The New World in the North : 127 



Champlain. This year the routes of Hudson and of Champlain thus 

 came within less than 100 miles of each other. 



On his way home, stopping at Dartmouth in England, the Half- 

 moon was seized by the British and Hudson and any English follow- 

 ers he had were commanded to sail in the interests of England — not 

 of Holland. 



Hudson had not found the way to China though he had discovered 

 the river which bears his name. His chief contribution, indeed, was 

 that he had fully disclosed that there was no passage anywhere in the 

 latitudes along which he had sailed and thus he confirmed the charac- 

 ter of a large portion of the American continent. 



In April, 1610, Hudson started his fatal voyage in the Discovery. 

 This time he was determined to explore the passage west of Green- 

 land that Davis already had reported. He forced a dangerous and dif- 

 ficult passage into the straits that bore his name. Surmounting the dif- 

 ficulties such as fog and ice that blocked their progress seemed to have 

 resulted in a sense of doom rather than a feeling of triumph. He was 

 again faced with resistance, if not mutiny. By August 3, however, 

 he was able to report that a great sea extended to the westward. This 

 was Hudson Bay. He explored the eastern side of the bay and carried 

 the ship through the winter but in the spring, under the leadership of 

 Henry Greene, mutiny blossomed. On June 22, 161 1, Hudson and 

 eight members of the crew were set adrift in an open boat. This was 

 the last heard of Henry Hudson. Greene, the mutineer, was killed in 

 a fight with Eskimos before the ship left the American coast. A hand- 

 ful of survivors reached England and were imprisoned. 



Before commencing his ascent of the St. Lawrence River and his 

 discovery of the lake that bears his name, Champlain, in 1604, and in 

 the succeeding season, conducted an extensive survey of the Atlantic 

 coast. He began at Cape Breton, worked around the southern coast 

 of Nova Scotia and explored the Bay of Fundy and Passamaquoddy 

 Bay. He explored the St. Croix River. In successive seasons he car- 

 ried his surveys and his maps as far as Cape Cod and later as far as 

 Vineyard Sound. The rest of Champlain's work was continental ex- 

 ploration and colonization. 



In 161 1, two British ships of exploration, both seeking a northwest 

 passage, met in the center of Hudson Bay. By agreement, Foxe 

 explored the western side and James the eastern, wintering in the 

 extension of Hudson Bay that bears his name. 



Thus, these not very well-known voyagers, meeting in Hudson 

 Bay, bring to a close a cycle of history that began with the Viking 



