CHAPTER XIV 
EARLY SPITSBERGEN VOYAGES 
The greatest English navigator in the Spitsbergen 
quadrant during the first century of the renewal of 
Arctic discovery was Henry Hudson. Scarcely anything 
is known of the personal history of this famous sailor 
previous to the last four years of his life, during which 
his four voyages were undertaken. 
Hudson was a servant of the Muscovy Company, he 
had a house in London, was married and had children. 
His selection is a proof that he was an experienced 
seaman. It has been conjectured that he was a grandson 
of another Henry Hudson who died when he was an 
Alderman of London in 1555 1 . There is also some reason 
for the belief that Thomas Hudson, a merchant of London 
who had a house at Mortlake and was a promoter of the 
voyage of John Davis, was his uncle and guardian 2 . 
Our first introduction to him is sufficiently striking. 
After morning service on the 19th April, 1607, a party 
of sailors might have been seen to issue from the door 
of St Ethelburga's church in Bishopsgate Street, where 
they had partaken of the Holy Communion with the 
parishioners, and to wend their way to the river side. 
At the head of the little procession was the master, 
Henry Hudson, with his little son John by his side, 
followed by William Collins the mate, John Colman the 
boatswain, and James Young, most vigilant of look-out 
men. Then came the men, John Cooke, James Benbery, 
James Scrutton, John Playse, Thomas Baxter, Richard 
Day, and James Knight. These eleven men and a boy 
formed the crew of the little Hopewell of 80 tons, waiting 
for them at Ratcliffe, for in four days she was to sail 
1 See An Historical Enquiry concerning Henry Hudson, by John Meredith 
Read (Albany, 1856). 
2 See my Life of John Davis, p. 29. 
