Henry Hudson | Page 8

without keeping anything back.
"For which said voyage the Directors shall pay the said Hudson, as well
for his outfit for the said voyage as for the support of his wife and
children, the sum of eight hundred guilders [say $336]. And in case
(which God prevent) he does not come back or arrive hereabouts within
a year, the Directors shall farther pay to his wife two hundred guilders
in cash; and thereupon they shall not be farther liable to him or his heirs,
unless he shall either afterward or within the year arrive and have found
the passage good and suitable for the Company to use; in which case
the Directors will reward the before named Hudson for his dangers,
trouble, and knowledge, in their discretion.
"And in case the Directors think proper to prosecute and continue the
same voyage, it is stipulated and agreed with the before named Hudson
that he shall make his residence in this country with his wife and
children, and shall enter into the employment of no other than the
Company, and this at the discretion of the Directors, who also promise
to make him satisfied and content for such farther service in all justice
and equity. All without fraud or evil intent. In witness of the truth, two
contracts are made hereof ... and are subscribed by both parties and also

by Jodocus Hondius as interpreter and witness."
[Footnote 1: Hondius, an eminent map-engraver of the time, was a
Fleming, who, being driven from Flanders by the Spanish cruelties,
made his home in Amsterdam, where he died in the year 1611.]
[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE OF A SEA
HANDBOOK OF HUDSON'S TIME]
Of Hudson's sailing orders no copy has been found; but an abstract of
them has been preserved by Van Dam in these words: "This Company,
in the year 1609, fitted out a yacht of about thirty lasts burden and
engaged a Mr. Henry Hudson, an Englishman, and a skilful pilot, as
master thereof: with orders to search for the aforesaid passage by the
north and north-east above Nova Zembla toward the lands or straits of
Amian, and then to sail at least as far as the sixtieth degree of north
latitude, when if the time permitted he was to return from the straits of
Amian again to this country. But he was farther ordered by his
instructions to think of discovering no other route or passages except
the route around the north and north-east above Nova Zembla; with this
additional proviso that, if it could not be accomplished at that time,
another route would be the subject of consideration for another
voyage."
It is evident from the foregoing that never did a shipmaster get away to
sea with more explicit orders than those which were given to Hudson as
to how his voyage was, and as to how it was not, to be made. On his
obedience to those orders, which essentially were a part of his contract,
depended the obligation of the directors to pay him for his services; and
farther depended--a consideration that reasonably might be expected to
touch him still more closely--their obligation to bestow a solatium upon
his wife and children in the event of his death. And yet, with those facts
clearly before him, he did precisely what he had contracted, and what
in most express terms he was ordered, not to do.

VI

Hudson sailed from the Texel in the "Half Moon" (possibly
accompanied by a small vessel, the "Good Hope," that did not pursue
the voyage) on March 27-April 6, 1609; and for more than a
month--until he had doubled the North Cape and was well on toward
Nova Zembla--went duly on his way. Then came the mutiny that made
him change, or that gave him an excuse for changing, his ordered
course.
The log that has been preserved of this voyage was kept by Robert Juet;
who was Hudson's mate on his second voyage, and who was mate
again on Hudson's fourth voyage--until his mutinous conduct caused
him to be deposed. What rating he had on board the "Half Moon" is not
known; nor do we know whether he had, or had not, a share in the
mutiny that changed the ship's course from east to west. With a
suspicious frankness, he wrote in his log: "Because it is a journey
usually knowne I omit to put downe what passed till we came to the
height of the North Cape of Finmarke, which we did performe by the
fift of May (stilo novo), being Tuesday." To this he adds the observed
position on May 5th, 71° 46' North, and the course, "east, and by south
and east," and continues: "After much trouble, with fogges sometimes,
and more dangerous ice. The nineteenth, being Tuesday, was