[Footnote 1: This sketch of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage is taken from
the _Life of Henry Hudson_ by Henry R. Cleveland, which appears in Jared
Sparks's series of books on American biography.]
_By_ HENRY R. CLEVELAND
Note.--It should be remembered that Hudson had already made three
voyages in search of the Northwestern Passage. On his first voyage he
tried to sail around the northern part of Greenland, but was driven back
by the ice and returned to England, whence he had sailed.
On his second voyage he attempted to find a northeastern passage around
the North Cape and north of Europe. He reached Nova Zembla but was
unable to get any farther.
On his third voyage he sailed under the management of the Dutch East
India Company and left the port of Amsterdam, expecting to go north
around the continent of America. In this he was disappointed; but he
proceeded west to the Banks of Newfoundland and thence south along the
coast of the United States. He visited Penobscot Bay in Maine, sailed
around Cape Cod and southward at some distance from the coast, to
Virginia, deciding by this time that he could not find a passage
westward in that direction. As he knew of the discoveries along the
coast of Virginia he returned north, and on his way discovered Delaware
Bay and the outlet of the Hudson River. After some delay he explored the
river to the present site of Albany, where he again found that his
Northwestern Passage was barred by the shallowing waters of the river.
This was the extent of the explorations of this voyage, from which he
finally returned in safety to London.
China was well known to the people of Hudson's time, but had been
reached always by water around the Cape of Good Hope and along the
southern shore of Asia, or by the long and perilous land journey across
Europe and Asia. It was the dream of all these early navigators to find
a water passage much shorter than the one around the Cape, and for this
they naturally looked to the northwest, where they knew the distance
must be much shorter. They little knew that this search was to continue
for hundreds of years--so long, in fact, that no practicable passage of
that sort is even now known.
The success of Hudson's last voyage probably stimulated the London
Company to take him again into their employment, and to fit out another
vessel in search of that great object of discovery, the northwest
passage. We find him setting out on a voyage, under their auspices,
early in the spring of 1610. His crew numbered several persons, who were
destined to act a conspicuous part in the melancholy events of this
expedition. Among these were Robert Juet, who had already sailed with
him as mate in two of his voyages; Habakuk Pricket, a man of some
intelligence and education, who had been in the service of Sir Dudley
Digges, one of the London Company, and from whose Journal we learn
chiefly the events of the voyage; and Henry Greene, of whose character
and circumstances it is necessary here to give a brief account.
It appears from the Journal, that Greene was a young man of good
abilities, and education, born of highly respectable parents, but of
such abandoned character, that he had forced his family to cast him off.
Hudson found him in this condition, took pity upon him, and received him
into his house in London. When it was determined that he should command
this expedition, Hudson resolved to take Greene with him, in the hope,
that, by exciting his ambition, and by withdrawing him from his
accustomed haunts, he might reclaim him. Greene was also a good penman,
and would be useful to Hudson in that capacity. With much difficulty
Greene's mother was persuaded to advance four pounds, to buy clothes for
him; and, at last, the money was placed in the hands of an agent, for
fear that it would be wasted if given directly to him. He was not
registered in the Company's books, nor did he sail in their pay, but
Hudson, to stimulate him to reform, promised to give him wages, and on
his return to get him appointed one of the Prince's guards, provided he
should behave well on the voyage.
Hudson was also accompanied, as usual, by his son. The crew consisted of
twenty-three men, and the vessel was named the _Discovery_. The London
Company had insisted upon Hudson's taking in the ship a person, who was
to aid him by his knowledge and experience, and in whom they felt great
confidence. This arrangement seems to have been very disagreeable to
Hudson, as he put the man into another vessel before he reached the
mouth of the Thames, and sent him back to London, with a letter to his
employers stating his reasons for so doing. What these reasons were, we
can form no conjecture, as there is no hint given in the Journal.
He sailed from London on the 17th of April, 1610. Steering north from
the mouth of the Thames, and passing in sight of the northern part of
Scotland, the Orkney, Shetland, and Faroe Isles, and having, in a little
more than a month, sailed along the southern coast of Iceland, where he
could see the flames ascending from Mount Hecla, he anchored in a bay on
the western side of that island. Here they found a spring so hot, that
"it would scald a fowl," in which the crew bathed freely. At this place,
Hudson discovered signs of a turbulent and mutinous disposition in his
crew. The chief plotter seems to have been Robert Juet, the mate. Before
reaching Iceland, Juet had remarked to one of the crew, that there would
be bloodshed before the voyage was over; and he was evidently at that
time contriving some mischief. While the ship was at anchor in this bay,
a circumstance occurred, which gave Juet an opportunity to commence his
intrigues. It is thus narrated by Pricket.
"At Iceland, the surgeon and he (Henry Greene) fell out in Dutch, and he
beat him ashore in English, which set all the company in a rage, so that
we had much ado to get the surgeon aboard. I told the master of it, but
he bade me let it alone; for, said he, the surgeon had a tongue that
would wrong the best friend he had. But Robert Juet, the master's mate,
would needs burn his finger in the embers, and told the carpenter a long
tale, when he was drunk, that our master had brought in Greene to crack
his credit that should displease him; which words came to the master's
ears, who, when he understood it, would have gone back to Iceland, when
he was forty leagues from thence, to have sent home his mate, Robert
Juet, in a fisherman. But, being otherwise persuaded, all was well. So
Henry Greene stood upright, and very inward with the master, and was a
serviceable man every way for manhood; but for religion, he would say,
he was clean paper, whereon he might write what he would."
He sailed from Iceland on the 1st of June, and for several days Juet
continued to instigate the crew to mutiny, persuading them to put the
ship about and return to England. This, as we have seen, came to the
knowledge of Hudson, and he threatened to send Juet back, but was
finally pacified. In a few days he made the coast of Greenland, which
appeared very mountainous, the hills rising like sugar loaves, and
covered with snow. But the ice was so thick all along the shore, that it
was found impossible to land. He therefore steered for the south of
Greenland, where he encountered great numbers of whales. Two of these
monsters passed under the ship, but did no harm; for which the
journalist was devoutly thankful. Having doubled the southern point of
Greenland, he steered northwest, passed in sight of Desolation Island,
in the neighborhood of which he saw a huge island or mountain of ice,
and continued northwest till the latter part of June, when he came in
sight of land bearing north, which he supposed to be an island set down
in his chart in the northerly part of Davis's Strait. His wish was to
sail along the western coast of this island, and thus get to the north
of it; but adverse winds and the quantities of ice which he encountered
every day, prevented him.
Being south of this land, he fell into a current setting westwardly,
which he followed, but was in constant danger from the ice. One day, an
enormous mountain of ice turned over near the ship, but fortunately
without touching it. This served as a warning to keep at a distance from
these masses, to prevent the ship from being crushed by them. He
encountered a severe storm, which brought the ice so thick about the
ship, that he judged it best to run her among the largest masses, and
there let her lie. In this situation, says the journalist, "some of our
men fell sick; I will not say it was of fear, although I saw small sign
of other grief." As soon as the storm abated, Hudson endeavoured to
extricate himself from the ice. Wherever any open space appeared, he
directed his course, sailing in almost every direction; but the longer
he contended with the ice, the more completely did he seem to be
enclosed, till at last he could go no further. The ship seemed to be
hemmed in on every side, and in danger of being soon closely wedged, so
as to be immovable. In this perilous situation, even the stout heart of
Hudson almost yielded to the feeling of despair; and, as he afterwards
confessed to one of the men, he thought he should never escape from the
ice, but that he was doomed to perish there.
He did not, however, allow his crew, at the time, to be aware what his
apprehensions really were; but, assembling them all around him, he
brought out his chart, and showed them that they had advanced in this
direction a hundred leagues further than any Englishman had done before;
and gave them their choice whether to proceed, or to return home. The
men could come to no agreement; some were in favor of returning, others
were for pushing forward. This was probably what Hudson expected; the
men were mutinous, and yet knew not what they wanted themselves. Having
fairly convinced them of this, it was easier to set them at work to
extricate the ship from her immediate danger. After much time and labor,
they made room to turn the ship round, and then by little and little
they worked their way along for a league or two, when they found a clear
sea.
The scene which has just been described, seems indeed a subject worthy
of the talents of a skilful painter. The fancy of the artist would
represent the dreary and frightful appearance of the ice-covered sea,
stretching away as far as the eye could reach, a bleak and boundless
waste; the dark and broken clouds driving across the fitful sky; the
ship motionless amidst the islands and mountains of ice, her shrouds and
sails being fringed and stiffened with the frozen spray. On the deck
would appear the form of Hudson himself, displaying the chart to his
men; his countenance careworn and sad, but still concealing, under the
appearance of calmness and indifference, the apprehensions and
forebodings, which harrowed his mind. About him would be seen the rude
and ruffian-like men; some examining the chart with eager curiosity,
some glaring on their commander with eyes of hatred and vengeance, and
expressing in their looks those murderous intentions, which they at last
so fatally executed.
Having reached a clear sea, Hudson pursued his course northwest, and in
a short time saw land bearing southwest, which appeared very mountainous
and covered with snow. This he named _Desire Provokes_. He had now
entered the Strait which bears his name, and, steering west, he occupied
nearly the whole month of July in passing through it. To the various
capes, islands, and promontories which he saw, he gave names, either in
commemoration of some circumstance, which happened at the time, or in
honor of persons and places at home, or else for the reward of the
discoverer.
Some islands, near which he anchored, and where his ship was but just
saved from the rocks, he called the _Isles of God's Mercies_. On the
19th, he passed a point of land, which he named _Hold with Hope_. To the
main land, which he soon after discovered, he gave the name of _Magna
Britannia_. On the 2d of September, he saw a headland on the northern
shore, which he named _Salisbury's Foreland_; and, running southwest
from this point about fourteen leagues, he entered a passage not more
than five miles in width, the southern cape at the entrance of which he
named _Cape Worsenholme_, and that on the north side, _Cape Digges_.
He now hoped that the passage to the western sea was open before him,
and that the great discovery was at length achieved. He therefore sent a
number of the men on shore at Cape Digges, to ascend the hills, in the
hope that they would see the great ocean open to them beyond the Strait.
The exploring party, however, were prevented from making any discovery,
by a violent thunder storm, which soon drove them back to the ship. They
saw plenty of deer, and soon after espied a number of small piles of
stones, which they at first supposed must be the work of some civilized
person. On approaching them, and lifting up one of the stones, they
found them to be hollow, and filled with fowls, hung by the neck. They
endeavored to persuade their commander to wait here, till they could
provision the ship from the stores, which were thus remarkably provided
for them. But his ardor was so great to find his way into the ocean,
which he felt convinced was immediately in the vicinity, that he could
suffer no delay, but ordered his men to weigh anchor at once; a
precipitancy which he had afterwards reason bitterly to regret. Having
advanced about ten leagues through the Strait, he came into the great
open Bay or sea which bears his name.
Having entered the Bay, he pursued a southerly course for nearly a
month, till he arrived at the bottom of the Bay; when, finding that he
was disappointed in his expectation of thus reaching the western seas,
he changed his course to the north, in order to retrace his steps. On
the 10th of September, he found it necessary to inquire into the conduct
of some of the men, whose mutinous disposition had manifested itself a
good deal of late. Upon investigation, it appeared, that the mate,
Robert Juet, and Francis Clement, the boatswain, had been the most
forward in exciting a spirit of insubordination. The conduct of Juet at
Iceland was again brought up, and, as it appeared that both he and
Clement had been lately plotting against the commander, they were both
deposed, and Robert Billet was appointed mate, and William Wilson
boatswain.
The remaining part of September and all October were passed in exploring
the great Bay. At times the weather was so bad, that they were compelled
to run into some bay and anchor; and in one of the storms they were
obliged to cut away the cable, and so lost their anchor. At another time
they ran upon a sunken ledge of rocks, where the ship stuck fast for
twelve hours, but was at last got off without being much injured. The
last of October having now arrived, and winter beginning to set in,
Hudson ran the vessel into a small bay, and sent a party in search of a
good place to intrench themselves till the spring. They soon found a
convenient station; and, bringing the ship thither, they hauled her
aground. This was on the 1st of November. In ten days they were
completely frozen in, and the ship firmly fixed in the sea.
The prospect for Hudson and his men was now dreary and disheartening. In
addition to the rigors of a long winter, in a high northern latitude,
they had to apprehend the suffering which would arise from a scarcity of
provisions. The vessel had been victualled for six months, and that time
having now expired, and their stores falling short, while, at the same
time, the chance of obtaining supplies from hunting and fishing was very
precarious, it was found necessary to put the crew upon an allowance. In
order, however, to stimulate the men to greater exertions, Hudson
offered a reward or bounty for every beast, fish, or fowl, which they
should kill; hoping, that in this way the scanty stock of provisions
might be made to hold out till the breaking up of the ice in the spring.
About the middle of November, John Williams, the gunner, died. We are
not informed what was his disease, but we are led to suppose from the
Journal, that his death was hastened, if not caused, by the unkind
treatment he experienced from Hudson. It appears very evident from the
simple narration by Pricket, that "the master," as he calls him, had
become hasty and irritable in his temper. This is more to be regretted,
than wondered at. The continual hardships and disappointments, to which
he had been exposed, and especially the last unhappy failure in
discovering the northwest passage, when he had believed himself actually
within sight of it, must have operated powerfully upon an ardent and
enthusiastic mind like his, in which the feeling of regret at failure is
always proportionate to the strength and confidence of hope when first
formed. In addition to this, the troublesome disposition of the crew,
which must have caused ceaseless anxiety, undoubtedly contributed much
to disturb his calmness and self-possession, and render him precipitate
and irritable in his conduct. Many proofs of this soon occurred.[2]
[Footnote 2: In reading the account of this Arctic expedition, we must
remember that the author has followed very closely the journal of
Pricket and has not tried to determine the truth or falseness of
that man's statements. It does not seem probable that a man of
Hudson's character should so suddenly become peevish and irritable,
nor that his judgment should so suddenly become weak. The journal
was probably written to defend Pricket's share in the disgraceful
transaction, and so events were colored to suit himself.]
The death of the gunner was followed by consequences which may be
regarded as the beginning of troubles that in the end proved fatal. It
appears that it was the custom in those times, when a man died at sea,
to sell his clothes to the crew by auction. In one respect, Hudson
violated this custom, and probably gained no little ill will thereby.
The gunner had a gray cloth gown or wrapper, which Henry Greene had set
his heart upon possessing; and Hudson, wishing to gratify his favorite,
refused to put it up to public sale, and gave Greene the sole choice of
purchasing it.
Not long after this, Hudson ordered the carpenter to go on shore, and
build a house, or hut, for the accommodation of the crew. The man
replied, that it would now be impossible to do such a piece of work,
from the severity of the weather, and the quantity of snow. The house
ought to have been erected when they had first fixed their station
there, but now it was too late, and Hudson had refused to have it done
at first. The carpenter's refusal to perform the work excited the anger
of the master to such a degree, that he drove him violently from the
cabin, using the most opprobrious language, and finally threatening to
hang him.
Greene appeared to take sides with the carpenter, which made Hudson so
angry, that he gave the gown, which Greene had coveted so much, to
Billet, the mate; telling Greene, with much abusive language, that, as
not one of his friends at home would trust him to the value of twenty
shillings, he could not be expected to trust him for the value of the
gown; and that, as for wages, he should have none if he did not behave
better. These bitter taunts sunk deep into Greene's heart, and no doubt
incited him to further mutinous conduct.
The sufferings of the men were not less, during the winter, than they
had had reason to apprehend. Many of them were made lame, probably from
chilblains and freezing their feet; and Pricket complains in the
Journal, written after the close of the voyage, that he was still
suffering from the effects of this winter. They were, however, much
better supplied with provisions than they had anticipated. For three
months they had such an abundance of white partridges about the ship,
that they killed a hundred dozen of them; and, on the departure of
these, when spring came, they found a great plenty of swans, geese,
ducks, and other waterfowl.
Hudson was in hopes, when he saw these wild fowl, that they had come to
breed in these regions, which would have rendered it much easier to
catch them; but he found that they went still further north for this
purpose. Before the ice had broken up, these birds too had disappeared,
and the horror of starvation began to stare them in the face. They were
forced to search the hills, woods, and valleys, for anything that might
afford them subsistence; even the moss growing on the ground, and
disgusting reptiles, were not spared. Their sufferings were somewhat
relieved at last, by the use of a bud, which is described as "full of
turpentine matter." Of these buds the surgeon made a decoction, which he
gave the men to drink, and also applied them hot to their bodies,
wherever any part was affected. This was undoubtedly very effectual in
curing the scurvy.
About the time that the ice began to break up, they were visited by a
savage, whom Hudson treated so well, that he returned the day after to
the ship, bringing several skins, some of which he gave in return for
presents he had received the day before. For others Hudson traded with
him, but made such hard bargains, that he never visited them again. As
soon as the ice would allow of it, some of the men were sent out to
fish. The first day they were very successful, catching about five
hundred fish; but after this, they never succeeded in taking a quarter
part of this number in one day. Being greatly distressed by want of
provisions, Hudson took the boat and coasted along the bay to the
southwest, in the hope of meeting some of the natives, from whom he
might obtain supplies. He saw the woods blazing at a distance, where
they had been set on fire by the natives; but he was not able at any
time to come within sight of the people themselves. After an absence of
several days, he returned unsuccessful to the ship.
The only effect of this little expedition was defeating a conspiracy,
formed by Greene, Wilson, and some others, to seize the boat and make
off with her. They were prevented from putting this scheme in execution
by Hudson's unexpected determination to use the boat himself. Well would
it have been for him, if they had been allowed to follow their wishes.
Having returned to the ship, and finding everything now prepared for
their departure according to his directions, before weighing anchor he
went through the mournful task of distributing to his crew the small
remnant of the provisions, about a pound of bread to each man; which he
did with tears in his eyes. He also gave them a bill of return, as a
sort of certificate for any who might live to reach home. Some of the
men were so ravenous, that they devoured in a day or two the whole of
their allowance of bread.
They sailed from the bay, in which they had passed the winter, about the
middle of June, and, in three or four days, being surrounded with ice,
were obliged to anchor. The bread he had given the men, and a few pounds
of cheese, which had remained, were consumed. Hudson now intimated to
one of the crew, that the chests of all the men would be searched, to
find any provisions that might have been concealed there; and ordered
him at the same time to bring all that was in his. The man obeyed, and
produced thirty cakes in a bag. This indiscretion on the part of Hudson
appears to have greatly exasperated his crew, and to have been the
immediate cause of open mutiny.
They had been detained at anchor in the ice about a week, when the first
signs of this mutiny appeared. Greene, and Wilson, the boatswain, came
in the night to Pricket, who was lying in his berth very lame, and told
him, that they and several of the crew had resolved to seize Hudson, and
set him adrift in the boat, with all on board who were disabled by
sickness; that there were but few days' provisions left, and the master
appeared entirely irresolute which way to go; that for themselves they
had eaten nothing for three days; their only hope, therefore, was in
taking command of the ship, and escaping from these regions as quickly
as possible; and that they would carry their plot unto execution, or
perish in the attempt.
Pricket remonstrated with them in the most earnest manner, entreating
them to abandon such a wicked intention, and reminding them of their
wives and children, from whom they would be banished forever, if they
stained themselves with so great a crime. But all he could say had no
effect. He then besought them to delay the execution for three days, for
two days, for only twelve hours; but they sternly refused. Pricket then
told them, that it was not their safety for which they were anxious, but
that they were bent upon shedding blood and revenging themselves, which
made them so hasty. Upon this, Greene took up the Bible which lay there,
and swore upon it, that he would do no man harm, and that what he did
was for the good of the voyage, and for nothing else. Wilson took the
same oath, and after him came Juet and the other conspirators
separately, and swore in the same words. The words of the oath are
recorded by Pricket, because, after his return to England, he was much
blamed for administering any oath, as he seemed by so doing to side with
the mutineers. The oath, as administered by him, ran as follows:
"You shall swear truth to God, your Prince, and Country; you shall do
nothing but to the glory of God and the good of the action in hand, and
harm to no man." How little regard was paid to this oath by the
mutineers, will shortly appear.
It was decided, that the plot should be put in execution at daylight;
and, in the meantime, Greene went into Hudson's cabin to keep him
company and prevent his suspicions from being excited. They had
determined to put the carpenter and John King into the boat with Hudson
and the sick, having some grudge against them for their attachment to
the master. King and the carpenter had slept upon deck this night. But
about daybreak, King was observed to go down into the hold with the
cook, who was going for water. Some of the mutineers ran and shut down
the hatch over them, while Greene and another engaged the attention of
the carpenter, so that he did not observe what was going on.
Hudson now came up from the cabin, and was immediately seized by Thomas,
and Bennet, the cook, who had come up from the hold, while Wilson ran
behind and bound his arms. He asked them what they meant, and they told
him he would know when he was in the shallop. Hudson called on the
carpenter to help him, telling him that he was bound; but he could
render him no assistance, being surrounded by mutineers. In the
meantime, Juet had gone down into the hold, where King was; but the
latter, having armed himself with a sword, attacked Juet, and would have
killed him, if the noise had not been heard upon deck by the
conspirators, some of whom ran down and overpowered him. While this was
done, two of the sick men, Lodlo and Bute, boldly reproached their
shipmates for their wickedness, telling them, that their knavery would
show itself, and that their actions were prompted by mere vengeance, not
the wish to preserve their lives. But their words had no effect.
The boat was now hauled alongside, and the sick and lame were called up
from their berths. Pricket crawled upon deck as well as he could, and
Hudson, seeing him, called to him to come to the hatchway to speak with
him. Pricket entreated the men, on his knees, for the love of God to
remember their duty, and do as they would be done by; but they only told
him to go back to his berth, and would not allow him to have any
communication with Hudson. When Hudson was in the boat, he called again
to Pricket, who was at the horn window, which lighted his cabin, and
told him that Juet would "overthrow" them all. "Nay," said Pricket, "it
is that villain, Henry Greene;" and this he said as loud as he could.
After Hudson was put into the boat, the carpenter was set at liberty,
but he refused to remain in the ship unless they forced him; so they
told him he might go in the boat, and allowed him to take his chest with
him. Before he got into the boat, he went down to take leave of Pricket,
who entreated him to remain in the ship; but the carpenter said he
believed that they would soon be taken on board again, as there was no
one left who knew enough to bring the ship home; and that he was
determined not to desert the master. He thought the boat would be kept
in tow; but, if they should be parted, he begged Pricket to leave some
token for them if he should reach Digges's Cape first. They then took
leave of each other with tears in their eyes, and the carpenter went
into the boat, taking a musket and some powder and shot, an iron pot, a
small quantity of meal, and other provisions. Hudson's son and six of
the men were also put into the boat. The sails were now hoisted, and
they stood eastward with a fair wind, dragging the shallop from the
stern; and in a few hours, being clear of the ice, they cut the rope by
which the boat was dragged, and soon after lost sight of her forever.
[Illustration: CUT ADRIFT IN HUDSON'S BAY]
The account here given of the mutiny, is nearly in the words of Pricket,
an eyewitness of the event. It is difficult at first to perceive the
whole enormity of the crime. The more we reflect upon it, the blacker it
appears. Scarcely a circumstance is wanting, that could add to the
baseness of the villainy, or the horror of the suffering inflicted. The
principal conspirators were men who were bound to Hudson by long
friendship, by lasting obligations, and by common interests, adventures
and sufferings. Juet had sailed with him on two of his former voyages,
and had shared in the glory of his discoveries. Greene had been received
into his house, when abandoned even by his own mother; had been kindly
and hospitably entertained, encouraged to reform, and taken, on Hudson's
private responsibility, into a service in which he might gain celebrity
and wealth. Wilson had been selected from among the crew, by the
approving eye of the commander, and appointed to a place of trust and
honor. Yet these men conspired to murder their benefactor, and
instigated the crew to join in their execrable scheme.
Not contented with the destruction of their commander, that nothing
might be wanting to fill up the measure of their wickedness, they formed
the horrible plan of destroying, at the same time, all of their
companions whom sickness and suffering had rendered a helpless and
unresisting prey to their cruelty. The manner of effecting this massacre
was worthy of the authors of such a plot. To have killed their unhappy
victims outright would have been comparatively merciful; but a long,
lingering, and painful death was chosen for them. The imagination turns
with intense and fearful interest to the scene. The form of the
commander is before us, bound hand and foot, condescending to no
supplication to the mutineers, but calling in vain for assistance from
those who would gladly have helped him, but who were overpowered by
numbers, or disabled by sickness. The cry of the suffering and dying
rings in our ears, as they are dragged from their beds, to be exposed to
the inclemencies of the ice-covered sea in an open boat. Among them
appears the young son of Hudson, whose tender years can wake no
compassion in the cold-blooded murderers.[3]
[Footnote 3: It is impossible to tell very much about this young son of
Henry Hudson. In some accounts he is said to be but a lad of seven
years old, but as he appears in the journal of the voyage as a sailor,
it is probable that he was much older. He had accompanied his
father on two of his earlier voyages and possibly on the third.]
We refrain from following them, even in fancy, through their sufferings
after they are separated from the ship; their days and nights of agony,
their cry of distress, and the frenzy of starvation, their hopes of
relief defeated, their despair, and their raving as death comes on. Over
these awful scenes the hand of God has hung a veil, which hides them
from us forever. Let us not seek to penetrate, even in imagination, the
terrors which it conceals.
How far Pricket's account, in regard to the course pursued by Hudson, is
worthy of confidence, must be left to conjecture. It should be
remembered, however, that Pricket was not free from the suspicion of
having been in some degree implicated in the conspiracy, and that his
narrative was designed in part as a vindication of himself. The
indiscreet severity charged upon Hudson, and the hasty temper he is
represented to have shown, in embroiling himself with his men, for
apparently trifling reasons, are not consistent with the moderation,
good sense, and equanimity, with which his conduct had been marked in
all his preceding voyages. It is moreover hardly credible, that, knowing
as he did the mutinous spirit of some of the crew he should so rashly
inflame this spirit, at a time when he was surrounded by imminent
dangers, and when his safety depended on the united support of all the
men under his command. Hence, whatever reliance may be placed on the
veracity of Pricket, it is due to the memory of Hudson not to overlook
the circumstances by which his pen may have been biased.
When Hudson and the men were deposited in the boat, the mutineers busied
themselves with breaking open chests and pillaging the ship. They found
in the cabin a considerable quantity of biscuit, and a butt of beer; and
there were a few pieces of pork, some meal, and a half bushel of peas in
the hold. These supplies were enough to save them from immediate
starvation; and they expected to find plenty of game at Digges's Cape.
Henry Greene was appointed commander, though evidently too ignorant for
the place. It was a full month before they could find their way to the
Strait, which leads out of the great Bay in which _they_ had wintered.
Part of this time they were detained by the ice; but several days were
spent in searching for the passage into Davis's Strait. During this time
they landed often, and sometimes succeeded in catching a few fish or
wild fowl; but supplied their wants principally by gathering the
cockle-grass, which was growing in abundance on every part of the shore.
They arrived within sight of Digges's Cape about the last of July, and
immediately sent the boat on shore for provisions. The men who landed
found considerable quantities of game, as it was a place where the wild
fowl breed. There were great numbers of savages about the shore, who
appeared very friendly, and testified their joy by lively gestures.
The next day Henry Greene went ashore, accompanied by Wilson, Thomas,
Perse, Moter, and Pricket. The last was left in the boat, which was made
fast to a large rock, and the others went on shore in search of
provisions. While some of the men were busy in gathering sorrel from the
rocks, and Greene was surrounded by the natives, with whom he was
trading, Pricket, who was lying in the stern of the boat, observed one
of the savages coming in at the bows. Pricket made signs to him to keep
off; and while he was thus occupied, another savage stole round behind
him. Pricket suddenly saw the leg and foot of a man by him, and looking
up, perceived a savage with a knife in his hand, aiming a blow at him.
He prevented the wound from being fatal, by raising his arm and warding
off the blow; but was still severely cut. Springing up, he grappled with
the savage, and drawing his dagger, at length put him to death.
[Illustration: SAVAGES ON THE SHORE]
In the meantime, Greene and the others were assaulted by the savages on
shore, and with difficulty reached the boat, all of them wounded except
Perse and Moter. The latter saved his life by plunging into the water,
and catching hold of the stern of the boat. No sooner had they pushed
off, than the savages let fly a shower of arrows, which killed Greene
outright, and mortally wounded some of the others, among them Perse, who
had hitherto escaped. Perse and Moter began to row toward the ship, but
Perse soon fainted, and Moter was left to manage the boat alone, as he
had escaped unwounded. The body of Greene was thrown immediately into
the sea. Wilson and Thomas died that day in great torture, and Perse two
days afterwards.
The remainder of the crew were glad to depart from the scene of this
fatal combat, and immediately set sail, with the intention of reaching
Ireland as soon as possible. While they were in the Strait, they managed
to kill a few wild fowl occasionally; but the supply was so small, that
they were obliged to limit the crew to half a fowl a day, which they
cooked with meal; but this soon failed, and they were forced to devour
the candles. The cook fried the bones of the fowls in tallow, and mixed
this mess with vinegar, which, says Pricket, was "a great daintie."
Before they reached Ireland, they were so weakened, that they were
forced to sit at the helm to steer, as no one among them was able to
stand. Just before they came in sight of land, Juet died of want, thus
meeting the very fate, to avoid which he had murdered his commander and
friend. The men were now in utter despair. Only one fowl was left for
the subsistence, and another day would be their last. They abandoned all
care of the vessel, and prepared to meet their fate, when the joyful cry
of "a sail," was heard. It proved to be a fishing vessel, which took
them into a harbor in Ireland, from which they hired a pilot to take
them to England; where they all arrived in safety, after an absence of a
year and five months.