All His Endeavours, However, To Find A North-West
Passage Were Ineffectual.
In 1607, Hudson, an experienced seaman of great knowledge and intrepidity,
sailed in search of this passage.
He directed his course straight north,
and reached the eighty-second degree of latitude, and the seventy-third
degree of west longitude. During this voyage more of the eastern coast of
Greenland was discovered than had been previously known. In his second
voyage, which was undertaken in 1608, he endeavoured to sail between Nova
Zembla and Spitzbergen, but unsuccessfully: of this and his first voyage we
have very imperfect accounts. His third voyage was undertaken for the
Dutch: in this he discovered the river in America which bears his name. His
fourth and last voyage, in which he perished, and to which he owes his
principal fame as a navigator, was in the service of the Russia Company of
England. In this voyage he reached the strait which bears his name: his
crew mutinied at this place, and setting him on shore, returned to England.
As soon as the Russia Company learned the fate of Hudson, they sent one
Captain Button in search of him, and also to explore the straits which he
had discovered: in this voyage Hudson's Bay was discovered. Button's
journal was never published: it is said, however, to have contained some
important observations on the tides, and other objects of natural
philosophy.
The existence of such a bay as Hudson's was described to be, induced the
merchants of England to believe that they had at length found out the
entrance to a passage which would lead them to the East Indies:
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