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Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 3079, 12 April 1927, Page 6

APRIL 17—HUDSON'S LAST VOYAGE Three hundred and seventeen years and in the month of August he entered ago, on the 17th April, 1610, Henry the great inland sea which now bears Hudson, the intrepid maritime cxplor- his name, namely, Hudson Bay, the cr sailed from England on the last of eastern shore of which he explored unhis four famous Arctic voyages, all of til the 10th November, when he was which were undertaken with the object shut in by the ice and compelled to set of discovering a navigable passage to up winter quarters in the south-west China through the northern seas. corner of James Bay. There is nothing authentically known During the winter the crew of the regarding the career of Hudson prior "Discovery" suffered great privations to the last four years of his life, which owing to the scarcity of food, and soon is the period covered by the four voy- after the voyage was commenced in the ages. The first two were made in following spring a mutiny broke out on 1607 and 1608 respectively, and . were board, which culminated in Hudson beboth undertaken on behalf of the Mus- ing cast adrift in the Arctic seas. He cow Company. Although in each in- and his young son, four loyal members stance Hudson failed to discover a o f the crew and three sick men were north-eastern passage to China, he re- forced into a small boat and left to perturned home with much valuable infor- ish from starvation and exposure in the mation, and one result of the voyage midst of the floating ice. was the establishment of the rich Bri- Nothing more was seen or heard of tish whale fisheries at Spitzbergen. the abandoned men, but three months In 1(309 Hudson entered the service later the "Discovery" arrived back in of the Dutch East India Company, for England, where the surviving members whom the third voyage was undertak- of the crew were placed in prison. The i en. Once again he failed to find a sea discoveries made by the ill-fated mariroute to the northeast, and according- ncr on his last voyage resulted, sixty lv turned to the west, where he pro- years later, in the formation of the ceded up the eastern coast of North famous Hudson Bay Company, which America and explored the Hudson Xiv- played such an important part in the or for a distance of 150 miles. On his early development of Canada. return voyage to Holland he put into Hudson was not the discoverer of the Dartmouth Harboitr, where his ship was great bay, the straits and the river promptly seized by the British Govern- which perpetuate his name, for they ment, and he was forbidden to leave had already been visited by some of England again except in the service o£ the earlier adventurers in the northern his own country. seas and were all marked on the rough His fourth and last voyage was fin- maps then in existence, but he was tho anced by a small British company, first mariner to sail up the Hudson tivwhieli fitted out a ship of 55 tons er and to the southern limits of Hudson known as the '' Discovery.'' Hudson Bay, and as a result of his discoveries sailed from London on the 17th April, several fresh fields were opened up to 1610, with the intention of seeking a British enterprise, north-western passage via Davis Strait, (Copyrighted),