Henry Hudson was a determined Renaissance seadog of obscure origins, an adventurous spirit who planted his name on North America and later vanished into the cold obscurity of Hudson's Bay after mutinous crewmates abandoned him and his son in a small boat. All that is factually known of the great explorer derives from logs or journals recorded during his four voyages of discovery between 1607 and 1610. His family was associated with the Muscovy Company, a group of English seafarers who invested in the White Sea trade with Moscow and searched for a Northeast Passage to the legendary riches of Marco Polo's Cathay. The rest is conjecture.

Amsterdam merchants of the East India Company employed this seasoned English mariner on Jan. 8, 1609, issuing specific orders to determine an Arctic route around the northern cape of Norway to the fabled Spice Islands. But climate change blocked his way. Global cooling was then a worldwide phenomenon as the Little Ice Age intensified between 1580 and 1680 and severe winters disrupted the activities of every living creature. Consequently Hudson sailed an 80-ton Dutch ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), 85-and-a-half-feet in length, to the top of the world with 18 English and Dutch crewmembers aboard. The best comparison with this voyage into the vast unknown would be the missions of the first astronauts of our own time, who were launched into space in small metal capsules on the tip of a massive rocket.

What we know of Hudson's epic voyage originates from brief excerpts from his own logs and a self-serving journal kept by a troublesome shipmate, Robert Juet, who hailed from the medieval Thames port of Limehouse. The Halve Maen departed Amsterdam on April 4, 1609, reaching Novaya Zemlya, a Russian island in the ice-bound Barents Sea, on May 19. Facing mutiny from his crew, who were not accustomed to such a frigid environment, Hudson set sail for North America. During their stormy transoceanic crossing, their only stop was to replenish their water supply on the Faroe Islands on May 30.

A misguided quest

At the time, wishful thinking and misleading intelligence cloaked the Middle Atlantic Coast between New England and Chesapeake Bay in mystery. Hudson came to these shores in quest of the mythic Isthmus of Verrazano. Eighty-five years earlier, Giovanni da Verrazano had mistakenly identified the chain of barrier islands and sandy peninsulas along the mid-Atlantic coast as a mile-wide, 200-mile-long isthmus, which divided the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The mythic Isthmus Verrazano appeared as a geological reality on a 1529 map. To a large degree, Verrazano anticipated Hudson's discoveries, for on or about April 11, 1524, he sailed into New York Harbor, naming it Santa Margarita in honor of Marguerite, sister of the French King, on her 32nd birthday.

Hudson was off Cape Sable on the Canadian coast by July 1, 1609. Riding the coastal currents south, he reached the latitude of Roanoke Island on Aug. 24 and began retracing Verrazano's route northward along the coast. Passing Barnegat Inlet, the crew of the Halve Maen saw the Neversink Highlands loom into view. They entered the Lower Bay and sailed up the Shrewsbury River, between the Atlantic Highlands and Sandy Hook, in search of an outlet to the Indian Ocean. At Long Branch, they met two Aquamachuques, clad in deerskins, who welcomed them with every sign of friendship. The Aquamachuques were part of the larger tribe of Sanhicans who inhabited the shores of Sandy Hook and Raritan Bays, residing in villages below Keyport Harbor. But all was not well, for these tribes had "deadly enemies" across the way. On Sept. 6, 26 Manhattans in two canoes attacked five members of Hudson's crew as they probed the waterways around Staten Island in their scout boat. The warlike Manhattans occupied the village of Werpoes near the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Menach'hen is literally the local Algonquian word for "an island." During this confrontation, John Coleman, a crewmember, was killed by an arrow shot through his throat.

A river runs through it

Sept. 11 dawned hot and clear as Henry Hudson entered New York Harbor. He located the river that would later bear his name on Sept. 12, passing headlands on opposite shores between what is now 11th Street in Hoboken and a now-vanished hill in Chelsea. The Halve Maen anchored near 103rd Street, opposite Edgewater. Here Hudson admired a forested island where the locals smoked copper pipes, describing it "as pleasant a land as one can tread upon..." Curious Manhattanites came aboard with gifts of corn and tobacco. That evening the ship anchored above the Spuyten Duyvil, below what is now Henry Hudson Park on Palisade Avenue, Kappock Street and Independence Avenue in the Bronx. Here, the Henry Hudson Monument was begun in 1912 and dedicated on Jan. 6, 1938.

On Sept. 18, Hudson stopped at the Hudson Anchorage near the Stottville Flats. Here, he rode ashore in a canoe with a friendly old man, sachem of a Mahican village comprised of 40 men and 17 women. In a circular bark hut, he sat upon reed mats, feasting on squab and roasted dog meat. Enough corn and beans to fill three ships lay drying near the hut.

The Halve Maen reached Coxsackie on Sept. 19, where natives boarded the ship bearing grapes and pumpkins. The crew exchanged beads, knives and hatchets for deer and otter skins. Having run aground in shallow water several times, Hudson dispatched several crewmen upriver in his scout boat. On Sept. 22, 1609, they ventured as far as what is now the Patroon Island Bridge in Albany, which now carries Interstate 90 over the Hudson River. After a voyage of 150 miles upstream, they had reached a dead end.

Violence marred their descent of the river. On Oct. 1, near Croton Point, they were trading for pelts when a native canoeist climbed up the rudder and stole Juet's pillow, two shirts and two bandoleers (a belt worn across the chest used by soldiers to carry cartridges). The master's mate shot and killed him, sending the rest of his accomplices fleeing Ð some in their canoes, others leaping overboard and swimming away. After the crew manned their scout boat to retrieve the stolen items, a native swimmer tried to tip the boat over. The cook cut off his hand with a sword and he immediately drowned. The Halve Maen then rode the ebb tide to Upper Nyack.

Hudson again halted near Manhattanville at 125th Street on Oct. 2. Two canoes full of warriors attacked the ship, but Hudson's crew fired their muskets at them, killing a few individuals in the process. When several hundred Manhattan bowmen gathered on a strategic point of land, Juet killed two with cannon fire and sent the rest running for cover in the woods. The tenacious Manhattans launched yet another canoe loaded with 10 men, which Juet struck with a deadly cannon shot. A final barrage of musket fire ended the battle. Escaping to the opposite side of the river at a safe distance, the Halve Maen anchored in Weehawken Cove, beneath the serpentine cliff of Castle Point in Hoboken. Hudson set sail from the river on Oct. 4.

The return voyage was troublesome. Once more, the crew became mutinous, savagely threatening the captain. The Dutch mate argued for wintering in Newfoundland and continuing the search for a Northwest Passage. Hudson cited their lack of winter provisions and agreed instead to winter in Ireland. Without further explanation, the Halve Maen docked at Dartmouth, Devonshire, England, on Nov. 7, 1609.

After attempting to press on with his exploration in 1611, Hudson was cast adrift in Hudson Bay along with infirmed crew and his teenage son, John. His ultimate fate remains unknown.

THE LEGACY OF A NATURAL DEMOCRACY

According to the earliest European observers, the various native communities of the Hudson Valley "divided into many nations and peoples [and] differ much from one another in language though very little in manners." A Dutch map prepared in 1616 shows numerous autonomous tribes. The Manhattans lived not only on their home island, but also across the river on Bergen Neck. The Tappans and their close neighbors, the Mechkentowoon, occupied maize-land along the Palisades and the fertile northern valley of the Hackensack River. Closely related to the Sanhicans and the Mateuwax of Long Island, the Hackensacks resided in a village at Kips Bend on the Hackensack River in Teaneck, but claimed territory as far south as Newark.

Wickquaesgeck was the name given to the sandy pine country and its inhabitants situated directly across the Hudson River from Tappan, north of Manhattan. The Rumachenanck or Haverstraw Indians lived upon the west bank of the Hudson River, northeast of the Tappans. The Pachami resided near Fishkill in Dutchess County, opposite Storm King Mountain. The Waoranecks lived along Roundout Creek. On the opposite bank, the Waranawankoughs hunted and farmed near Rhinebeck. The Mahicans resided at the head of tides of the Hudson River, taking their name from the root word, hikan, meaning, "at the head of the tides."

Hudson's visit with North Americans of the Middle Atlantic Coast 400 years ago set the stage for Dutch colonization of the Hudson and Delaware Valleys. Yet, if the physical presence of the native peoples that Hudson encountered now seems far removed from our eyes and thoughts, we need to look more carefully at history, for their political outlook and spiritual contribution remains at the heart of our national identity. An early geographer reported these First Peoples lived "almost all equally free." For the most part, various tribes showed no special regard or honor for their governors. Isaack De Rasieres, Provincial Secretary of New Netherlands, observed, "their political government is democratic" and their chiefs were chosen by "election." Another astute Dutch commentator, Adrian Van Der Donck, concluded, "they are all free by nature, and will not bear any domineering or lording over them; they will not bear any insult, unless they have done wrong, and they will not bear chastisement without resentment." This observation accurately describes what we now call the American spirit, its origins firmly rooted in native societies.

CELEBRATING THE HUDSON AT 400

Broken Arrows: A Concert for Peace Among Peoples
Sept. 13, 7 p.m., Chapel of St. Michael's Villa, 399 Hudson Terrace, Englewood Cliffs
Sponsored by the Bergen County Historical Society, this concert commemorates the Hudson Quadricentennial 1609-2009 and the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. The concert features The Practitioners of Musick, performing music from Holland's golden age and readings honoring the first peoples of the Hudson Valley.

Researcher and musician John Burkhalter, a founder of The Practitioners of Musick ensemble, has the finest performance collection of 17th century Dutch music in the United States. Past BCHS president Kevin Wright will present two short readings on behalf of the native peoples, comprising a rare excerpt from Hudson's own log, describing his repast with the Mahicans near Stockport Flats on Sept. 18, 1609, when the men actually broke their arrows and cast them into the fire to show their peaceful intentions. He will also relate Hackensack sachem Tantaqua's telling of the Algonquian story of creation from an entry in missionary Jasper Danck¾rts' journal dated Oct. 16, 1679. Tantaqua resided at New Bridge in present-day Teaneck and River Edge.

Donation: $50 per person. For information, call (201) 343-9492 or visit bergencountyhistory.org.

Rare Artifacts on Display
throughout September, The Shops at Riverside, Hackensack
In commemoration of the Hudson Quadricentennial 1609-2009, the Bergen County Historical Society will also exhibit its rare Dugout Canoe and Hungarian sculptor John Ettl's bronze bust of Oratam, Sachem of the Hackensacks, at The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack. Workmen digging the cellar of a house near Hudson Street in 1868 discovered the Dugout Canoe under 5 feet of clay. Of undetermined age, it was hollowed by fire from a white oak log. John Ettl resided in Leonia when he sculpted his bust of Oratam, Sachem of the Hackensacks, in 1921. In historical records, the great chief's name is variously spelled Oratamin, Oratamy, Oratan, Oratany, and Oratin. He reportedly died in 1667 at age 90.


Editor's Note: Kevin Wright is author of the upcoming book 1609: A Country That Was Never Lost, to be published by History Imprints of Franklin, Tenn.