342 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



explore the strange coast. They climbed the steep acclivity of the shore, lin- 

 gered for a moment on the summit of the cliffs, and before disappearing on the 

 other side exchanged greetings of farewell with their messmates in the boat, 

 who little imagined that it was a parting forever. Evening came on, and then 

 darkened into night ; muskets were fired and trumpets sounded, but no answer 

 was made, and eleven o'clock arriving without any sign or signal of the missing 

 party, the men who had tarried on shore mournfully returned to the ship with 

 the dismal tidings of the loss of their brave commander and his comrades. 



During this melancholy night, passed in alternate lamentations and plans for 

 search and rescue, the ice had so accumulated in the channel which the unfor- 

 tunate Knight crossed the day before, that though the boat was speedily rigged 

 for the expedition, and the party who occupied it were one and all uncontrolla- 

 bly eager to start, the morning light convinced the most sanguine of the utter 

 impossibility of forcing their way across the gulf. Thus passed two wretched 

 days of uncertainty, rendered doubly miserable by the inactivity to which they 

 were condemned, when on the night of the second day the little encampment 

 was attacked by a large party of natives, whose hostility left no doubt about 

 the fate which had befallen their missing friends. A volley of musketry soon 

 dispersed the savages, but fearing future attacks, the crew, now only eight in 

 number, at once resolved to put to sea in their crazy bark, which, though de- 

 prived of its rudder, and so leaky that the pumps were obliged to be constantly 

 at work, safely carried them to Newfoundland. 



In the year 1607 Henry Hudson made the first attempt to sail across the 

 North Pole, a plan started in 1527 by Robert Thorne, but not yet acted upon 

 by any one during the eighty years that had since passed. He reached the east 

 coast of Greenland in 73° of latitude, and then proceeded to the northern ex- 

 tremity of Spitzbergen, but all his efforts to launch forth into the unknown 

 ocean beyond were baffled by the ice-fields that opposed his progress. 



In his next voyage (1608) he vainly tried for the north-east passage, but his 

 third voyage (1609), which he performed in the service of the Dutch, led to the 

 discovery of the magnificent river which still bears his name, and at whose 

 mouth the " Empire City " of the great American republic has arisen. 



In April, 1610, we find him setting sail on the last and most celebrated of 

 his voyages. In all but its commander, this expedition was miserably inade- 

 quate to the object of its mission, for it consisted only of one vessel of fifty-five 

 tons provisioned for six months, and manned by a crew who speedily proved 

 themselves to be utterly unworthy of their leader. On entering Hudson's 

 Straits, the large masses of ice which encumbered the surface of the water and 

 the thickness of the constant fogs made them lose all courage, and they earnest- 

 ly begged their commander to return at once to England. But Hudson pressed 

 on until at last his little bark emerged into a vast open water rippling and 

 sparkling in the morning sunshine. Hudson's Bay expanded before him, and 

 the enraptured discoverer was fully convinced that the north-western route to 

 India now lay open to the mariners of England. 



It was the beginning of August, and the dastardly crew considering the pas- 

 sage effected, urged an immediate return ; but Hudson was determined on 



