ch. xv] Early Voyages to Hudson 's Bay 
137 
considered from the very first. We have seen how 
Barentsz arranged a Twelfth-night entertainment. Button 
kept the men's minds employed by requiring them to 
answer questions respecting the expedition and its objects, 
and by thus interesting them in the work on which they 
were engaged. 
In June, 1613, the ice broke up, and the ship 
left winter quarters and reached Cape Digges. In re- 
turning by Hudson Strait it was discovered that the 
land on which Cape Chidley is situated is an island, and 
the ships passed through the strait which is thus formed. 
The expedition returned to England in the autumn of 
1613. Button's relation, Captain Gibbons, started on 
another expedition in 1614, with Bylot as his mate in 
the Discovery. Before he could enter Hudson Strait he 
was driven by the ice into a bay on the coast of Labrador 
where he remained for 20 weeks and then returned home. 
The crew called the bay " Gibbons his Hole." 
Button's journal was never published, and we are 
indebted to Luke Foxe, a later explorer, for all the in- 
formation that has reached us respecting his voyage. 
In 1618 he was in command on the coast of Ireland. He 
was Rear Admiral in the fleet of Sir Edward Mansell, 
which was sent against the Algerine pirates in 1620, and 
in 1623 ne was again employed in suppressing piracy. 
He became Admiral Sir Thomas Button, married Mary, 
daughter of Sir Walter Rice of Dynevor and, dying in 
April 1634, left a son who succeeded him at Duffryn. 
The expedition of Sir Thomas Button to Hudson's 
Bay was ably conducted, and resulted in considerable 
additions to geographical knowledge. 
