in connection with the two latest and ablest contributions to his life : Henry Hudson in Holland, by the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, late minister of the United States at The Hague, and Henry Hudson the Navigator, by Dr. Asher, member of the Hakluyt Society of London. The first mention of Hudson by Purclias occurs in connection with the Muscovy Company. Edge, in his Brief Piscoverie of the Muscovia Merchants, says : " In the year 1608,^ the said fellowship [the Muscovy or Russia Company] set forth a ship called the Hopewell, whereof Henry Hudson was 1 The real date of this voyage to Spitzbcrgen is 1G07. That of 1608 was directed to Nova Zemblu. 13 master, to discover the pole." ^ Captain Fotherby, who was also in the employ of the Muscovy Com- pany, speaks of having " perused Hudson's jour- nal."^ But the earliest reference to a personal incident in the life of the gre.at mariner is to he found in the journal of the first voyage, " of that worthy irrecoverable discoverer Master Henry Hudson," as given by Purchas.^ " Anno, 1607, Aprill the nineteenth, at St. Ethelburge, in Bishops Gate street, did communicate with the rest of the parishioners these persons, seamen, purposing togoe to sea foure dayes after, for to discover a passage by the North Pole to Japan and China. First, Henry Hudson, master. Secondly, William Col- ines, his mate. Thirdly, James Young. Fourthly, John Colraan. Fiftly, John Cooke. Sixtly, James Beuberry. Seventhly, James Skrutton. Eightly, John Pleyce. Ninthly, Thomas Baxter. Tenth- ly, Richard Day. Eleventhly, James Knight. Twelfthly, John Hudson, a boy." A singularly small crew, when we consider the extent and hazard- ous character of the explorations, which were prin- cipally along the coast of Spitzbergen ; were under- taken for the Muscovy Company, and had for their 5 HrJ That 1 Put'chas, III, 4G4. ^Ih., Ill, 730. 3 /t., HI, 567. 3 14 object the discovery of a north-eastern passage to China. The journal of the second voyage, made for a like purpose, in 1608, also at the expense of the Muscovy Company, and which resulted in making known a portion of Nova Zenibla, next demands our attention. In quick succession follow the records of Hud- son's third voyai^e in 1609, when, in the service of the Dutch East India Company, he discovered New Netherland, and the account of his fourth and last voyage in 1610-11, in search of a north-west passage to China. It was in this expedition, the cost of which was defrnyed by several English gentlemen, of whom Sir Dudley Digges was one, that Hudson met his tragic end. Having thus ascertained, with sufficient accuracy for present purposes, the extent of the informa- tion contained in PiircJim, we are prepared to appreciate the peculiarly abrupt manner in which Hudson is introduced to our notice. Without a single prefatory remark about his previous career, he is first suddenly mentioned as a Captain in the employ of the Muscovy Company, just starting upon along and perilous voyage, which must require from the commander of the expedition great cour- t L 16 ago, entire coolness, thorough seamanship, wide knowledge and enlarged experience. He is thus presented to our view as a character with whose antecedents Ave must, as a matter of course, be perfectly conversant. He is so well known to worthy Purchas his name and fame are so fresh in the minds of all, when that author records his deeds, that, forgetful of posterity, he fails to say anything of the earlier history of hi* hero ; and we are left at this late day, to beat our brains with vain conjectures about the early experiences of an extraordinary man, whose origin Purchas might have indicated with a stroke of his pen. The omission of all allusion to the prior life of Hudson does not so entirely astonish me, when I remember the circumstances under which Purchas compiled his work. He states in his Pilgrimagej that he received the accounts of Hudson's first three voyages from Hakluyt. Now, I find in the valuable introduction to Sir Henry Middleton's East India Voyage ^ by Bolton Corney, M. R. S. L., the following interesting paragraph intended to account for the mutilation of the records of the early East India voyages, but which will serve ' Hakluyt Soc. Fuh., 1855. n ^1 16 equally well to explain the Hinguhir oniisHiont* apparent in Piircha.s'H narrative of Hudson's eareer: " Ilakluyt undertook the cuntody of the manuscript journals of the voyagi^s and travels to which it was held unadvisable to give iuunediato publicity ; comprising voyages to Virginia and to the nortli-icestern seas, and all the East India voy- ages from IGOl almost to the date of his decease in 1C16." "About the year 1620, under circumstances which are nowhere distinctly stated, the collec- tions formed by Ilakluyt came into the hands of the reverend Samuel Purchas,^ whose PilgiHmaijea or Relations of the WorhJ, an unfinished work which was first pubhshed in 1613, had then reached its third edition. Now Purchas, instead of framing a continuation of the Principal Navigations, as edited by Hakluyt, aspired to supersede those volumes by a new compilation, which should include the Hakluyt papers and his own collections. 'In con- 1 " It is to be regretted that this compiler [Purchas] should have adopted the plan of curtailing all his narratives; we get more facts, within a given compass, it is true, but this advan- tage is more than compensated by the loss of the interest, and indeed confidence, which a genuine unabridged narrative always inspires." Winter Jones's Introduction to Hukluyt's Voyafjes to America, p. xxxiv. M 1 * i 1 u 1 17 sequence of this injudicious resolution ho was coin- pelled, us lio admits, to aminirt and vpUvmhe his vast nuiterials. After much ial)orious a|;iplit'ation, ma'< Ilddge, we get Hodges, Hodgson, Hodgkin. Hotckin, Jlotchkins, liotchkiss, Hodgkinson, Hockius, Ilodd, Hodson, J/ii..u~. 26 After untold hardships and terrific sufferings, two of these vessels, with their crews and their leader Sir Hugh, reached an obscure harbor on the desolate coast of Lapland. Here he sent out in a south-south-westerly direction, three men to search for some inhabitants, who went three days journey but could find none. Afterwards, three others were dispatched four days' journey to the west, who also returned without finding any people. Three men next proceeded three days' journey to the south-east, who in like sort, re- turned without finding any signs of habitation. Thus helpless, hopeless and abandoned, they were found by some Russian fishermen who, attracted by the absence of all appearance of life, boarded the ships and discovered the unfortunate men frozen to death. The corpse of the gallant Willoughby was seated, it is said, at a table in the cabin, with a pen in its hand and the ship's Journal before it, on whose pages was traced the story of the unavaihng efforts to find escape from the approaches of an ajj- palling death. The ships, with the dead bodies and most of the goods, were sent to England by the com- pany's agent at Moscow, but being unstaunch by their two years wintering in Lapland, the unfor- 26 ^ I :.i iL Jii lunate vessels sunk by the way with their dead and thcin also that brought them.^ A happier fate befell the third vessel of the squadron, the Edward Bouavetiture, which carried Richard Chancellor, pilot-major of the fleet, and was commanded by Stephen Burrough, whose sub- sequent discoveries rendered him famous. This ship succeeded in entering safely the Bay of St. Nicholas, since better known as the White Sea, and on the 24tli of August, 1553, arrived at the western mouth of the River Dwina. From this point Richard Chancellor made his way overland to the court of the Emperor of Russia, where a most cordial reception awaited him, of which he afterwards wrote an interesting ac- count, contained in " The booke of the great and mighty Emperor of Russia and Duke of Mosco- uia "2 Though the failure of Willoughby's part of the Muscovy Company's first expedition was peculiarly distressing, yet tlie success of that portion under the command of Richard Chancellor laid the foundations of the Company's prosperity, and of the 1 Ilakluyt, I, 236, 237, ed. 1599. Slilton's Brief Ilistori/ of Mnscoviu, p. 597. 2Hakluyt, 1,237. 27 commercial and political relations which, with but slight interruptions, have continued to exist be- tween Russia and England to the present day/ Soon after the inauguration of intercourse be- tween these countries, which was not only to exercise great influence over individuals, but also materially to affect the destinies of two power- ful nations, the Company of Merchant Adventurers, called also Tlie Society fw the Discovery of Un- knaion Lands, obtained from Queen Mary, a Char- ter bearing date the 6th of February, 1555. In the same year the Emperor of Russia granted these incorporated English Merchants a formal Charter of Privileges to trade throughout his dominions,^ in accordance with the informal per- mission he had already given them in his letter to Edward VI, forwarded February, 1554, by the hands of Richard Chancellor. Subsequently, in the eighth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1 Hakluyt, I, 255, gives " The Copie of the Duke of Mos- couie and Emperour of Russia his letters, sent to King Edward the sixt, hy the hands of Richard Chancelour ," dated February, 1554, giving the English permission to trade. We find also in Hakluyt, I, 258, 259, ''Letters of King Philip and Queene Marie " to the Emperor of Russia, written April Ist, 1555, and sont by Richard Chancellor, George Killingworth and Richard Graic. 2 Hakluyt, I, 265-267, cd. 1599. 28 1566, thoy procured an act of Parliament, in which tlioy were styled. The Fellcmahip of English Merchants For Discovery of New Trades. Under this title they still continue, although, as I have already said, they are better known by the desig- nation of the Muscovy or Russia Company. It is in the first Patent or Charter from Queen Mary given in the year 1555, that the name of Henry Ilerdson occurs. From this Charter we learn that " William Mar- ques of Winchestc: Lord high Treasurer of this our Realme of England, Ilenrie Earle of Arundel Lord Stevmrde of our householde, John Kirle of Bedford Lord heeper of our priuie Seale^ William Earle of Pembroke, William Lorde Howard of Effingham Lordc hii/hAdmirallofoursaide Realme of England," were airiong the most active originators of the Company, and that the instrument of incorporation itself was given in answer to their humble peti- tion.^ Sebastian ' Cabota ' or Cabot, is named by the Charter first Governor of the Company ; " George Barnes, Knight and Alderman of our Citie of Lon- don, William Garret, Alderman of our said Citie, Anthonie Husie, and John Suthcot," are consti- 1 Hakluyt, I, pp. 2G7, 208. '^aS^MMH 29 tilted " the first and present four Consuls of the said felowsliip;" and " Sir John Gresliani, Knight, Sir Andrew Judde, Knight, Sir Thomas White, Knight, Sir John Yorke, Knight, Thomas Olliey tlie elder, Thomas Lodge, Henry Herdson, John Hopkins, William Watson, Will. Clifton, Richard Pointer, Richard Chamberlaine, William Mallorie, Thomas Pallie the elder, William Allen, Henry Becher, Geffrey Walkenden, Richard Fowles, Rowland Hey ward, George Eaton, John Eliot, John Sparke, Blase Sanders and Miles Mording," are ordained the first " twenty-four Assistants to the saide Gou- ernour." ^ The intentions of the Company to send out ex- peditions to the Northwards, North-e.istwards, and North-westwards are clearly indicated by this Char- ter ; and protection is expressly guaranteed^ against the interference of others in the searches in those directions. I have already particularly directed your atten- tion to the fact that the name of Henry Hudson, the founder of the Muscovy Company, is written Herdson by Hakluyt, while it is spelled Hudson in The Proceedings Of The Court ITakluyt, Prot: C(. ('/,., J\/in- and Gc.nmhxjist, London, 1853. Stow's Survey of Lumlon. 2Mr. Ca}k'y when speaking of Sir Walter llalejj;h's name says: " Few names vary so much in the manner of writing it. 81 doubtloHs t'sK-'upe the iittt'iition of stiuti'iits, Hiiiiply because tlie person to wlioni tliey relate is eilect- ually (liH^uised by the unoouth spellin^j; ot liis name. Bearing this in mind I have endeavored to identify my persona<,a»s nnder all circumstances. The Henry Hudson ' who is named in Queen Mary's charter as one of the founders and first As- sistants of the Muscovy Company, was a man of large wealth and extended influence.' He was a Wo liave seen it written in thirteen ditfcrent ways, namely : llalcgli, Ualeji;hc, I{alei;;li, Rawleiiih, llawlic, Kawloy, Kiiwly, llnuleijihe, liale, llt'al, Hoali, Kalejio. His «»ri<;inal l«!tter8 in the Harluian (^>llectiun, anil his MS. Juurnal of his Second Voyayo, prove that Sir Walter hiniselt' wrote Ualegh. In his commission lor his second journey to (iuianu it is written iu llymer's Fdderu, llawleijih, while the commission is headed : ' De Conunissione Spcciali dilecto Waltero Rawley Militi eon- cerncnto Voii^iiuu (luianianuui.' Sir Arthur Cieori^es in a letter to Sir Kobert (Veil writes it Kawly. In the copy of Sir Walter's arraignment. Sir Thouuis Overbury writes the name llawleigh. In the scarce pamphlet, ' Newes of Sir Walter llauleigh,' it is -pelt in the manner just mentioned. Fray Si- mon calls him •• Real Keali," (Jili " Uale<^o." Kinj^ Jamea in his Declaration w rites the name Raleigh, which orthography Sir Walter's sou Carew seems to have adopted. Sir Robert Naunton and Lord IJucon write Uawleigh. We have adopted the orthography of Sir Walter himself." Note, pp. xiv, xv, Ralegh's Disrorrn/ of Guiana. Hak. Soc. Pub. London, 1848. ' I use this spelling to avoid confusion. '-I htive been unable to find any connected account of him; the information in the text is gleaned from a great variety of sources. 82 I (I i! r.' citizen of London, and a member of the corpora- tion of Skinners, or Tanners,^ one of the twelve privileged Companies from which alone the Lord Mayor can be chosen.'^ " This Company of Skinners," says Stow, " was incorporate by Edward the 3. in the first of his reigne ; they had two Brotherhoods of Corpus Christi, viz. one at St. Mary Spittle,^ the other at St. Mary Bethlem, without Bishopsgate. Rich- J The Skinners, or Tanners, vide " Diary of Henry 3Iachyn, A. D. 1550 to 15G3." Camden Soc. Pub. 1848, page 99. 2 There are in the City of London seventy-two Companies of which twelve are the Chief, who have this Preeminence that the Lord-mayor mustalways be free of one of them, for if it hap- pens that a Mayor be elected out of any other Company, he must remove to one of those twelve, before he can be sworn and act. These Companies are, 1. Mercers. 2. Grocers. 3. Drapers. 4. Fishmongers. 5. Goldsmiths. 6. Skimicrs. 7. Merchant Taylors. 8. Ilahcrdashers. 9. Saltcrs. 10. Ironmongers. 11. Vintners. 12. Cloathworkcrs. , I The other Companies are c iiari/, p. 11. ■' Priv. Dian/, p. 34. 5 Pric. Diary, p. 38. 51 21st, 1593, which refers to the greatest English mathematician of that day : " I borrowed £10. of Mr. Thomas Digges^ for one whole yere."^ The extracts from the Diary which are given in the appendix,^ reveal the character and stand- ing of the men with -,/hom Tliomas Hudson and Dr. Dee were daily in the habit of associating. When taken in connection with the ensuing quo- tations, they clearly indicate that the friendship existing between these two, had its origin in the interest which they mutually felt in the Muscovy or Russia Company. The curious document from which they are taken, repeatedly mentions Sir Humphrey Gilbert, "Mr. Secretary" Sir Francis Walsingham, Mr. Hakluyt, Mr. Adrian Gill^ert, Captain John Davis, Richard Candish, .and his fa- mous nephew Thomas Candish, Sir George Peck- ham, Sir John Gilbert, and Sir Walter Ralegh, as members of a circle, wherein 27ioma8 Hmhon figured prominently. We are allowed to look in upon the great men of England, and the next para- graph even aflbrds us a familiar view of good Queen * IIo was father of Sir Dudley Diggcs who was a principal promoter of Henry Hudson's last voyage in lGlO-11. '■J Pviv. Dmrif, p. 43. '^ See Appendix. 62 Bess herself: "Feby. lltli, [J 583] the Queue lying at Richmond went to Mr. Secretary Walsing- liam to dynner ; she coming by my dore * gra- tiously called me to her, and ho I went by her horse side as far as where Mr. Hiulson dwelt ."- I have reserved perhaps the most interesting memoranda, so far as our immediate subject is con- cerned, until now. "Jan. 23d [1583], the Right Honorable Mr. Secretary Walsingham, cam to my howse, where by good lok he found Mr. A^vdrian Gilbert, and so talk was begonne of North-west Straights discovery. The Bishop of St. Davyd's (Mr. Middleton) cam to visit me with Mr. Thomas Herbert. The lord 1 " Dr. Dee dwelt in a house necre the waterside, a little west- ward from the church at Mortlake. The buildings which Sir Francis Crane erected ft)r workinvith certaine of our wares, but the winter did de- ceive him, so that he was faine to tarie by the way : and he wrote that the Eniperours present was deliuered to a gentleman at Vologda, and the sled did overthrow and the butte of hollocke' was lost, which made us all very sory."- Therc exists, however, an epistle written by Christopher Hudson in IGOl, which gives a glimpse of his whereabouts the year previous to George Killingworth's letter, so that we may conmience our acquaintance with him from the date which he himself names: — "in the yeare 1554, I came irom Dansyck hy land, through all the maryne townes [of Germany]."" In 1559 he would seem to have been residing at Moscow. The following paragraph occurs in a connnunication addressed from that city on the T8th of September, 1559, by " Master Anthonie Jonkinson, vpon his returne from Boghar, to the Worshijjful Master Ilenrie Lane, Agent for the Moscouie Companie, resident in Vologda:" ''" '" '" ' A sort of sweet wine. -Hakluyt, vol. I, p. 205. •' Eiicrtoii I'dpii'K, Canidoii Society Publications, London, 9 62 "As touching the Companies affaires heere, I referre yon to Cliristophor Hudson's letters, for that I am but newlv arriued."' Ilakluyt has preserved also : " A letter of the Moscouie Companie to their Agents in Russia, Master Ilenrie Lane, Christopher Hudson, and Thomas Glouer," sent in their seuenth voyage to Saint Nicholas with three ships, the Swallowe, the Philip and Marie, and the Jesus, the fifth of May, 15G0." As it speaks of the internal affairs of the great corporation, and furnishes several facts about Christopher Hudson, no apology is oflered for introducing the following quotations: '"We hope in your next letters to heare good newes of the proceedings of Master Antonie Jenkinson.' ' Ilakluyt, vol. T, pa<;e 305. - Thomas (Hover went to Russia a.s n servant of the Mus- covy Company; but subsequently joined with others in earry- in<; on an independent trade. As early as ITU)?, Queen Elizabeth complained to the Czar of this eonduct of (J lover and his associates, and that they had married Polish wives. (Jlo- vor was banished from Russia in l;")?;}. Sec Ilamtl, pp. ISO to 221; Bond's .Vo/e* to Honsey's rmnh. ' Anthony Jenkinson was afterwards .\mbas.uador from Queen Elizabeth to the Emperor of Ru.xsia from lo7l to Xiu'l. Ilakluyt, vol. 1, p. 402. A very interestinj; resume of his labors as the asrent of the company, and as a sort of envoy to the Czar previous to the year ir)(lo. is to be found in .Mr. Kdwin A. Rond's lutrodnctioii to tin Unh-. Su<\ I'lth.Jhr IS^O, pp. iii, iv. V. 63 We perceive by his letters that Astracan is not so good a Mart towiie as the same has gone of it : and maruell much that round pewter should be so good, and good chepe there, and from whence it should come. And whereas you write that you wil come for Englai.J in our next shippes, we would gladly have you to remaine there untill the next yere following, for the better instruction of our servants there; who have not had so long time of continuance for the language, and know- ledge of the people, countrey and wares as you have had. Nevertheless if vou will needs come away, we have no doubt, but that you will have good order with our servants there, namely with ChristopJwr Hotlmn,^ and Thomas Glover, whom we appoint to remaine there as agents in your roome, till further order bee taken : not doubting but that they will use themselves so discreetly and wisely in all their doings, as shall be to the worship and benefite of this Company. And as we have a good hope in them that they will be Mr. Bond, in his mites to T/tr Travvh of Sir ,/rromr Ilorxi'j/, Hiiys : " It is boliovcd that Anthony Jcnlcinson was, in the year I5()7, intrusted by Fvan with secret orders to nogociate a mar- riage with Queen Elizabeth. See Hume/, p. 177. >.( Meq." ^ C/iriH. lloihnn and Thos. VAmxhv, nj^poinltd Aijciits,\b^^. This is llakluyt'ssidu note, vol. I, page 307. 64 carefull, diligent and true in all their doings : So have we no les.se hope in all the reste of our ser- vants there, that they will bee not onely obedient to them (considering what roonie they be in) but also will be earel'ull, paineful, diligent, and true every one in his roome and place for the benefite and profite of the Company: That hereafter in the absence of others they may be called and placed in the like roome there or elsewhere. And if you find any to be disobedient and stubborne, and will not be ruled ; wee will you should send him home in our shipps : who shall find such small favour and friendships during the time that he hath to serve, as by his disobedience and evil service hee hath deserved. A7id ivhereas Christo- pher IIo(hon hath written to come home, as jKirtl?/ he lie hath f/omi cause, considering the death of his father and mother, yet in regard that Sir George Barne and the Ladk his loife, were his sj^tecial friends in his absence, we doubt not but that he wil remain in the roome, which we have appointed him, if you doe not tarie and remaine there, till farther order be taken: and lor his seruice and • Sir George Uarnc or Barns. John Burns was one of the crew in Henry Hudson's second voyage forty-eight years hiter, viz: in 1G08. Vi,lt I'urchas, III, f)74. 65 paincs hcc shall be considerod, as reason is, as friendly as if his friends were living. Thus we trust you will take such order the one to reniaine at the MoHco, and the other at Cohnogro, or else- where, as most neede is. Thomas Alcocke is de- sirous to ])e in the Mosco : neverthelesse you shall find him reasonahle to serue where he may doe most good."^ We have here another illustration of the different modes of spelling the same name in the same doc- ument. The individual who is addressed as Chris- topher Hudson in the heading of the letter, is de- signated in the body of the same conmiunication, and in Hakluyt's marginal note, as Christopher Hodson. Our researches will presently acquaint us with still further changes and irregularities in the spelling of this identical man's name. It would appear from the citations just given that Christopher Hudson, Avho had now been for several years confidentially employed in Russia, was appointed in loGO an agent and representative of the Muscovy Company.- The death of his > Hakluyt I, page 305. -' Kor an aecomit of his dutii'M, powers and authority, sc the 'commission' ^iven by the Muscovy Company to their agcnta resident in Russia, ilukluyt 1, 240. 60 father and mother is mentioned as the cause of his having written lor leave to return home to England, but he is reminded that " Sir George Barne and the Ladie his wile, were his si)ecial friends in his absence," and he is assured that his services will be as favorably regarded as though his friends were still living. I was at first inclined to Ixjlieve thai he was the son of Henry Hudson, the founder of the Muscovy Company, who died five years pre- vious to the date of this letter, but as the death of his mother is also spoken of, it could not be the case, since Henry Hudson's wife Barbara, survived her first husband, and was living in 1508 as the widow of Sir Richard Champion. It is probable tluit Christopher Hudson was the son of Sir Christopher Hudson, who was himself the son, or more i)robably the brother of the first Henry Hudson. My reasons for this supposition Avill be apparent from what follows. In the Calendars of Chancery Proceedings, Reign of Elizabeth, Volume Second, page fifty-four, it is recorded that Christopher Hoddesdon, Esq"^, was plaintiff in a suit to recover lands in the Manor of Leighton alias Leighton Bussard held by him from the Dean iind Canons of Windsor, Bedford county. In the third volume, page two hundred 67 and sixty-seven of the same work, Sir Christopher Hoddesdon, Knight, and Christopher Hoddesdon are defendants in a suit brought by Sir Henry Wallop and Dame Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Robert Corbett, Esq'*', deceased, to establish the claim by descent of the plaintiff Elizabeth to " two messuages and divers lands holden of the manor of Laighton Bussarde alias Bude serte (Beau desert), Bedford county, late the estate of the said Robert Corbett, of whicli manor the dean and canons of St. George's ChaiKjl, Windsor, are seized in fee, and the defend- ants Hoddesdon claim under a lease from them." I have doubtless prepared you against surprise, yet I must own that I was myself astonished to find Christopher Ilwfmn, introduced as 'Christopher IlMldenh, Defendant,' in a suit brought by Adulph Carie Esq., " to compel admission to sundry mes- suages and lands in the town and fields of Leigh- ton Bussard, late the estate of Roljert Corlx^tt Esq., and which upon his death descended to Anne the wife of tlie Plaintiff, and Elizabeth the wife of Henry Wallop, Esq""'", his daughters and coheirs ; the defendant being lord of the said Manor." ^ This however merely furnishes additional proof of ' CiiIcndarH of Procucdiw/s in Chancer^/, Roigii of Klizaboth, vol. 1, p. IGl. ■:. G8 the infinite difficulty experienced in tracing individ- uals whose identity is so often hidden under the disguise of a misspelled name/ From the manner in which they are associated in at least one suit, it would be natural to suppose that Sir Christopher Hudson, of Leighton Bus- sarde, and Christopher Hudson, Agent of the Mus- covy Company, were father and son. There are also grounds for believing that they Ijoth belonged to the family of Henry Hudson, the elder. For we are told by R. Sims, in his Index to Heraldic Visitations, that the Hudsons of Leighton Bussarde, Bedfordshire, were from Herts, and that the Hud- ' 1 have proserveJ the extract which follows without any more tlefiuitc thought than that, perhaps, the apparent relation- ship between the tact in the text and the Htatement {^iven below, may contribute a ray of Ii<;ht on the subject, and enable some one to explore and explain satisfactorily the connection, if any there be, between the two: — "In the l)oanery of Windsore succeeded Dr. TJiles Tomson a little bsfure Qii. Elizabeth's death, and in the mastership of the Iltispital of .S7. T/ws (which was deHi!i;ned by the Queen for George Brook, brother to Henry liord (,'obham), K. James at his first entry into England, gave it to Mr. James Hudson, who had been his Agent there during part of the lleign of Queen Elizabeth. IJut Ifuilmn being a Lay-man therefore not found capable of it, Sir Tho. Lake, for some reward given to him to quit his interest therein, prevailed with the King to give it to hisbrother Arthur Lake." Wood's Athcnie, Oxoni'euscs, I, 735, edition of IGOL 69 sons of London, nnd of KtMit, were also from Herts. I am of the opinion tliat the spot where the seve- ral hranches originated, and from whence they derived the family name, was Hoddesdon, a town in Hertfordshire, 43 miles south-east from Hertford, and 17 miles north by cast from London, on the road to Ware. My theory is strengthened by the fact that the name of this place is supposed to have been derived from its having l)een the resi- dence of Hodo, or Oddo, a Danish chief, or from a tumulus or barrow, raised here to his memory.^ This view is also confirmed by Camden's derivation ef Hodson from Hod or Oddo, to which I have already called your attention.- The Thatched House at Hoddesdon is immortalized by " honest Izaak" in the opening dialogue of his "Complete Angler."^ ' Lewis's Topnij. Diet, of Emjhind, II, London, 18.81. - Camden's Rcmaiites, ed. 1037, p. 133. ■' P'lKcator. — " I have stretched luy legs up Totnam-hill io overtake you, hoping your business may occasion you towards Ware, whither I am going this fine fresh May morning." Ven- atur. — " Sir, I shall almost answer your hopes ; for my purpose is to drink my morning's draught at the Thatched-house in llodsden." The town is supplied with water from a conduit in the market place, erected by Sir Marmaduke llawdon, from whose life the following paragraph is taken : " From thence thoy went 3 miles farther to llodsden, the place of 3Ir. llaw- 10 I I ! H tM 70 Tlie references of Mr. Sims to the Pedigrees and Arms of the several families of Hudson, to be found in the Ilarleian Collection in the British Museum * are, in this connection, very valuable, and the manuscripts themselves would, I have no doubt, throw a Hood of light ujwn the whole ques- tion under discussion. Additional proof of the family connection ex- isting between the Iludsons of Leighton Bussarde, Bedlbrd county, and the family of Henry Hudson, founder of the Muscovy Company, is to be drawn from the fact that John Hudson, son of the latter person, whom we have alreadj- seen was settled in Kent county, was also the owner of leased lands in the manor of Melchborne, in the Parish of Ravensden, in the same county of Bedford." It is a remarkable fact that George Barne, al- derman of London, was also lord of the above manor of Leighton Bussarde, Bedfordshire, in don's aboode, n f'aire market towiie which formerly did belong to Henry IJourchier, Earlo ofKssex, who had nere unto itt a i'airo bowse." Jesse's Izuah Walton, Bohn, London, 1850, pp. 43, 44. Life of Marrnddnke Rairdon, of York, with a valuable introduction and notes by Robert Davies Esq., F. S. A. Cam- den See. Pub., London, 186iJ. ' Sims's Index to Ilernhlir Vixilntions, London, 1849. '•! (k,l. Froc. at. Cham:, Rg. of Eliz., vol. 11, p. 38. 71 1580.' This is the more noticeahle, as he was the son of the Sir George Barnes and tlie lady his wii'e, who were mentioned in tlie Muscovy Com- pany's Letter as liaving been the warm friends of Cliristopher Hudson, and it wouUl seem to indi- cate a family relationship." This family of Barn, Barne, Barns or Barnes, for the name is spelled in each of these several ways, Avas as thoroughly identified with the Mus- covy Company as was the Hudson family. The Sir George Barnes mentioned by Hakluyt, was the son of George Barne or Barnes, citizen and haberdasher of London. He was sheriff of London in 1545-6, and lord mayor 1552-3." " He dwelled in Bartholomew Lane, where Sir William Capell once dwelled, and now [1605] Mr. Derham. 1 Cnl. dhaw. I'rur., l{<^. of Kliz.. I, p. 5. The present town of Lcighton Buzzard is 42 miles N. W. from Ijondon. - Kx. Iloddcson, Esq., is mentioned by Fuller as having been resident at Westning, county of licdfordHhiro, and sheriff of that county in the 33d year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1591. Ex. is probably an abbreviation for Christopher. This would suggest the belief that it was the same (Christopher Hudson who was so prominently connected with the Muscovy Com- pany. sStow's Knfflish Chron., Abridged ed., 1618, p. 255. 72 Hi« Anns, Argoiit, on a chevron wavy azure, Ix'tvvecn three barnacleH proper, three trefoils slipi)- cd of the first, were taken tlownc after liis death by liis Sonne Sir (Jeorge Barnes, and these sett ui)p in stede tliereof ; A/ure, three leopards' heads arjicnt."' Jle was one of the four C(mmiln men- tioned in the charter given by (^ueon Mary to the Muscovy Company in 1555, and was one of the most influential and active members of that asso- ciation.- Stow ■'' relates this incident in his life: " King Edward kept his Christmas with open household at Greenewich, George Ferrers, Gentle- man being Lord of merry disports all the VII daies, who 80 pleasantly and wisely Ix'haved himselfe, that the King had great delight in his pastimes. " On the fourth of January [1553] the saide Lord of merry disports came by water to the Tower, where hee entred, and after rode through Tower streets, where he was met and received by Sergeant Vans, Lord of misrule to master John ' Stow, Mr. Nieliols's Notes to Muchyns Diary, Caindua Soc. Pul.., 1848, p. 3G3. '-' Ilakluyt, vol. I, p. 268. •' The Abridgment of the Kmjfish Chronicle, First collected By Mr. Johu Stow. By Ediuoud Howes, London, 1018, p. 257. 73 Mttinard one of the whriveH of London, and so con- ducted thorrow tlie Cittie with a f-reat (!onii)any of young Lords and (jlentleinon, to the house of Sir George Banie Lord Maior, where liee with the chiefe of his conii)any dined, and at his departure the Lord Maior gave him a standing cuppe with a cover, silver and gilt, of the value 5. pound ; the residue of his Gentlemen and servants dined at other Aldermens houses, and with the shrives." In this same year, 1053, Sir George Barnes dis- tinguished hhnself very prominently among those who succeeded in inducing Edward VI to donate the palace of Bridewell to the city of Lon- don for charitable pur^wses. The ceremonies attending this event were quaintly but faithfully commemorated by Hans Holbein, who was present and beheld the scene from a favorable position. The following account of the picture which he painted in honor of this particular occasion, is taken from the Reverend James Granger's Bio- ijraph'md History of IJn(jl!onuiiient.s since the Fire, wliich consumed and destroyed all that were in it hefore ; yet because Mr. Stow hath preserved the Memory of tiiem, wo shall recite them for others Kxampit). viz. * * * Sir (leorge Harne, Mayor in VoWl. Mmj. lirif., vol. Ill, p. KL'. 77 pore almes people of the same company,"^ Ma- cliyn has preserved this account of his funeral: "The xxiiii day of Feybruary [l-")58] was [buried] Ser (leorJ. 79 pressossyoii, and iiltor to tlio phioe to denur; Sor Willijim GiuTt'tt' clu'vlVinornor, antl iiuistor Altliani and Muister (Jliainhuilavn,' and her jsunes and doy- tliurs; tlior was a nohle dcnor." ' SiriSoorjio lianu's 2d wan also IVoo ol'tlu' Ilid.'or- dasliei's ('oin{)any, and was Lord Mayor in 1080-7. ••• He dwelled in Lonihard Strete, over ajiainst the lieorge. in the honse which was Sir William (Jhes- ters, and is bnried in St. Edninnd's (church hard hy."^ He bore the coat ol" leopard's lu'ads (jiiariered with Arj^ent, a chevron azure between three blackbirds.' Like his lather he was an exceedinj^ly active mem- ber of the Muscovy (Jomi)any. We have seen in another place that he was one of the leaders of ' Sir Willitiiii Garrur')5. - AldiTinan Richard (!liuiiiberluiii, elioxoii Slieritt' in l.')G2. '• llyohanl ('liuiuhcrleii. inMiiiioii^er, aldurinaii and lato nhrevo ul' l<()tidoii, dyud tin TiU'sday tlio xixth of NuVL'UibtM*. lotUi, in .V \)° Kli/ahotli Ro^'iiie. al his huw.se in th- Parish of St. Olyfto. in tlic OhI .lowry. and was huryid on .Monthly, 'l>^ Xo- vfinhcr. in flio I'arisli ■iiurch tht'ii-:" lor an act ul' liis wife and cliildrcn, vide note p. ;{!tl. Mm/ii/n's /Jinn/. ■'^Machyn* Diary, pp. 1!)9, 'im. ' •' Church of St. Kdmunii the k'iiii/'' was burned down in liWiG, and rebuilt in ItJ'JO. " It Ibruierly contained," says Mr. iS/oic, "tt nionuuient U) Sir lioorf,fe Jhirnc (-d), Lord Mayor of London iii loSG." Mij. /hi/., vol. IH. p. 113. ^ Vide Mr. Nichol's note Marhj/u's /^iari/, ji. 803. 80 this corporation, who were mentioned hy Doctor Jolin Dee, as bein<^- present March 0th, loSo, at tiie important consultation about the North-west passage, which resulted in the remari\a))Ie voyages of John Davis, the Ibrerunners of Henry Hudson's ex})lorations. Sir Jerome Horsey in liis Truvilti in liusMut, ire- quently reJers to Sir George Barnes 2d, and his brother-in-hiw Sir Francis Walsinghani, as ' my good frends.'' On his arrival in England in 1585, he writes:" '* [ was waell howsed in London, wael [)rovided and atended one, nmch respected, leasted and enterteyned l)y the ('oNi/KUi// of Mtt,srorla, Sir Kowland Heyward, Sir (ia/njc linrus, Mr. customer Smythe. and of many other aldermen and grave merchants. "' Before his departure he says, "the tomjKinf/ frti(liiiS0. ''On arriving,' at llie Kn<;liNh court vi\{\\ tlie Czur'n letters, ho had the advanta<:o of h(Mnis kinsman, Sir Kdward Horsey, and was countcnanceil liy Lord IJurjrhli'y and .*^ir i"'ran- cis Walsinghani, throuj;li wliosc assistance hu obtained accesd three or four Hcverul times to thetjneen, and was intrusted with her letters tu the Czar, on his return to Ku.ssia." » Sir Jerome Uor.sey's Traitts, lluk. Soc. Tub. 185G, p. 10.']. 82 commencement was largely interested in the Mus- covy Conjpany. ►Several ol' its members wore likewise o(mcorncd in the settlement of N'irjiinia, and John Barnes aeeompanied our Henry Hudson, in his second voyage to the north, in the employ of the Mus- covy ('()m[)any.* •"The present representative of the iamily," says ]Jurke, •• is Frederick Barne, Ks({., of Sotterly and Dunwieh, County Sullolk, late M. P. for Dunwich, anil Ca[)tain in the 12th I^ancers. nuirried Feb., 1834, Mary-Anne-Eli/abeth, eldest daughter of the late Sir John Courtenay Ilonywood, Bart., and has issue, F'-edcrick St. John Newdigate, and Alice Mar)' Honywood."" It is possible, that there are papers or traditions in the Barne family, which would establish the relationship with the family of Hudson, and illus- trate their mutual connection with the Muscovy Company. ' Purchm TIT, 574. Tiondon, 1625. - .Vriiis Quiuh'il}' : 1st ami 4tli, az., thrrr froixirif's hentlx, arp. ; -d ami IM, nrg,^ , t> chevron, az., bctweou three Cornish chou', s!i. Crest, sa., an Kap;le disphiycd, sn. Motto — Nee Timide, Nee Tcnierc. Uurke's Diet. Landed Gentry, vol. I, pp. 55, 5G. London, 1848. 83 Christopher Hudson, whom we know was ap- pointed in loOO, to the ivsponsihlo olliee of Agent of tiie Muscovy Company, seems to have dis- charged with singular fidehty and ability the arduous duties which devolved upon him. His advice was constantly asked, and he was appa- rently occasionally suunnoned to England on oflicial business oi" importance. Having visited his native country in 1501), he was sent early in the winter of that year, with three shi[)s laden with merchandize to the Narve, now Narva, a town situated eighty miles south-west IVom the 2)resent city of Saint Petersburgh. which was not then in existence, having been founded by Peter the Great, as late as the 20th May, 1703. Upon his arrival at the Narve, Christopher Hudson ascertained that the ships wiiich he had brought with him would be not only insullicient to contain the goods that were soon expected from the interior of Russia, but would not acconnnodate even the wares that were .'ib( ady awaiting ship- ment. Having therelbre landed their cargoes, he reloaded the ships and despatched them to Eng- hnid. with an earnest recpiest to Sir William Gar- rard, Governor of the ^Fuscovy Company, to for- ward immediately to the Narve, thirteen ships 84 suitably annod, to withstand the attacks of the Frt't'bootiTs. Accordingly the company sent out in the Spring' of 1")7(), a Hector thirteen sail, under the conunand of William Burrough, who took and destroytd live |)iratical vesMelH, ami liirwardeil their crew^! as prisonei's to the Emperor of Russia. Ilakluyt in his Preface to Thr Ihwier, in his first volume, calls particular attention to '• the memo- rable voyage of AL (JhrixtoplK r J/(m/h<)h, and .]f. \\'i//i(im /inrroni//i. Anno loTl), to the Name, wherein with merchants Ships onely, they tooke lino Strong and Avarrelike Ships of the Freebooters, which lay within the Sound of Demnark of pur- pose to intercept our English Ilei'te." To one unacquainted with Ilakluyt's somewliat obscure style, it would appear from the foregoing that Chriwt»)i)her Hudson accompaniei)li* i' IIoiIm. ihtn, one of the miiil /ehticn/ilfi, hihI f/n ir rhitfr ihtt r in thin plnrr, "who wlion lico caiiu' lirst liitlicr, and untill Hucli time as iiec liad dispatclicd those ships from lienco. was in hope of ^'(hmIs to hide twi-lve or thirteene saik'sof ^ood ships, ajrainst this shippiiij,', wherefore lie wrc»te unto tiie sayd Sir Wiiham (iarrnrd and his coiupaiii*' to send liithcr this Sprin^i; the sayd nmnher of tliirteeiie ships. And beeaiise that in tlieir eomin^ hither wee found tiie freehootei's on the sea, and supposinj; this yeere that they wouhl l)o very stronj^, he therelbre gave the said iSir Willinm and liis ( 'tmipanie advise to furuisli the sayd number of ships s;) strongly, iis they shoidd bee aljle to withstand the Ibrce ol' the Free- booters : whereui)on they have aeeordinu: to liis adviee sent this yi'ere thirteene good ships toiretiier well furnished with men and munition, and all other necessaries lor the warres, ol'whieh J') shi[)s William Ihirrough one of the said felowship is ('aj)taine generall, unto whom there was given in charge, that if bee met with any the Danskc Kreeb(joters, or whatsoi'ver robbers and tlieeves that are enemies to your highnesse, he should doe his best to aDprehend and take the m. It so 12 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 l^|2£ 125 ■ 2.2 I.I I2g ■ <0 Ui iU u 12^0 |L25 ||U |,.6 ^ 6" ► Hiotograiiiic Sdences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 > ^^VJ I ;l -il / 1 -M 86 hapned that the tenth day ot this moneth the sayd William Avith his fieete, met with five ships of the Freebooters iieere unto an Island called Tuitee, which is about 50. versts from Narve, unto which freebooters hee with his fleete gave chase, and tooke of them the Admirall, wherein were left but three men, the rest were fled to shore in their boats amongst the woods upon Tuttee, on which ship he set fire and burnt her. He also tooke foure more of those ships which are now here, and one ship escaped him : out of which foure ships some of the men fled in their boates, and so escaped, others were slain in fight, and some of them when they saw they could not escape, cast themselves willingly into the Sea ond were drowned. So that in these five ships were left but 83. men. The said T17/. Borough when he came hither to Narve. finding here Christopher Hodsdon afore- named, both the said Christopher and WiUiam together, in the name of Sir William Garrard and the rest of their whole companie and felowship, did present unto your highnesse of those Freeboot- ers taken by our ships 82. men, which we delivered here unto Knc-: Voiroda, the 13. of this moneth. One man of those Freebooters we have kept by us, whose name is Hannce AS'««r/i*e, Captaine. And the 87 cause wh}^ Ave have done it is this : when wee should have delivered him with the reste of his felowes unto the Voivodaes officers, there were of our Englishmen more then 50. which fell on their knees unto us, requesting that he might be reserved in the ship, and caried back into England, and the cause why they so earnestly entreated for him, is, that some of those omr Englishmen had bene taken with Freebooters, and by his meanes had their lives saved, Avith great favour besides, which they found at his hands. Wherefore if it please your highnesse to permit it, we will carry him home with us to England, wherein we request your majestie's favour : notwithstanding what you com- mand of him shal be observed. Wee have also sent our servant to your highnesse with such bestellings and writings as Avere found in those shippes : Avhereby your majestic may see by whom, and in what order they Avere set out, and what they pretended, which writings wee have com- mended unto Knez Yorive your Majestie's Voivoda at Plesco, by our servant. And have requested his furtherance for the safe deliverie of them to your Majestie's hands : which Avritings when you have perused, Avee desire that they may bee returned unto us by this our servant, as speedily 88 as may bee : for these ships which we now have here will be soon dispatched from hence, for that wee have not goods to lade above the half of them. And the cause is, we have this winter (by your Majestie's order) bene kept from traffiquing, to the Companies great loss. But hoping your majestic will hereafter have consideration thereof, and that we may have free liberti» to trafique in all partes of your majestie's countries, according to the privi- lege given unto us, we pray for your majesties health, with prosperous successe to the pleasure of God. From Narve the 15. of July, Anno 1570. Your Majesties most humble and obedient Christopher Hodsdon, William Borough.^ William Burrough, who achieved such a signal victory over the freebooters, and joined his friend Christopher Hudson in the foregoing communica- tion addressed to the Emperor of Russia, was ]x)rn about the year 1540, and became in several ways a distinguished man. When only thirteen,^ he accompanied his brother Stephen Burrough, who commanded the ship Edward Bonaventure, which 1 Hakluyt, I, 401, 402. 2 Hakluyt, I, 417. 89 carried Richard Chancellor, in his famous voyage to the Bay of St. Nicholas in 1553.^ " Also in the yeere 1556" he wjis, "in the voyage when the coastes of Samoed and Nona Zembla, with the Straightes of Vaigatz were found out : and in the yeere 1557, when the coast of Lappia, and the bay of S. Nicholas were more perfectly discouered."^ In 1574, and 1575, he was one of the Muscovy Company's Russian Agents, and shortly afterw ards Queen Elizabeth appointed him Comptroller of her Majesty's Navy. In 1580, we find him giving certain " Instructions and Notes," to Arthur Pet, who had been his messmate twenty-seven years before, and was now about setting forth upon his expedition with Charles Jackman. " A dedicatorie Epistle vnto the Queenes most excellent Maiestie, by Master William Burrough," is in the collections of Hakluyt, who says it was " annexed vnto his [W. Biirrough's] exact and notable mappe of Russia" and contained (" amongst other matters) his great trauailes, obseruations, and experiments both by sea and land, especially in those North- > See ' List ' found on board Sir Hugh Willoughby's ship, the Speranza, Hakluyt, I, 233. ~ A dedicatorie Epistle vnto the Queenes most excellent Majestie. Hakluyt, I, 417. 90 4 eastern parts."^ William Burrough's nephew Chrktoplicr Burrough, who may have been thus named after Christopher Hudson, wrote 'sundrie letters' to his uncle, concerning the 6th "voyage made into the partes of Persia and Media," for the Muscovy Company, in the years 1579, 1580 and 1581, in which Captain Thomas Hudson of Lime- house was repeatedly mentioned. I have not been able to ascertain with certainty, any thing whatever respecting Christopher Hudson during the period of ten years, subsequent to the date of his letter to the Emperor of Russia. In 1580 however, he was once more living in Eng- land and was engaged with several other prominent men in a private adventure to Brazil. It appears that as early as the 2Gth June 1578, one John Whithall, an Englishman, who had married, and was then living at '• Santos in Brazil," wrote to Master Richard Staper,^ urging him to send to that port, a fine bark of seventy or eighty tons, in 1 Hakluyt, I, 417. ~ St. Martin's Otcswizck Church. " Mr. Richard Staper, an Alderman elect, who was the greatest Merchant of his Time, and the chiefest Actor in discovering the Turkey and East-lndit Trades, who died June 30, 1G08," is buried in this church with the above inscription." Mag. Brit. Acct. of Lon- don, vol. Ill, p. 101, edition of 1738. 91 lis charge of a Portuguese pilot, and laden with a variety of articles, which were enumerated in a list that accompanied the letter.^ John Whithall also corresponded with Master John Bird, Master Robert Walkaden, and his brother James Whit- hall of London; promising them at least two hundred per cent profit on the cargo sent out, and equal gains on the return voyage. Accordingly after some delay, "Christopher Hodsdon, Anthonie Garrard, Thomas Bramlie, John Bird, and William Elkin," formed an association to undertake the enterprise. Having procured the good ship the Minion of London, tliey loaded her with such goods as they were directed to procure, and despatched her to Brazil on the 3d of November, 1580 ; sending in her a letter directed to John Whit- hall, written in London, October the 24th, and signed by each of them. Although Hakluyt has preserved a copy of this letter, together with ' cer- taine notes ' of the voyage to Brazil, written by Thomas Grigs, purser of the ship, we have no account of the result of the speculation. We are now to learn the interesting fact that two or three years after his Brazilian venture, Chris- topher Hudson was prominently and zealously busy 1 Hakluyt, Til, 701, 702, 703, ed. 1600. i I 92 with other leading members of the Muscovy or Russia Company, in furthering an attempt to dis- cover and colonize the ' northern and western parts of America.' On the 22d March, 1574, a petition had been addressed to Queen Elizabeth by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir George Peckham, Mr. Carlile, Sir Richard Grenville and others, to allow of an enter- prise for discovery of sundry rich and unknown lands, "fatally reserved for England and for the honor of your Maj*^'." ^ Four years later, viz: the lltli June, 1578, the Queen granted letters patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to discover and take pos- session of all remote and barbarous lands unoccu- pied by any Christian prince or people.^ Having made an unsuccessful expedition under this grant, Sir Humphrey was forced to return to England, with the loss of a fine ship, and the ' valiant gentleman Miles Morgan.'^ Undismayed by misfortune, Gil- bert's gallant and energetic nature, always equal to an emergency, enabled him to commend the sub- ject of a second voyage for investigation and set- 11 1 Domestic Coresp. Eliz., vol. XCV, No. 63 Cal., p. 475, cited by Mr. Sainsbury. •^ Hakluyt, III, 135, ed. 1600. 3 M. Edward Haies in Hakluyt, III, 146. 93 3t- (5, tlcmont in America, to the most favorable notice of many intiuential men.^ Accordingly on the lltli March, 1583,'* we find Sir Francis Walsingham writing to Master Thomas Aldworth, merchant, and at that time mayor of the city of Bristol, in the following terms : " I have for certaine causes deferred the answere of your letter of Nouember last till now, which I hope commeth all in good time. Your good incli- nation to the Westerne discouerie I cannot but much commend. And for that Sir Humfrey Gil- bert, as you haue heard long since, hath bene pre- paring into those parts being readie to imbarke within these 10. dayes, who needeth some further supply of shipping then yet he hath, I am of opinion that you shall do well if the ship or 2. 1 The following affords a glimpse of Gilbert's dealings with Dr. Dee : " [1580] Sept. 10th, Sir Hurafry Gilbert granted mo my request to him, made by letter, for the royaltyes of discovery all to the North above the parallell of the 50 degree of latitude, in the presence of Stoner, Sir John Gilbert, his ser- vant or reteiner ; and thereupon toke me by the hand with faith- full promises in his lodging of John Cooke's howse in Wich- cross strete, where wee dyned onely us three together, being Satterday." Dr. Dee's Priv. Diari/, p. 8, Cam. Soc. Pub., 1842. •-' 1582, as printed in Hakluyt, III, 182, is clearly incorrect, as may be gathered from Aldworth's reply dated March 27, 1583. 13 94 barkes you write of, bo put in a rcadinesse to goe alongst with him, or so soonc after as you may. I hope this trauell wil prouc profitable to the Ad- venturers and generally beneficiall to the whole realme: herein I pray you conferro with these bearers, M. Richard Ilackluyt, and M. Thomas Steuenton, to whome I referre you : And so bid you heartily farewell." ^ Thomas Aldwortli replied " to the right honour- able Sir Francis Walsingham, principall Secretary to her Maiestie, concerning a Westerne voyage intended for the discouery of the coast of America, lying to the South-west of Cape Briton," in a letter dated at Bristol on the 27th March, 1583. He said : " I presently conferred with my friends in private, whom I know most affectionate to this godly enterprise, especially with M. William Sal- terne deputie of our companie of merchants; whereupon my selfe being as then sicke, with as convenient speede as he could, hee caused an assembly of the merchants to be gathered : where after dutifull mention of your honourable disposi- tion for the benefite of this citie, he by my appoint- ment caused your letters being directed unto me Hakluyt, III, 182, ed. 1600. 90 priutitly, to be read in publike, and after some good light giuen hy M. Ilakluyt unto them that were ignorant of the Countrey and enterprise, and were desirous to be resolued, the motion grew gen- erally so well to be liked, that there was eftsoones set downe by mens owne hands then present, and apparently knowen by their own speach, and very willing offer, the sumrae of 1000. markes and upAvard : which summe if it should not suffice, wo doubt not but otherwise to furnish out for this West- erne discouery, a ship of three score, and a barke of 40. tunne, to bee left in the countrey under the direction and gouernment of your Sonne in law M. Carlih, of whom we haue heard much good, if it shall stand with your honors good liking and his acceptation."^ The 'M. Carlile' incorrectly referred to in the above letter, as the son-in-law of Sir Francis Wal singham, was Christopher Carlile, who, together with Gilbert, Peckham and Grenville, had nine years before petitioned Queen Elizabeth.- He was in reality the step-son of Sir Francis Walsingham. His mother was Anne Barnes, the daughter of Sir 1 Hakluyt, III, 182, ed. 1600. 2 Domes. Corresp. EUz., vol. XCV. No. 63, Cal., p. 475. '■ i. 9G George Barnes, the elder, Lord Mayor of London in 1552/ His lather, Alexander Carlile, 'master of the Vyntoners,' died in 1561, and an account of his funeral is given by Machyn.'^ His mother ^ married secondly Sir Francis Wal- 1 Burko's IIiKf. of the Commoners, I, 139. a Mavhpi'a Diary, 209. 3 Burke's Tli»t. of the Commoners, I, 139. Anno Barnes, widow of Alexiindor (Jiirlile, was the first wife of Sir Francis Walsinf^hrtiu. She died leaving no children by Sir Francis, who UKirried a second time, a widow, Ursula, relict of llichard Worsley, Governor of the Isle of Wight. By his second wife Sir Francis Walsingham left one daughter, that was married thrice ; first, to Sir Philip Sidney ; secondly, to llobert Dev- ereaux, Earl of Essex; and thirdly to Richard Bourk, Earl of Clanricardo, in Ireland. Burke's Hist, of Commoners, II, 448. Bioff. Britannica, VII, 4142. Lothjc, III. Sir Francis Walsyngham, of an ancient family in Norfolk, was the third and youngest son of William Walsynham, of Scadbury, in the parish of Chislehurst, in Kent, by Joyce, daughter of Edmund Denny, of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. He was born at Chislehurst in 153G. He died April Cth, 1590. at his house in Seething-lane. Chalmers Bioy. Diet., XXXI, 69. It appears that in 1589 he entertained Queen Elizabeth at his house at Barn-Elms and, " as was usual in all her majesty's visits, her whole court. Previously to this visit the queen had taken a lease of the manor of Barn-Elms, \' i It appears that tlio Earl of Cumberland had obtained from Queen Elizabeth a patent for the exportation of cloth, which involved him in a dis- pute with the company of Merchant Adventurers. Fearing lest his adversaries should succeed in setting aside the grant, or rendering it unprofita- ble, the Earl wrote the following letter to Lord Ellesmere, one of the Lords of the Council, praying him earnestly for assistance. From this epistle, which is endorsed by Ellesmere, " The E. of Cumberland, 5 Martj., 1601," we shall learn that Sir R. Cecill and Sir Edward Stafibrd had both previously enjoyed similar patents. " To the Ry(jld Umiorahle my very yood Lo. Lo. Keper of tlie Great Seale of Inylande. My good Lo. I resolved to have attended your Lo. this daye at the Court, but one of the sicke fittis wherwitli I am often troubled forceth my staye, and, doubtyng least hir Maj. should enter into speeche with your Lo. concernyng my cause, pardon me for rememberyng you howe it standeth. The only inconvenyence can cum by it to the Marchant Adventurerrs is my grauntyng leave to otherrs not free of ther cumpany, or to interloperrs though they be free, to shippe clothes contrary to 109 the order of tlior coiirtos hero. I have over Ix'cno contented, and still am, that thoes persons which ar oljodyent to the Government shall only have lycence from me, soe long as your Lo. of the Coun- cell doothe not direct me contrary ; and for the pryce I will refer myselfe to any reasonable con- sitheration. For thoes clothes which have al- ready beene shipped by nnfreemen in straungerrs bottoms, the fanlc of clothe by the marchants practis forced me to set^ke out any which would bwy; soe they broke the malytyus platt which was layde to macke the clothyer exolayme upon me, by which culler, provyng my patent hurtfuU to the commonwelthe, it should have been re- voked. Also J I was extreamly urged by hir Maj. officerrs in the Custom House, and tould that if I should refuse to grant lycense to such as for dy- vers years past had used to sliippe, it would soe much prejudice the Qu. in her custom as justly I should be founde fault with for it ; and to aprove that they myght passe in straungerrs bottoms showed me tooc letters to allowe it, writto to them by great counsellorrs, soe as I hoope I am not in the wysest censure to be condemned. Sense my grant I have shipped over some 1200 clothes : there was nether Mr. Secretory nor Sir 15 mm 110 Ed. Staflbrd, but .shipped 3000 at the least before the sould ther patenten. My ^vtiut but for tenne years, the least of thers continued soe long : this last, if I had not louked into it, would have donno 15 at the least, Avhen 1 am tyed to lycence none but them (which I willy ngly submit my selfe to as long as your Lo. shall see it good for the reame), ether can I not in tenne yeare passe above 100,000 clouthes, or for so many as I dooe I gayne to hir Ma. the custom which heretofore she was deceved of, soe as by my grant hir Ma. shall not only receve 10,000/t, but be truly payed hir cus- tome, which I doubt not shal be twyse as muche more, for that which here tofore she never receved any thyng ; for all the former grantes, which thus long contynued, were certayne, myne (if upon experience hurtfull) to be revoked, and I protest to your Lo. upon my soule, 1 will as willyngly, whensoe it is found, laye it at hir Maj. feete as I dutyfuU receved it. All this consitheryd I hoope your Lo. will favor me. Her Maj. hath allwayes beene gratius, and I dout not will, out of hir owne disposition, be redy to favor ; but fearyng howe she maye be enformed, I macke bould to laye be- fore your Lo. the truth of my cause, not soe much carying for the profitt, howe much soever I need, Ill (fore Mine this )niio lono o as me), bove [lyne was not cus- uclie eved thus pon test as I ope ayes wne owe be- uch eed, as I'or the disgrace which it would be to me, if thes men, that yett never provaled agaynst any former patenty, should nowe tryumplie over me, whoe only they mislyke, for that I will not sec liir Maj. deceved as in former tymes she hathe beene. I protest to your Lo. the losse of my lioolc estate should not cum soe neare my haste as this disgrace, which though, the justnes of my cause consithered, I feare not, yett the unsupportable burthen that it would be, if it should happen, trobleth me, and causeth me thus to troble your Lo., to whoes wyse consitheration I present thes, only assuryng your Lo. that if I contynue in this I will dooe honest and good servis. Your Lo. to command, GEORGE CUMBERLAND."^ On the 6th of March, 1601, the day after the above communication was received, Christopher Hudson, in his official capacity as governor of the Merchant Adventurers, dispatched the ensuing letter to Lord EUesmere. I have already briefly referred to one of its paragraphs as containing the earliest information which I have yet discovered concerning the writer, Christopher Hudson. 1 Etjerton Papers, Cam. Soc. Pub., 1840. 112 " To the Rigid Honm'dble and my verie good Lordy ilie Lord Keeper, one of Iwr Majesties most lionorOf hie Privie Councell, at tlw Court, d. d. Right Honorable and my verie good Lord. Forasmuclie as dy vers matters weare not on Wed- sondaie last tliroughlie aun jwered so large as they might have binne in the beiialf of the Marchauntes Adventurers, and knowing as I do the good af- fection which your Lop. not onely carryeth to the honnour of our most gracious and excelent good Prince, our Saveraigne good Lady Queene and Empresse, but also the good of the common wealth, have thought good for the discharge of my dewtie to make knowne unto your Honnour so much as my proper experience yeldeth unto me, as by these artikles following unto your good Lordshipp male apppeare. And now to the fyrst allegation. Wlieras it was said that before her Ma"*^ graunted privileges to the Merchantes Ad- venturers in Germanic, all other Englishmen might freely passe thither with their wares and commodyties, the which I graunt to be true ; but I denye that there was any traffique in Germanye by Englishmen before the begyning of her Ma"^" raigne. For in the yeare 1554 I came from Dan- syck by land, through all the maryne townes nere 113 the sea, except Stoad and Embden, and found, no Englishmen using any trade in them, nor any cloth to be solde, but onely by the StyWard men. As for the upland townes in Germanye, it is well knowne they had their factors and servants at Auwerp, not onely to buy their cloth of the Com- pany aforesaid, but also to vent suche comodyties^ as their countrie yelded ; and it is verie manyfest that before the said Company settled their trades at Embden and Stoade there was no eloth by En- glishmen shipped thither, which trade the Compa- ny fownd out when they were in daunger in the Loo Countries to their great costes and charges, and therefore no reason why others should have the trade from them. And before the said Com- pany weare priviledged in Germanic, the said Marchantes Adventurers weare at libertie to ad- venture into ail partes within the Straytes and Mediteranium Sea, and also into all partes within the East Seas, and to all partes of the Ocian Seas, which they maie not do now by meanes of new corporations to the Company of New trades, the Compan}'^ of Eastland Marchantes, and to the Company of Trypolie, &c., and therefore no reason why they should be cutt of from the trade of Germanye, which countrie was alwaies not cfioely 114 cheeflye fedd with comodyties from them, but also with vent of the comodyties of the said countrie unto them as aforesaid. And whereas it was said that the Navye whould be better maynteyned by trade further of then Midlebroughe, that is in lyke case trew, yf the said trade be not man- naged in good order ; but the Marchauntes Ad- venturers, even to and for Midlebroughe mayn- teyneth as good shipps as the trade at Stoade, for they sett no shipps on worck for that place but of 1500 toon at the least, and well appoynted. And whereas it was said that the clothes did beare a better price at Stoade then at Midlebroughe, it male be well proved that by the experience of this yeare passed clothes hath been as well sold at Midlebroughe as at Stoade ; but it is not the great pr^^ce of cloth that is either good for her Ma"** in the customes, or for the Common Wealth to sett people on worck, for the higher the price of cloth the fewer is sold, as by experience appeareth ; for synce our clothes hath borne these great prices there is much more cloth made in Germanie then there was before. And whereas the Marchaunts Adventurers hath given thoir generall opinion, that 80 farr fourth as her Ma"^* Councell shall back them, that no trade where they be priviledged be 115 used but to the mart towne where theye sell them- selv(3S, yet it male be doubted, yf Thearle of Cum- berland's lycense do contynew, that it raaie fall out otherwyse, whereof a reason or two I have thought good to sett downe, altlioughe there male be objected many others. For yf the Merchaunt be discouraged, as needs he must yf when he have bought his clothe he knoweth not at what rate he shall passe it in the Custom House, but shall stand for the same at another man's devotion, and so to be driven to paie more then he shall well knowe to gayne by the sayle thereof, will make men to pause and not to be hastie to buy anie cloth at all. In lyke cases the prices of course clothes being by this meanes advaunced, and thereby the great quantitie of the same sort of cloth be made in Ger- manye, then the lesse must needs be shipped out of England. Even so in lyke case maie be imagined when marchaunts shall without cause stand at the devotion of their enymie, whether their goods shall be turmoyled by opening of their packs, themselves wrongfuUie piit into the Ex- chequer, as late hath been experymented, which is imagined not to [be] don without the practise of the deputie of the said Earle in the Custom-howse, who is knowne to be a verie enymie to honest men 116 and those which dealeth uprightlie; and a great freind to those which by all meanes practiseth to deceave the Company of their imposytions. And forasmuch as the said deputie, and others his com- panyons, would willinglie even now shipp their ^oods to Stoade, notwithstanding the great daunger there, it maie be imagined that they have some «ecreete doinges with some of the Haunse Townes, and the rather for that ever synce the Styllyard was put downe they have used dy vers greate prac- tises to hinder the quiet and settled trade of the Marchaunts Adventurers, wherby the said Haun- ses have so obstynately contended : whereas other- wyse, before this tlieye would have sought to her Ma"" for an ende of these trebles, wrongfuUie sur- mised by the said Haunses, practysers to the greate hurt of the Marchaunt Adventurer, And thus, with prayer for the long contynewance of your Honnour amongest us, in most humble sorte, I take my leave. London, this 6th of March, 1601. Your Lp's. most humble at commaunde, CHRISTOPHER HODDESDONN.' 1 Efjeriou Papers, Camden Soc. Pub., London, 1840, pages 335, 33G, 337, 338, 339, 340. I I i I -■Ha 117 At this period of his life it would seem that Christopher Hudson signed his name as above, Hoddesdonn. Lord EUesmere, in the endorsement on the back of the letter, drops the final n, and designates him as " Mr. Hoddesdon, Governor of the Merchant Venturers." We have seen that aside from his original powers of mind, Christopher Hudson undoubtedly owed his success in life to the knowledge and experience which he had gained in the service of the Muscovy or Russia Company ; with which corporation, more- over, he continued to identify himself, by taking an active part in its consultations, up to the time when our information concerning him ceases. I am not aware of the date of Christopher Hud- eon's death. In fact, for want of further knowledge I am compelled to take leave of him at a most interesting period, viz: in 1601, while he is holding 4in office which confers upon him great power and extensive influence. It is the more to be regretted, as this was only six years be/ore Henry Hudson, the discoverer of Delaware and New York, made his first recorded voyage to the North in the employ of the Mus- 'covy Cmnpany. Having communicated the principal portion of the information which I have obtained respecting 16 118 the Hudson family and the Muscovy Company, it now becomes desirable to consider the bearing of the same upon the life and character of Henry Hudson, the navigator. Many of the observations and facts contained in the preceding pages may have appeared to you to be wanting in importance, or in immediate con- nection Avith our subject. I should share the same conviction perhaps, were it not that in attempting to present an account of my investigations and dis- coveries concerning the several members of the Hudson family, and of their intimate relations with the Muscovy Company, I felt the importance of retaining every item which might shed a ray of light, even in the most indirect way, upon the exceedingly obscure matter under discussion. As it is, I hope that I have enabled you to reach the two following conclusions : 1st. That Henry Hudson, who discovered Dela- ware Bay and the Hudson River in 1609, was the descendant, probably the grandson, of Henry Hud- son, the elder, who died while holding the office of Alderman, in the city of London, in the year 1555. 2d. That Henry Hudson, the aforesaid dis- coverer, received his early training, and imbibed the ideas which controlled tb. purposes of his after 119 life, under the fostering care of the great corpora- tion which his relatives had helped to found and afterwards to maintain. What follows will serve, I trust, to strengthen these convictions in the minds of all. We have learned that London was the residence of Henry Hudson the elder, of Henry Hudson his son, and of Christopher Hudson, and that Captain Thomas Hudson lived at Limehouse, now a part of the metropolis ; while Thomas Hudson, the friend of Doctor John Dee, resided at Mortlake,^ then only six or seven miles from the great city, where he likewise spent much time. By reference to a state- ment made by Abacuk Prickett, in his " Larger Discourse"'^ it will be found that Henry Hudson the discoverer was also a citizen of London, and had a house there. It is, moreover, safe to assume 1 An examination of the records of Mortlake and the monu- ments in the ancient church there, taken in connection with similar researches at Limehouse, eight or nine miles distant only in those days, or perhaps in the old church at Stepney (as Lime- house was formerly a hamlet belonging to Stepney, from which parish it was separated in 1730), with the aid of the manuscript records of the Muscovy Company, will perhaps satisfactorily determine the exact degrees of relationship existing between Thomas Hudson of Mortlake, Captain Thonifia Hudson of Limehouse, and Henry Hudson the discoverer. 2 Purchas, III, 601, London, 1625. 120 that the great navigator was "bom within the sound of Bow bells." ^ There is little room for doubting that Henry Hudson was trained up in the Muscovy Company's employ. From the 7th section of Captain Carlile's argument, to be found at page 100 of this address, it is evident that the children and relatives of the influential members of that company were fre- quently in its employ. It is also apparent from various documents preserved in Hakluyt's first volume, that after the firm establishment of its trade with Russia, the Muscovy Company employed two classes of boys, who were bound, in accordance with the custom of that period, apprentices for a term of years. One class was composed of lads,'^ who, having J This fact, together with the exact year of his birth, and the precise degrees of relationship which existed between Henry Hudson and the various members of his family mentioned in this address, will doubtless be accurately ascertained in the course of the examinations now being made in England under my directions. The results of these researches I hope to be able to present to the public at no distant day. 2 See Hakluyt, I, 308. [May 5th, 1560.] " We send you Nicholas Chancelour to rcmaine there, who is our apprentice for yeeres; our minde is hee should be set about such businesse as he is most fit for ; he hath been kept at writing schoole long ; he hath his Algorisme, and hath understanding of keeping of bookes of reckoninge." ; i 121 received at the company's expense a good element- ary education, were afterwards sent out to Russia to keep accounts, and to buy and sell goods, under the direction of the chief agents. Some ©f the most intelligent were sent " abroad into the notable cities of the countrey for understanding and know- ledge," ^ and profiting by their opportunities, became valuable assistants in extending the trade, event- ually attaining important positions ^ in this, or in kindred companies ; a few even rejiching high official stations as ambassadors and statesmen. Of this class Sir Jerome Horsey and Christopher Hudson were conspicuous examples. The other class comprised young men, also of influential connections, whose spirit of adventure 1 The following occurs in the Company's letter to the agents in Russia, written in the spring oi' 1560, and preserved in Hakluyt, I, p. 299 : '• We doe send you in these ships ten yong men that be bound Prentises to the Companic, whom we will you to appoynt euery of them as you shall there finde most apt and meete, some to keepe accompts, some to buy and sell by your order and Commission, and some to send abroad into the notable Cities of the Countrey for understanding and knowledge. And we will you send us aduertisement from time to time as well of the demeanours of our Prentises which we doe send now, as also of such other as bee already there with you. And if you finde any of them remiss, negligent, or otherwise misuse themselues and will not be ruled, that then you doe send him. home, and the cause why." 2 See Hakluyt, I, 307. 122 '11 and love for the sea induced their friends to place them as apprentices on board the Company's ves- sels to learn the art of navigation. This fact is thus referred to in the rare tract entitled Tlie Trades Increase, printed at London in the year 1615 : " the fleet that went ordinarily thitherward [to Russia] entertained tlirec or four novices in a ship, and so bred them up seamen, which might make up the whole happily some foure-score men yearly, * * then there wcru some five hundred mariners and sailors employed >v^ithal." ^ The same authority informs us that originally seventeen ships of great burthen were yearly sent to Muscovy, and we know from Christopher Hudson's letter to the Emperor of Russia, ^ that a fleet of thirteen armed ships belonging 1 1 the Company were sent to the Narve in 1570. The following directions occur in the " Instructions given to the Masters and Mari- ners" of the fleet in the year 1577 : " Item, that notes and entries be daily made of 1 " The Trades Increase, London, printed by Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Walter Burre, 1615, 4°, containing 62 pages." Ilarleian Miscellany, vol. Ill, p. 300. The title of this tract was probably taken from the name of the great ship built by the East India Company, and christened by King James I, on the 30th Dec, 1609. 2 See ante^ page 84. i: 123 their Nauigations put in writing and memory, and that the yong Mariners and apprentices may be taught and caused to learne and obserue the same. " It is accorded that the said Captaine shall haue the principall rule and gouernement of the appren- tices ; And that not onely they, but also all other the sailers, shal be attendant and obedient to him, as of dutie and reason appertaineth. " * * * Item, that the Captaine by discretion shall from time to time disship any artificer or English seruingman or apprentice out of the Prim- rose into any of the other three ships, and in lieu of him or them, take any such apprentice as he shall thinke conuenient and most meete to serue the benefite of the companie."^ Under this discipline Captain Thomas Hudson, William Burrough, Arthur Pet and Charles Jack- man acquired experience and laid the foundations of their future success. What more natural than that Henry Hudson, whose family connections were foremost in the management of the Muscovy Com- pany's affairs, should be permitted in like manner 1 Hakluyt, I, 295, 296. The names of the vessels of this fleet, with their tunnage and the commander of each, will be found at page 297. 124 to derive every advantage which such a school could afford to one emulous of Huccess as a navi- gator? This theory affords a chio to the origin of the great motives which controlled Hudson throughout his later career. We are substantially told by a " cloud of witnesses " that the discovery of a north-eastern or north-western passage to China and the East Indies was the darling object of Hud- son's ambition : that in this all-absorbing thought lay the secret of his remarkable voyages and val- uable discoveries. Was it not for the attainment of this very end that the Muscovy or Russia Com- pany was organized ? Educated with a view to his future life, and bred in the Company's service, cruising in its ships, and gaining knowledge from the most skilful Cap- tains, his mind was from earliest youth familiar with the aims and objects of this powerful com- mercial body. What wonder that the lessons of early boyhood sunk deep into Hudson's mind ; or that the desire to solve what he had been taught to consider the great prol)lem of his age, should afterwards become the master-passion of his ma- turer years ? It would appear from " Certain Instructions delivered in the third voyage Anno 1556, for l\ 1 ii !- 125 Russia," ' tliiit the Pursers on hoard the Muscovy Company's ships were ohliged to keep hooks in which were registered the names of every num and boy, olhcers as Avell as common sailors, in each particuhir vessel. If these hooks are still in exist- ence they would prove valuable assistants in verify- ing much that I have stated. The fact that we first meet with Henry Hudson in the employ of the Muscovy Company also confinns my views as to his early training. It is likewise especially to he noted, that of the four voyages of Henry Hudson, of which we know any thing, the first two were made for the Muscovy Company, while the Iburth and last was set on foot by Sir Thomas Smith, at that time Chief Governorof the Muscovy Company. ^ That Henry Hudson belonged to a prominent family, was peculiarly esteemed by the Muscovy Company, and had interest at court, is evident from the fact that vessels were sent out to search 1 Hakluyt, I, 272, 213. 2 See PurcJias His Pilijrimagc, p. 817. This is the first time that this fact has been noticed by investigators of the life of Hudson. Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Dudley Diggcs, and Master John Wostenhohne, arc specially mentioned by Purchas as furthcrcrs of tliis voyage. That Smith was then governor of the Muscovy Company may be seen from Purchas III, G99, 711, 713, 710, 728, 731. For names of his other employers, see liaklvyt Soc. rub., 1860, p. 255. 17 1 1 126 for him in 1G12 bv order of Henry, Prince of Wales, and the Russia Company/ His personal influence is further illustrated by the remark of Prickett," who says, that in his last voyage, Hud- son promised on his return home to have Henrie Green made one of the Prince's Guard. It is quite evident that Captain John Smith's acquaintance with Henry Hudson commenced before the year 1607, which as we have seen, is the earliest period in which mention is made of Hudson by Purchas. A^an Meteren, the Dutch Consul resident in London, who knew Hudson well, speaks of the friendship existing between Hudson and Captain John Smith prior to the former's voyage in 1609.^ Now Smith was in London in 1604, link- ing his fortunes with those of Bartholomew Gosnold, Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Ilak- luyt, Ralegh Gilbert, Edward Maria Wingfield and others. Dec. 19th, 1606,* he set sail from Blackwall, and did not return to England until three years later. It is probable that Hudson and Smith were thrown 1 See 2d Latin edition of T/ie Ihuhon Tract, published at Amsterdam, by Ilessel Gcrritsz. For translation see llakhiijt Soc. Puh., iSC.O. "Larger Discourse, Purcbas, III, 001. 3 Van Metcren's Ifistoric iJer Xederlaudcren, Hague, 1014. For translation see Hakhiyt Soc. Pub., 1800, p 148. •« Stitb's Hist. Virginia, Book II, p. 44. I: "i1 127 !e of lonal k of lud- nirie iith's need (11, is cle of titch well, dson yage link- lold, lak- and ivall, ater. 'own cd at ;rot extremely that I have only had access to ao odd volume of this series ; and that I have not been able to find in any Library the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the reigns of Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. I' 128 son,^ who speaks in his Naval Ti'acts in high terms of Hudson, was also one of the Adventurers to Virginia. Another of Henry Hudson's friends, Richard Hakluyt, prebendary of Westminster, was the chief promoter of the petition addressed to King James in the year 1606, praying that he would grant ])atents for the colonization of Vir- ginia. It is from Hakluyt's famous Voyages that we have learned so much respecting the earlier members of the Hudson family, and it was to Hakluyt that Purchas was indebted for much information concerning Henry Hudson himself. Hudson evinced his esteem for Hakluyt as early as 1607, when he named a promontory, which he had discovered, after him. Hakluyt'^ was also the inti- mate of Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Robert Cecil, the Lord High Admiral Howard, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Francis Drake, and many other distinguished men. We know that in 1601, Christopher Hudson was governor of the Merchant Adventurers, which at that time, according to contemporary testimony, included more than half of all the * Sir William 3Ionson's Naval Tracts, Book IV. Voyaijes, Vol. 3d, pp. 386, 387. - For sketch of Hakluyt see appendix. Churchill's 129 wealthy traders of London, York, Norwich, Exe- ter, Ipswich, Newcastle, Hull, and the other chief commercial towns. It is possible that about tliis period, for a short interval, Henry Hudson may have been a captain in this corporation's employ. I have examined all the authorities to which I have had access, to ascertain whether he was en- gaged in the Turkey Company, which began in 1581; the Morocco Company, which originated in 1585; the Guinea Company, which arose in 1588; or whether he sailed in the employ of the " Gov- ernor and company of Merclmnts of London trading into the East Indies" who were incorporated by royal charter on the last day of the year 1600.^ I have found nothing to indicate his connection with either of the first three of these companies. The English East India Company, however, engaged with the Muscovy Company in dispatch- ing Henry Hudson on his last voyage to the North in 1610.^ Sir Thomas Smith, already referred to as being the governor of the Muscovy Company, was at the same time governor of the East India 1 HaJduyt Soc. Pub., London, 1855, p. i. ' See Charter granted to the Merchants Discoverers of the North West Passage, July 26th, 1612. ffakluyt Soc. Pub., London, 1860, p. 255. 130 • I Company, and this was only one of a number of instances in which the two companies, while under his guidance, united in a common enterjjrise. Tlie Trades Increase alludes to the close connection existing between the two associations,^ and Pur- chas confirms this view. At the close of the sixteenth century, owing to the rival enterprise of the Dutch, the trade with Russia^ had greatly diminished, ard the Muscovy Company again turned its attention more especially to the accom- plishment of the object (the discovery of a north- ern passage to India) which it was originally or- ganized to promote. Many of its most influential members were the originators of the East India Company (in 1600)," and it was most natural that the two bodies should frequently unite in sending 1 The Trades Increase, London, 1615. Harl. Misc., vol. Ill, pp. 291, 292. 2 1 regret that I have been unuble to con?,\x\i England and Russia, by Dr. J. Haniel, referred to by Mr. Bond as " trans- lated by J. S. Leigh, London, 1854 ; " although " this valuable treatise only extends to the year 1570." 3 A comparison of the lists of the prominent members of the Muscovy Company preserved in Purchas, with the names of the principal originators of the East India Company, led me to think that the latter company was an offshoot of the former. An examination of The Trades Increase, printed in 1615, and other contemporary authorities had convinced me as to the cor- 131 out expeditions to make discoveries mutually beneficial. It is probable, therefore, that the re- cords of the East India Company might furnish some additional facts in the life of Henry Hudson. Stow illustrates the intimate relations existing between several of the most powerful trading companies of that period when he says : The first Governour of this [East India] Company named and ordained both in the first and last pattent was Sir Thomas Smith, knight, who is also Governor of the Muscovy Company, and President and Treasurer of the Company and Counsell for Virginia."^ Thus Ave see that many of the foremost men of rectness of this belief. In December 1G14. Sir Thomas Smith, governor of the East India Company, reminded the Court of Committees of that corporation, " that three ycares since this Coumpanie did aduenture £300, p. annum for three yeares towardes the discoui'y of the Northwest passage." See Run- dall's Voi/a(fcs to the JS^orth- West, IluMuyt Soc. Fiih., London, 1849, page 90. iStow's Eiifflish Chronicle, London. ICAS, pp. 509, 510. — Sir Thomas Smith was Treasurer from the first constitution of the Company (of Virj;inia) in 1306, till April 28th, 1019. And in that time there had passed through his hands about £80,000. Stith's Ili^t. Vmjmia. book III, p. 186.— Sir Thos. Smith had also been Governor of the Somers Islands Company. Same, p. 189.— Sir Thomas Smith died Sept. 4th. 1625. He is mentioned as Thomas Smith, Esquire, one of the principal I 132 that age were warmly interested at the same time in several different influential companies ; so that a skilful and experienced navigator in the service of one powerful corporation would be al- most equally well known to the members of con- temporary associations. In this way Henry Hud- son, in addition to the fiime acquired by his remarkable discoveries, would also possess a "national reputation" as a gallant and successful commander in the Muscovy Company's employ ; owing to the countless ramifications of these great commercial bodies, whose members were to be found in every city throughout the kingdom. The position of his kinsman Christopher Hud- son, as the head of the Merchant Adventurers, who had long maintained most intimate relations with Germany and the Netherlands, may have been among the earliest means of attracting towards Henry Hudson the attention of the Dutch, whose efforts had also of late been turned to the discovery of a shorter passage to India by the north. His subsequent brilliant services and voyages to the north would strengthen in the Tiieiubers of the Muscovy Co., as early as Feb., 1587, in the letter of privileges granted by the Emperor of Russia at that time to the Muscovy Company. 133 minds of the leading merchants and capitalists of Holland, the conviction that Henry Hudson pos- sessed the courage, experience and genius requisite to aid them in developing and carrying into execu- tion plans which might lead to the realization of their hopes. The first recorded voyage made by Henry Hud- son was undertaken, as we have already observed, for the Muscovy or Russia Company. Departing from Gravesend the first of May, 1607, with the intention of sailing straight across the north pole, by the north of what is now called Greenland, Hudson found that this land stretched further to the eastward than he had anticipated, and that a wall of ice, along which he coasted, extended from Greenland to Spitzbergen. Forced to relinquish the hope of finding a passage in the latter vicinity, he once more attempted the entrance of Davis's Straits by the north of Greenland. This design was also frustrated and he apparently renewed the attempt in a lower latitude and nearer Greenland on his homeward voyage.^ In this cruise Hudson attained a higher degree of latitude than any pre- ' See Pttrthis^ III. 530. Al?o Dr. Asher, in Ilakhnjt Soc. Pub., 1860, to whom much is due on account of his cflForts to identify accurately the precise localities visited by Hudson. 18 134 vioiis navigator. He also remarked the changing color of the sea in the neighborhood of Spitzl)ergen, and first noted the amelioration of the temperature in his northward progress. His observations as to the abundance of whales and 'morses' in those waters, by directing attention to that source of profit, laid the foundations of the future prosperity of Spitzbergen. My space will not permit the enumeration of Hudson's other important discov- eries in this expedition in 1607. He reached England on his return on the 15th September of that vear. Having the researches of previous writers be- fore them, both Mr. Murphy, in his Henry Hudson in Holland^ and Dr. Asher, in Henry Hudson, the Navigator, are agreed that the journal of this voy- age, contains the earliest informaticm concerning Hudson's career. Indeed the latter says : " His [Henry Hudson's] doings before the 19th April, 1G07, his family connections, his social position are equally unknown to us."^ Both authors place ' Henri/ Hudson in Hollanil. By Henry C. Murphy. The Hague, the Brothers Giunta D'Albani, 1859. Privately printed. — Preface dated April 15th, 1859. ^ Henry Hudson, the Navit/ator. By G. M. Asher, LL.D. Hakluyt Soc. Pub., London, I860. L35 uo reliance whatever upon the testimony of Adrian Van der Donck, whose inaccuracies, and tissues of idle inventions, are indeed patent to all acquainted with the origin and purposes of liis works.^ In view of the results developed by my investi- gations respecting Henry Hudson and his antece- dents, the journal of this voyage no longer retains importance as the starting point in Hudson's history. On the twenty-second of April, 1608, Henry Hudson commenced his second recorded voyage for the Muscovy or Russia Company, with the design 1 This view of Van der Donck's statements comes with pe- culiar force from Mr. Murphy,whose investigations, in connection with his transhition of the Vertoog Van Nicw Ncdcrland^ and his other qualifications, would enable to judge most accurately as to Van der Donck's reliability. The passage in which Van der Donck refers to Hudson's antecedents is as follows : " This country [New Netherland] was first found and discovered in the year of our Lord 1609 ; when, at the cost of the privileged East India Company, a ship named the Half Moon was fitted out to discover a westerly passage to the kingdom of China. This ship was commanded by Henry Hudson, as captain and supercargo, who was an Englishman by birth, but had resided many years in Holland, and was in the employment of the East India Company." Beschryvinye Van Niew Nederlandt. 4to. Amsterdam, 1(350. See N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., New Series, vol. I, and Hak. Sor. Pub., 18G0, p. 158. 136 I f m 1 f oF * finding a passiigo to the East Indies by tlie north-oast.' ^ He had with him his son John Hudson and James Skrutton or Struttoii, who iiad sailed with him the previous year. .John Cooke, who had also been one of the crew in 1007, now went in the capacity of boatswain. Robert Juet, of Lime- house, wiio afterward accompanied him in his two last voyages, and finally basely conspired against him, now first appears upon the scene as second in command and mate. Ludlowe Arnall, or 'Arnold Lodlo,' as Prickett styl(3S him, destined to si are Hudson's tragic fate three years later, also shipped for this cruise, as did Michael Pierce, one of the traitors in the 4th voyage who perished miserably. The name of Humfreij G'dhij likewise occurs in the list of sailors preserved in Purchas. Having discovered the intimate relations which existed between Sir Humphrey (or Sir Humfrey, as Hak- luyt calls him) Gilbert and Christopher Hudson, it has occurred to me as not improbable that the above is one of the many instances of misspelling or misprinting continually met with — both in Hakluyt and Purchas, and that the person referred > Purchas, III, p 574. 137 to Avas in reality named Huinfrej Gilbert, and belonged to the family of the great voyager. This conjecture seems the more reasonable as Sir Hum- phrey Gilbert is known to have left nine sons.^ On the third of June, 1G08, Hudson had reached the most northern point of Norway, and on the 11th was in latitude 75° 24', between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. Four days later he records the following curious incident which affords a glimpse of the love of the marvellous that has distinguished sailors of all ages and of every clime. On the 15th of June he writes : " This morning one of our coni- panie looking over boord saw a Mermaid^- and call- ing up some of the companie to see her, one more came up, and hy that time shee w^as come close to the ships side, looking earnestly on the men : a little after, a Sea came and overturned her : from the Navill upward, her backe and breasts were like a womans, (as they say that saw her) her body as big as one of us ; her skin very w^hite ; and long haire hanging downe behind, of colour blacke : in her going downe they saw her tayle, which was like i« 1 Prince's Worthies of Devon. - A curious print of a mermaid is preserved in Dc Bry. Dccimic Tertiie Partis Amert'ac Sectio Prima, page 4, edition of 1634. 'Mii 'i 'I I ■; 138 the tayle of a Porpos.so, and speckled like a Macrell. Their names that saw her, were Tliomas Hilles and Robert liaipier.'' ^ It is scarcely necessary for me to do more than sim])ly refer to Hudson's attempts to pass to the nortliH-'ast beyond Nova Zenibla; to his return southwards along the islands of which the group consists, and to his numerous observations up to the time of his arrival in England. To the con- cluding passage, however, in Hudson's journal of this voyage, I wish to call your particular atten- tion, as it illustrates the remarks made at pages 53 and 54 of this discourse, and will also aid us in our enquiries concerning his next voy.nge. " The seventh of Auymt," he says, "I used all diligence to arrive at London, and therefore now I gave my companie a certificate under my hand, of my free and willing returne, without perswasion or force of any one or more of them ; for at my being at Nova Zembla, the sixt of July, voide of hope of a north-east passage (except by the Vaygats, for which I was not fitted to trie or prove), / therefore resolved to use all meanes I could to sayle to tJie north-west ; con- sidering the time and meanes wee had, if the wind 1 Furchas, III, p. 575. 139 should friend us, as in the first pnrt of our voyage it liad done, and to uuiico trial! of tiiat place called Lu!nloyH Inlet, cuid the furiouH rmr/ull />// Oipfahi Davis, hoping to runne into it an hundred leagues, and to returne as God should enahle meo. But now having spent more then halfe the time I had, and gone but the shortest part of the way, by meanes of contrary winds, I thought it my duty to save Victuall, Wages and Tackle, by my speedy returne, and not by foolish rashnesse, the time being wasted, to lay more charge upon the action then necessitie should compell, I arrived at Graves- end [Englantl] the six and twentieth of August, [1008]."^ Henry Hudson's previous discoveries had already rendered him famous, and his safe return from another perilous voyage to the north Avas hailed in England with deep interest and satisfaction. The results of his explorations soon spread to the continent, where they were received with even greater curiosity, and aroused the fears of the Dutch East India Company then recently established. We are accordingly not surprised to learn from the Ner/ociations of President Jeannin, that Hudson iPurchm^, III, p. 580. 140 f was soon called to Holland by the directors of that corporation at Amsterdam. In order to obtain a clear idea of the reasons for this step, it will be necessary to glance at the con- nection of the Dutch with the discovery of a north- ern passage to India. We have already reviewed the nortliern disco- A'eriesmade by the English, commencing with Rich ■ ard Chancellor's successful expedition in 1553, and we shall now see how closely they were followed ultimately in their enterprises by the sagacious and energetic Hollanders. As early as 1578 the Dutch were trading with Russia; and Captain Edge testifies that a year or two later, ' one John de Whale, a Netherlander, came to the Bay of Saint Nicholas, being drawne thither by the per- swasion of some English for their better means of interloping.' ^ Sir Jerome Bowes, who was the ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to the Czar, writing in 1583, says : "The Dutch merchants had intruded themselves to trade into those countreys, notwithstanding a privilege of the sole trade thither was long before granted to the English merchants."^ > Purchas, III, p. 4G4. 2 ILdhn/t, T, p. 459. I!' 141 Indeed in the month of April of the same year. Captain Carlile had taken occasion to urge as a powerful argument in favor of Gilbert's American enterprise, that the Netherlanders were interfering sadly with the Muscovy Company's Russian trade.^ Having secured to themselves influence at the court of Moscow, and thus gained a foothold in Russia, the Dutch, still following the example of the English, began to turn their attention to the rich countries lying far to the eastward, and like- wise became interested in attempts to discover a short northern passage to China, and the Indian seas. In 1580-81, Oliver Brunei, a Belgian refugee, captured by the Russians while serving in the Swedish army, was employed to explore the whole coast, from the river Petchora to the mouth of the Oby, by two Russian merchants, whose curiosity had been aroused by the efforts of the Muscovy Company. Brunei successfully accomplished the undertaking, visiting likewise Vaygats and Nova Zembla Proper. He afterwards went to Enkhuy- sen, a town in West Friesland, on the borders of Holland, where his representations procured him the command of a vessel, in which he undertook a ' Sec Ante, p. 98. 19 142 I '! I voyage to the Petchora. Here, it is said, he col- lected much inerchandise, but eventually lost his ship, and perhaps his life. Brunei's cxi)loration8 may be considered as the suggestive origin of the northern voy.ages subse- quently prosecuted by the Dutch. The edict of Philip II, lately become master of Portugal, by cutting off their intercourse with Lisbon, and depriving them of their trade in eastern produc- tions, soon, however, furnished the Netherlanders with an additional incentive to seek their riches from original sources. The discovery of v. short passage to the Indies by the north, offered one obvious means of defeating the mjichinations of their tix;acherous enemy, and, if successfully inau- gurated, might prove a certain road to commercial greatness. Accordingly, the s.ame year that wit- nessed the preliminary organization of a company in the United Provinces, to attempt the establish- ment of a trade with the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, also Ijeheld William Barentson and his brave companions actually setting forth upon their fii*st voyage, to discover a north-eastern open- ing to the Chinese seas. The expedition thus dispatched in 1594, owed its original conception to Balthasar de Moucheron, 143 a native of Antwerp of noble descent, who had long resided as a merchant at Veere, near Mid- delburg, the capital of the province of Zealand. Having interested several officials of Enkhuysen and Middelburg in his plans, he had obtained the assistance of the courts of admiralty, as well as the sanction of the higher authorities, to fit out two vessels, each of one hundred tons burthen, for northern explorations. Cornelis Nai and Brant Tetgales, both Enkhuysen men, were placed in command, while the famous John Hugh van Lin- schoten was chosen to accompany them in the responsible capacity of commercial agent and commissioner. The public spirit of the city of Amsterdam was aroused by these proceedings, and through the efforts of Peter Phmtius, *tlie Hak- luyt of the Netherlands,' a third vessel was equipped, and committed to William Barentson for a similar purpose. The three ships set sail from the Texel together, on the 5th June, 1594, and returned in company to Holland about the middle of September, having fjiiled to accomplish what they had hoped to achieve; although the Enkhuysen party had penetrated through Pet's strait to the Kara sea, while Barentson had sailed completely around the north-eastern extremity of < I 144 Nova Zembla, and discovered a group of islands, which he named the Orange islands. The further exertions of Barentson and Jacob van Heemskerk in the two following years, were alike unsuccessful, so far as the great object of their search was concerned. The premature death of the former intrepid and skilful mariner, who perished in the midst of his plans, on the 20th of June, 1597, most effectually damped the ardor of the Dutch, and led to the temporary abandon- ment of their schemes in this direction. In the meanwhile, the commerce with Russia was immensely increased, and the Netherlanders had become such powerful rivals as almost to supplant and exclude the English.^ Houtman, the brewer's son, also, having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, returned to Amsterdam in 1597, bringing with him the rarest products of the east. Thus the foundations of the great Indian trade were finally \ai^ and companies sprang into exist- ence all over Holland, eager to participate in the almost fabulous profits accruing from this new source of wealth. The discontent produced by the unequal for- tunes attending the efforts of rival associations. >Harleian Misc. 145 soon awakened a natural solicitude in the minds of thoughtful men. Olden Barneveldt, advocate of Holland, and leader of the Arminian party, to which Grotius himself helonged, comprehending the situation at a glance, determined to calm the tumult, while at the same time he increased the power of himself and his friends, by combining the hitherto opposing forces under one govern- ment with common interests. Although this plan met with stout resistance from some of the more successful adventurers, it was finally adopted by the States-General; and two years after the Eng- lish East India Company was incorporated, viz : in 1602, the Republic of Holland established the Dutch East India Company, thus creating a pow- erful corporation, which, though it originated with the peace party, presented a hostile front to all foreign foes. The rapid growth and ample resources of the company may be estimated by the fact, that six years after its organization, it had in its service, besides smaller vessels, forty large ships, * armed with six hundred pieces of cannon, and manned by five thousand sailors.'^ Prior to this, it is known to have returned to its shareholders three ' Murphy's Hudson in Holland. 146 fourths of their invested capital, in the course of a single year.* Although the charter only expressly conferred upon the company, the privilege of trading with India by the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan, it is evident that soon after the com- pany was created, the expediency of attempting to find a passage by the north-east was freely discussed. In fact, the fears of many, lest the discovery of a short northern route by rivals, should suddenly deprive them of their lucrative trade with the east, found expression as early as the 7th of August, 1603, in a formal determination to pre- vent such a result by every means in their power." It is, accordingly, easy to picture the consterna- tion produced by the accounts of Hudson's return from a second remarkable voyage; and we have no difficulty in appreciating the reasons which governed the Amsterdam Directors of the Dutch East India Company, in sending a pressing invi- tation to the great navigator, to visit Holland and confer with them in relation to undertaking, in their service, another ^.lOrthern expedition. 1 Brodheud's Hist. N. Y., I, 23. '-' Register der Resolutien van de Sevenlienc, cited by 31 r. Murphy. 147 Hudson loft England in the winter of 1608-9. The exact period of his arrival in Holland is un- certain, OS are also the causes which induced him to leave the Muscovy Company's employ, and to accept the offers of the Dutch. It is probable that Van Meteren, the Dutch consul resident in Lon- don, was employed to conduct the negociations with Hudson. The arguments of this learned man, were calculated to have great weight with one whose whole energies were devoted to extend- ing the range of geographical knowledge. The historian may have convinced Hudson, that under new auspices he would possess larger opportunities for accomplishing the wish of his life. It could scarcely have been the hope of pecuniary reward, which induced Hudson to listen to the overtures of the Netherlanders, for the sum which he was to receive for his hazardous services was extremely meagre.^ Our acquaintance with his character, and our knowledge of his purposes and plans, must also preclude this idea, and convince us that it was the desire to crown the labors of his life with the tri- umphant discovery of a northern passage to India, which controlled Hudson's action in this matter. its Mr. 1 See Dvtch E. 1. Co's contract tn'th Iliuhon. Hudson in I/olUnuf, pp. 34, 35, 3G. Murphy's J .-> -.I 148 i . ' M 1 Immediately after his arrival in Amsterdam, Hudson held several interviews with the resident directors of the Dutch East India Company ; and laid before them the results of his extensive ex- perience in the far north. Having revealed his belief in an open polar sea, and the consequent existence of a passage that way to India, he pro- ceeded to illustrate his theory by arguments drawn from the wide range of personal observations. His views were fully coincided in by the Rev. Peter Plantius, whose great attainments as a geographical scholar, lent additional weight to the cogent reasoning of Hudson. Impressed by the whole bearing of the man, and aroused by representations so forcibly and intelligently con- veyed, the Amsterdam directors became eager to engage the services of the distinguished seaman. Reflecting however, that they could not bind the whole company, and that the power of sending out ships was vested in the Council of Seventeen, whose next meeting would lie held too late to enable a vessel to sail that year with any chance of success, they felt obliged to confess that they were unprepared to engage at once in an expedi- tion, and to rest content with a promise from Hudson to return to Amsterdam the following year. 'l; 140 jedi- troin rear. No sooner were these legociations terminated, than advances were made to Hudson by Isaac Le Maire, an eminent merchant of Amsterdam, born in Tournay in Hainault, who had formerly been a director, but was now opposed to the Dutch East India Company, and desired to enhst Hudson in the service of the King of France. Hudson apparently convened freely concerning his plans and aspirations with Le Maire, who communicated them with a strong endorsement to President Jeannin, one of Henry the Fourths ambassadors at The Hague, specially charged by the king to pro- mote the establishment of a French East India Com- pany. Rumoi's of the interview with Le Maire soon re.iched the ears of the Amsterdam directors, who, having written to the other Chambers, im- mediately recalled Hudson, and entered into a formal contract with him to conduct a vessel forth- with to the north ; so that when Le Maire, having gained Henry's consent, and being provided with four thousand crowns for the purpose, applied to Hudson to undertiike a voyage^ for the French ' Net/, (hi Pres. Jeannin, Lettre du 25 Janvier, 1609. Ibid. Lettrc du roi du vinst-luiitiome Fevrier, 1609, quoted by Mr. Murphy. An English translation of Jeannin's letter is pub- lished in the Hukluyt Sm-.. Pub., 1860, pp. 244-254. 20 if '<' 150 monarch, he found the discovoror already pledged to tlie Diitcli East India Company. A copy of the contract between Jliidson and the Chamber of Amsterdam, wns discovered a few years since by Mr. Murphy, in the royal Archives at The Hague, appended to a manuscript history of the corporation, prepared by Mr. P. Van Dam, who was the company's Counsel, from 1652 to 170G. From this we learn, that the original was signed on the 8th of January, 1009, and that the services of an interpreter were required to aid Hudson in his connnunications with the Company.^ The contract having been completed, the in- structions fc the voyage were prepared by the Amsterdam Chamber, whose action was sanctioned by the Council of Seventeen, on the 25th of March.* In response to a resolution of that body, passed at their next meeting, ' copies of both documents 1 The use of Ilcndrick for IIenry,iii Hudson's name, is a vul- garism. After what has been said, it is, perhaps, superfluous to remark that even in the body of the contract, and in the signature, in the Dutch copy, the whole name is spelled in plain English, Hknry HuusctN. ^Ris. van dcr Scventicne, March 25, 1G09, cited by Mr. Murphy. 3 For an interesting account of the internal organization of the company, see J/cnrj/ Hudson in JJollanil, p. 21, 151 vul- woro afterwards stMit to each of the several Cliam- hers. It clearly appears from the authentic copy of the contract, and the ahstract of the instruc- tions preserved by Mr. Van Dam, that the direct- ors aj^^reed to furnish a small vessel of about sixty tons, well provisioned and maink'd, in which Hud- son should sail about the lirst of Ai)ril, "to search for a passage by the North, around by the North side of Nova Zembla ;" and he was to continue thus along that parallel until he should " ))e able to sail Southward to the latitude of sixty degrees." * "He Avas further ordered by his instructions, to think of discovering no other routes or passages, except the route around by the north and north-east above Nova Zembla; with this additional provi- sion, that if it could not be accomplished at that time, another route would be the subject of further consideration for another voyage."' The sum of $320 was to be paid to Hudson for his outfit, and for the support of his wile and children, and in case he lost his life, the directors were to give his widow $80 ! Should he find "the passage good and suitable for the company to use," the directors 1 Murphy, pp. 34, 35. See D. E. I. Co.'s contruct with lludsun. -Ibid, p. 39, Mr. Van Dam's abHtract of Instructions. 1S2 [ declared they would reward Hudson "For his dan- gers, trouble and knowledjic, in their discretion, with which the before mentioned Hudson is con- tent." Having thus completed his preliminary arrange- ments with the Dutch E. I. Company, Hudson spent the intervening time before his departure, in grave consultation with the Directors, and with such other leading men as were competent to ad- vise with him concerning his contemplated voyage. Preeminent among the latter stood the Belgian emigrant, Peter Plantius, minister of the Reformed Church in Amsterdam, whose varied knowledge of maritime affairs, was the result of an unweary- ing spirit of philosophical investigation. Born in Flanders, and compelled to seek refuge from per- secution in Holland, Plantius had early engaged with Usselincx in endeavoring to establish a West India Company, and soon became widely known as one of the leaders of the Calvinistic or Orange party. He was an ardent believer, however, in the practicability of reaching India by the north-cast, and accordingly, took a deep interest ^ in Hudson's ' Van Meteren. Henry Hudson in Holland. Naviijator. Hudson the per- m the 153 plans ; as he had done in those of Barentson fit'teon years earlier.' Purchas tells us that ho found amonj; Ilakluyt's papiM's, the translations of two documents loaned by Piantius to Hudson. The fu'st contained jmm- oranda made by Barentson in ihe course of his voyage in 1595. At the top of the sheet was the following note by Hudson : " This was written by William Barentson in a loose paper which was lent mee, by the Rev. Peter Piantius, in Amsterdam, March the seven and twentieth, 1009." - The other document was thus prefaced : " A Treatise of Iver Boty, a Gronlander, translated out of the Norsh language into High Dutch, in the yeere 15G0, and after, out of High Dutch into Low Dutch, by Wil- liam Barentson, of Amsterdam, who was chiefe pi- lot aforesaid. The same copie in High Dutch is in the hands of Jodocus Hondius, which I have scene. And this was translated out of Low Dutch by Master William Stere, marchant, in the yeere 1608, for the vse of me, Henrie Hudson. William Bar- entson's Booke is in the hands of Master Peter Plantivs, who lent the same vnto me. "3 I Purchas, III, p. 478, ed. of 1G25. De Veer's Voyages. Ilakluyt Soc. Pub., 1853, p. 41. Biogr. Univ. - Purchas, III, pp. 518. •1 Purchas, III, pp. 518. til 154 ;■ t |i Jodocus Hondius, mentioned above, had placed Hudson under many obligations. Like his friend Plantius, he was of Flemish extraction, having been born in Ghent, in 1563. Passing over to England at an e.irly age, during the troul)les in the Low Countries, he there engraved portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Francis Drake, and Thomas Cavendish, the famous navigator. Whether he be- came acquainted with Hudson at that period of his life, does not appejir. Having afterwards re- moved to Amsterdam, he engaged extensively in the business of map making, and gained much ap- plause on account of the beauty and comparative accuracy of his work, as well as for the extent of his geographical acquirements. He was the adviser and interpreter of Hudson in the hitter's communi- cations with the Dutch E. I. Company, and we find that he afterwards signed the Contract as a witness. Hudson's intercourse with Plantius and Hondius was of such a confidential character, that he a[)- parently revealed to these friends, his most che- rished purposes and plans. Wo have not forgotten, that in 1583, Thomas Hudson had assisted at the deliberations which resulted in the famous voyages of John Davis.' Now, in 1C09, his relative Henry ' Sec UHtr, p. 138. 155 Hudson, probably referred to the fact that he had long regarded those explorations, as containing inducements for further search in the same di- rection, in case of failure in the north-east. Hud- son also produced certain letters and maps " which his friend. Captain John Smith, had sent him from Virginia, and by which he informed him that there was a sea leading into the Western ocean, by the north of the southern English colony."* These authorities were hailed with interest by Plantius, who brought forward at this stage of the conference, the log books of George Waymouth, Avho had visited the mouth of Hudson's Straits several years before, in the employ of the English East India Company, and had also sailed as far south as lati- tude 41° 30' north. - After collating Smith's accounts with the results of Waymouth's, and, probably, Gosnold's ' voyages, Hudson was of the opinion that there was also ample I Vun Metfiirii's Hi'nloru' Dcr Nvdrrlant/cn. Hague, 1G14, Fol. 029, u. Ilakluyt, iSoc. Pub. 18(50, i,,UH. -2(1 Latiu c(l.. Hudson Tract, Aiii.stcro.sals to the I). K. I. Company for another voyage), wi.-hed tiieir nuniher raised to twenty. llf 107 posterity, also kept the curious Journal of the voyage, which is still preserved in Purchas's third volume. ^ It is certainly greatly to be deplored that Hud- son's own Journal, which De Laet had before him when he wrote the "Nieuwe V^erelt," ' has entirely disappeared, together with such other documents as Hudson on his return may have forwarded to the Dutch East India Company. ' By the loss of these invaluable manuscripts, we are reduced to the necessity of gleaning the i)articulars of this voyage, from the statements of others, not tho- roughly competent to judge of the motives, which actuated Hudson at the various stages of his pro- gress. As we have seen, Hudson left Holland with the intention of searching " for a passage by the North, around by the North side of Nova Zembla." Van Meteren tells us, that having doubled the Cape of ly 1 John Colcuian, also oiic of Ifud.son's former conipiinion.s, in the only other Enj;lishnian whose name ia uientionod ns hav- ing been on board the Jln/f Moon. - Printed in lG:i5. ■■' Mr. Murphy was unable to discover any traces of these papers in Holland. 21 i I 158 Norwa}' ^ the 5tli of May, ho " directed his course along the northern coasts towards Nova Zenibla ; but he there found the sea as full of ice as he had found it the preceding year, so that he lost the hope of eft'ecting any thing during the season. This circumstance, and the cold Avhich some of his men who hiid been in the East Indies could not bear, caused quarrels among the crew, they being piirtly English, and partly Dutch ; upon which the captain, Henry Hudson, laid l)efore them two pr()i)()sitions ; the first of these was, to go to the coast of America, to the latitude of 40°/' This idea had been suggested by Captain John Smith's maps and letters. "The other pn>jK)si- tion was, to direct their search to Davis's Straits." - The latter was the plan which Hudson had en- tertained, but eventually abandoned, wlu'ii in a somewhat similar position, on the Cth of July, ic.os.-'' As his instructions weie to retrace his steps, and return to Amsterdam in case of a failure to find a passage to the North East, Hudson would •The North Capo. .Tuct's JoumkiI, rurehas, III. p. 580. 2 VanMctcreii's Ili.^l.dor Nedor. The Ha^:ue, 1014. Fol. 029, a. Ilakluyt Sue. Pub., ISiiU, pp. 147-149. •' See miU, p. 138. 159 580. Fol. have ])cen entiivly justified in reliniiuishini!: further effort, now that he I'ound hiniseli'with a mutinous crew, utterly hailled by the ice in iiis endeavors to discover an openinj^ in that direction to the Celestial Empire. His anxiety to accomplish something worthy of his reputation, however, would not suffer him to adopt such a course. He perhaps arjiued tliat it had not occurred to the Directors, that insurmountable obstacles mijilit pre- sent themselves, Ix'Ibre his vesst-l I'airlv reached Nova Zenibla ; and he may accordingly have con- cluded that in his present situation, he possessed discretionary power. On the other hand, we are distinctly told by Mr. Van Dam, that '• having found the sea there ■'' * * as full of ice as it was in the previous years," Hudson ''determined ron- trarij to Im iuHtrnctions, to seek another route."' Whatever may have been his reasoning, we know that fortunately he did assume the resi)onsibiUty of sailing in the opposite direction. On the 14th of May, having gaine«l the consent of his officers and crew, Hudson shaped his course towards the setting sun, hoi)ing to discover an un- 1 MS. HiHtory of tlie l>. K. I. Company. I>y Mr. P. Van Dam, in tbe Arcliivo.>» at the Hairuc. 1'a.s.sigu trauslatcd by Mr. Murphy, lliuhon in //dUoikI, p. 3:j. 160 -:i interrupted passage to India, in the unexplored regions lying to the north of the infimt Colony of Virginia.^ A fortnight later, he had replenished his water casks at Stromo, one of the Faroe group, and was steering away south-west in hojjes of seeing Busse Island, which one of Frobisher's ships luid dis- covered thirty years before. Foiled in this attempt, he still pursued his voyage with unfaltering cour- age, for nearly a month, altiiough beset by a suc- cession of fierce gales, and on the second of July, was at soundings off the grand bank of Newfound- land, with foremast gone and sails badly rent. Falling in next day with " a great fleet of French- men which lay fishing on the banke," he " spake with none of them ;" but soon after, when l)ecalnied, he allowed his own company to '' try" for cod. On the twelfth, the American shores gladdened the sight of the expectant mariner, and on the eighteenth, Hudson anchored in a safe and com- modious harbor on the coast of Maine.'^ Here the lawless character of the crew displayed ' Van Moteren is tho only authority for the important eventa which took place between the 5th and 14th of May. Juet is purposely silent. - Probably Penobscot Bay. 161 itself, in a wanton attack upon a party of Indians, who iuid made their appearance in a couple of French shallops. Distressed and alarmed by the occurrence, Hudson once more st(x)d out to sea, and did not approach the land until the third of August, when he sent five men ashore, who re- turned laden with rose trees and goodly grapes. Hearing the voices of men calling, the next morn- ing, he again sent a boat's crew from the ship, thinking there " had been some Christians left on the land." The sailors found none but " Savages," who manifested however, great delight on their approach. Supj)08ing that the point of land which he now saw to the southward, was the same head- land which Gosnold, in 1G02, had named ''Cape Cod," he held on his way and two weeks afterward found himself off King James' River in Virginia. Resisting the temptation to visit his friend Smith, whom he would have found preparing to return to England, Henry Hudson, still intent up- on the great object of his search, once more altered the course of the yacht, and steering northward, on Friday, the twenty-eighth day of August, 1609, discovered the great bay now called Dela- ware. At noon, having passed the lower cape, the shores 1C2 t u, 4 r,. were descried strotcliinj^ away north-west, ' while hind was also seen towards the north-east, "which Hndson at first took to he an island, but it proved to be the main lund an