175 
NORTH POLE. 
another; fome wifhing themfelves at home, and fome not 
caring where they were if once out of the ice; but, he 
adds, “ there were fome who then fpake words which 
were remembered a great while after.” The firft appear¬ 
ance of the mutiny is dated to have been produced by 
Hudfon difplacing the mate and boatfwain, “ for words 
fpoken when in the ice,” and appointing others. Pro¬ 
ceeding to the fouth, they entered a bay on Michaelmas- 
day, and gave it that name; and here it would feem the 
difcontent was increafed by the mailer infilling to weigh 
the anchor while the reft were deiirous of remaining there. 
Having fpent three months “ in alabyrinth without end,” 
they at length found a place on the ill of November, 
where they hauled the Ihip a-ground, and on the 10th 
were frozen in. About the middle of the month, John 
■Williams, the gunner, died ; on which occafion Pricket 
ejaculates, “ God pardon the mailer’s uncharitable deal¬ 
ing with this man !” And now we are let into Abacuk’s 
ftory of the confpiracy. 
Henry Hudfon had taken into his houfe in London a 
young man of the name of Greene, of good and refpeft- 
able parents, but an abandoned profligate, whom he car¬ 
ried with him to fea “ becaufe he could write well,” 
though in all probability from the more humane motive 
of faving him from ruin. This perfon quarrelled with 
the furgeon and others of the crew. Pricket fpeaks fa¬ 
vourably of his manhood; “ but for religion, he would 
fay, he was cleane paper, w’hereon he might write what 
liee would.” Having thus got rid of every religious feel¬ 
ing, it follows, of courfe, that no moral tie could bind 
him, and he foon began to confpire againft his benefaftor. 
The provifions growing fhort, increafed the difcontent of 
the crew ; but, for the fil'd three months, this part of the 
country abounded with fuch coveys of milk-white par¬ 
tridges, that they killed above a hundred dozen, belides 
others of different forts ; and, when the partridges left 
them in the fpring, their place was fupplied with fwans, 
geefe, ducks, and teals, but all of them difficult to pro¬ 
cure ; fo difficult, he tells us, that they were reduced to 
eat the mofs and frogs ; but, the ice breaking up, feven 
men were fent out in the boat, and returned the firft day 
with five hundred fifh as big as good herrings, and fome 
trouts ; this fupply, however, foon failed them, Hudfon 
now began to make preparations for leaving the bay in 
which they had wintered; previous to which he delivered 
out all the bread, being a pound to each man for about a 
fortnight, “ and he wept when he gave it unto them.” 
They had five cheefes, which were alfo divided among 
them, and which afforded three pounds and a half for 
feven days. They then flood to the north-weft; and on 
the 18th of June fell in with ice ; and on the 21ft, being 
Hill in the ice, Wilfon the boatfwain and Greene came to 
Pricket, who was lying lame in his cabin, and told him 
that they and the reft of their affociates meant to turn 
the mailer and all the fick into the boat, and leave them 
to fhift for themfelves ; that there was not fourteen days’ 
vi&uals left for the whole crew ; that they had not eaten 
any thing the laft three days, and were therefore re- 
folved “ either to mend or end; and what they had 
begun, they would go through with it, or die.” Pricket 
of courfe fays he tried to difluade them from their defign, 
but that Greene bade hint to hold his tongue, for he 
knew the word, and he would rather be hanged at home 
than ftarved abroad. Prefently came five or lix others to 
Pricket’s cabin, where the following oath was adminif- 
tered to each of the confpirators : “You fliall fwear truth 
to God, your prince, and country; you fhall do nothing 
but to the glory of God and the good of the adlion in 
hand, and harm to no man ;” and fo it very foon ap¬ 
peared ; for, on Hudfon’s coming out of his cabin, they 
feized and bound his arms behind him ; and, on his afking 
them what they meant, they told him he fhould know 
when he was in the boat. The boat was accordingly 
hauled along fide, “ and the poore ficke and lame men 
were called upon to get them out of their cabbins into 
the fhallop.” Immediately the captain, his fon, and 
feven others, were driven into the boat; and a fowling- 
piece, fome powder and fhot, a few pikes, an iron pot, a 
little meal, and fome other articles, thrown in at the 
fame time. The mutineers then cut the tow-rope, and 
let her go adrift among the ice, where fhe was left with 
thefe unfortunate men, in a lituation which cannot be 
contemplated without horror, and a feeling of deep in¬ 
dignation at the brutal perpetrators of this moll atrocious 
a< 5 l; and moll of all, at the bafe ingratitude of the wretch 
who had been fed, clothed, and refeued from ruin, by 
Hudfon. They were never heard of more. 
As foon as the boat was out of fight, Pricket fays 
Greene came to him and told him, that it was the will of 
the fliip’s company that he (Pricket) ftiould go up into 
the mailer’s cabin, and take charge of it, which, after 
fome reluctance, he tells us he did. The firft difpute 
among the people vvas, which way they fhould fleer; one 
being for Handing to the north-weft, and another to the 
north-eaft ; however, they were foon befet in the ice, 
where they remained fhut up for fourteen days; and, 
when at length they efcaped from the ice, their provifions 
were all gone, but they reached fome iflands on which 
they gathered cockle-grafs to eat. They now began to- 
talk among themfelves that England would be no fafe 
place for them ; “ and Henry Greene fwore the fhippe 
fhould not come into any place, but keep the fea /till, 
till he had the king’s majeftie’s hand and feale to fhew 
for his fafety;” and this Greene at length became their 
captain. 
On the 27th of July they reached fome ifland near 
Cape Digges, at the weftern extremity of Hudfon’s Strait, 
where they got fome gulls to feed upon, and fome cockle- 
grafs ; and here they met with a great number of favages, 
with whom at firft they were on friendly terms; but a 
quarrel foon enfued, in which Greene was killed, and 
three died of the wounds they had received in the feuffie. 
Pricket, after fighting manfully, by his own account, 
was alfo feverely wounded ; “ and thus,” he lays, “ you 
have heard the tragicall end of Henry Greene and his 
mates, thefe four being the only luftie men in all the Ihip.” 
The furvivors, fays Purchas, were now in the moll dread¬ 
ful plight; provifions nearly gone, and themfelves cut off 
from the only fpot on which they had calculated on pro¬ 
curing a fupply of fea-fowl. They contrived, however, 
to procure about three hundred of thefe fowls. They 
now Hood to the weftward, and endeavoured to (hape 
their courfe for Ireland. They had a little meal left, and 
with this and half a fea-fowl a-day to each man, they made 
a kind of pottage. “ We had flayed our fowle, for they 
will not pull; and Robert Ivet was the firft to make ufe 
of the Ikins by burning off the feathers ; fo they became 
a great dilh of meate, and, as for the garbidge, it was not 
throwne away. At length was all our meate fpent, and 
our fowle reftie and dry ; but, being no remedy, we were 
content with the fait broth for dinner, and the halfe- 
fowle for fupper.” Nor was this the worft ; they were 
compelled at laft to eat their candles, and to fry the Ikins 
and cru/hed bones of the fowl in candle-greafe, which, 
with a little vinegar, is ftated to have made “ a good dilh 
of meate.” Juft before they reached the land, and the 
laft of their fowls was in the fteep-tub, Robert Ivet, 
whom Hudfon is faid to have difplaced as mate, and next 
to Greene the chief mutineer, died for Iheer want. They 
were now in the Bay of Galloway, where they met with 
a Fowey filhing-fmack, the people of which agreed, for a 
certain fum, to carry them into Plymouth. 
Such is the fubftance of Pricket’s narrative; and, meagre 
and fufpicious as it is, the moll remarkable circumftance 
is, that it appeared fatisfa£lory in England ; at lead no 
further inquiry feems to have been made into the moil in¬ 
human and atrocious a£l that had been committed* 
Pricket, it is true, had difpofed of the principal muti¬ 
neers; and no doubt himfelf and thofe few who returned 
homemade it out that they were compelled to enter into 
1 the.-. 
