Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson

by Peter C. Mancall

The English explorer Henry Hudson devoted his life to the search for a water route through America, becoming the first European to navigate the Hudson River in the process. In Fatal Journey , acclaimed historian and biographer Peter C. Mancall narrates Hudson's final expedition.

In the winter of 1610, after navigating dangerous fields of icebergs near the northern tip of Labrador, Hudson's small ship became trapped in winter ice. Provisions grew scarce and tensions mounted amongst the crew. Within months, the men mutinied, forcing Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other men into a skiff, which they left floating in the Hudson Bay.

A story of exploration, desperation, and icebound tragedy, Fatal Journey vividly chronicles the undoing of the great explorer, not by an angry ocean, but at the hands of his own men.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Canada, American History, World History, Adventure

303 pages, Hardcover

First published May 28, 2009

About the author

A 1981 graduate of Oberlin college, Peter Mancall attended graduate school at Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. in history in 1986. Mancall was a visiting Assistant Professor of History at Connecticut College from 1986 to 1987. After teaching as a Lecturer on History and Literature at Harvard for two years, he took a position at the University of Kansas in 1989. In 2001, Mancall took a position at the University of Southern California, where he helped to create the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute in 2003, becoming its first director. He has served on the editorial board of several journals, and from 2007 to 2009 he was Associate Vice Provost for Research Advancement at the University of Southern California.

Mancall has written five books and edited eight others, and written around forty book reviews in such journals as American Historical Review, Journal of American History, Journal of Economic History, Journal of the Early Republic, and many others. His newest book, Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson—A Tale of Mutiny and Murder in the Arctic was published by Basic Books on June 9, 2009. Mancall has accepted an offer to write Volume 1 of the Oxford History of the United States series covering American colonial history to c. 1680.

~from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_C....

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book I would usually read but it was loaned to me by my cousin who said, "Read it". I did and he was right.

This is a fascinating history of the obsession of the British to find the "Northwest Passage" which they believed could be reached by a river that led from the Atlantic to the Southern Pacific through North America. Numerous explorers including the Dutch and French gave it a try but soon felt they had better things to do. But the British mariners were convinced that it existed and various companies were developed to underwrite the explorations. The most famous of the intrepid explorers was Henry Hudson whose name has been given to various bays and rivers in North America based on his discovery of bodies of water, all of which he thought were the "passage".

This book concentrates on his fourth and final voyage in 1610-11, from which he did not return. Based on diaries and writings of two crew members of those who were involved, it appears that after being trapped in the ice for months, a portion of the crew mutinied and put Hudson, his son and several other loyal sailors into an open boat and left them to perish. No trace was ever found of them. A court of inquiry exonerated those men that brought the ship back to England, which I thought was a bit surprising.

The author also covers the voyages of other explorers who braved the Arctic waters in their futile search for the "passage" and it is a rip-roaring tale of bravery, deprivation, and the spirit of discovery which drove these men. Recommended.

[Howard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a disappointing account of one of the most successful of all the European explorers of North America. It is marred by supposition and presumption as well as repetition and unnecessary digressions that smack of padding the story.

I gave it two stars only because I did learn some things about Hudson's voyages of discovery and his tragic fate in the fourth and final one that I had not known before reading the book.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose I should note that I actually forgot the title of this book even though I finished it yesterday.
And the book isn’t really that bad. Supposedly a chronicle of Hudson’s last and fatal journey, the book does look at the exploration of the north that was going on in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The weak part, strangely enough, is the description of Hudson’s last trip where it becomes very difficult to keep track of who is who in the crew. Additionally, I would’ve liked to know what happened to Hudson’s family.
Yet, if you are looking at the discovery of the Northwest passage , this is something that you should read. The writing is good and engaging. It keeps the reader though the story.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of exploration and tragedy in the Arctic, the story of the final voyage of Henry Hudson...in 1610, the Englishman Hudson set out with a small ship and a 22-man crew to seek the Northwest Passage across the north of the Americas to reach "the South Sea ( the Pacific)." Navigating their way through dangerous icebergs, Hudson and his men made it to the Straits and the Bay now named for him. As Hudson traveled south into Hudson's Bay, he hoped it connected to the Pacific and he would soon arrive in Japan. It was not to be. Instead, Hudson was trapped in the ice in James Bay. What happened next was a mutiny by Hudson's crew and the death of Hudson. Peter Mancall does a good job of telling the story, giving us also a good background about the Age of Discovery, when men in small sailing ships voyaged around the world seeking riches but also to expand human knowledge of the world in which we live.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere between a 3 and a 4 for me. Interesting but somewhat repetitive, the book focuses on the last voyage of Henry Hudson on the Discovery. After spending the winter of 1610 icebound in what is now the Hudson Bay, a number of Hudson's crew mutinied the following spring. The mutineers forced Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other mostly ill men into a shallop (small boat) and sailed away, abandoning Hudson and his companions to their unknown fate. Or at least that is what the surviving crew claimed when they returned to England, with the further explanation that the actual "mutineers" had all been conveniently killed by by Inuits on the voyage home, and the few returning survivors were simply innocent witnesses to the mutiny. (Okay...sure...maybe.) In any event, this sounds like a rollicking good adventure/mystery -right? Unfortunately, the problem is that with so little historical evidence (and that "evidence" is so compromised, given the self-interests of the sources), there isn't much to say about what actually happened to Hudson that isn't pure conjecture. So this subject, taken by itself, would probably be better served by an article as opposed to a book, or alternatively as a component of a book covering a much broader topic. Mancall sort of tries to informally take the latter approach by also discussing a number of other matters (piracy laws, the search for a northern route to the Spice Islands, Deptford and the Masters of Trinity House, etc.) but the result was a bit disjointed for my taste. Still, overall an interesting subject and interesting read.

[Marian Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found "Fatal Journey" to be a lighter read than expected; however, this had a lot to do with the fact that this particular story of Hudson's last journey requires conjecture based on what few facts we have. Mancall did an excellent job weaving what few sources he had on the issue with the narrative approach to this historical period. I was impressed with the context and supporting sources that was provided to help provide more insight to the motivations and circumstances of both Hudson and his men. While there definitely leaves a lot of possibilities for Hudson's fateful end, this book is an excellently written history on a subset for the age of discovery presented along Hudson's timeline. Although I was disappointed because there was less detail on the shipping aspects itself, this had a higher overview of what drove maritime regulations and expectations for seamen.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

1 1/2 - 2 stars tops.

This book may be summed up with one sentence from page 228: "In death, his explorations would provide his country not with the vaunted passage to the east, but something of even more enduring value and significance - lands, bays, and rivers whose fortunes and history would forever link one hemisphere to the other."

"A tale of mutiny and murder in the Arctic."

Sounds exciting doesn't it? Excitement was what I anticipated. Did NOT happen. Dry, dry, dry - such an interesting subject and the author could not have related the events in a more boring manner. This story does pick up a bit around page 152 or so. The sum of Hudson's life is found in the statement on page 228 (see above). The source material was interesting.

Gigantic disappointment!

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, which I am not consciously aware of, I have a taste for reading books about historical mutinies for some reason or another from time to time [1].  Mutinies thrive on situations where trust is lacking and where danger is high, and those circumstances certainly were in play during the early explorations of the age of discovery, where provisioning was often lacking and where intrepid captains in search of new paths to spices and trade wealth put themselves and their crews in harm's way.  It is not a wonder that there were mutinies given the absence of state control over far flung ships of discovery, but rather that they happened as rarely as they did.  In this particular book we have a bit of puffing by the author but a great deal of interesting context about the subject of the book, Henry Hudson, and his life and times.  Since Henry Hudson was an early English navigator and explorer who is remembered through his exploration of Hudson Bay and the Hudson River in the unsuccessful search for the Northwest Passage--he also unsuccessfully sought the Northeast Passage--he is certainly well worth knowing about.

This book, in a bit more than 200 pages, reads like a historical mystery novel.  The author begins in media res with a discussion of the mutiny that left him marooned in subarctic Canada while his erstwhile servant led a group of unhappy people back towards England, many of whom would not make it.  After that the author spends a couple of chapters looking at the context of northern exploration and the desire for European countries of new trade routes that would help in obtaining spices.  Finally, after this the author discusses Hudson's previous explorations in the North Atlantic and his efforts to find a Northwest Passage.  Finally, after nearly 100 pages, the author begins talking about the fatal voyage that led Hudson to discover the bay named after him that stranded his crew in ice for an entire winter and that after some moves by a few upset crew members, led to a mutiny by four (or more) of his sailors that led to him and a few others (including one of his sons) to being put in a small boat and left behind as the mutineers set sail for home.  Most of the book focuses on the interrogations of the few surviving crew, the efforts by others to find the few traces of his efforts to survive that could be found, the murder trial of a couple of the surviving crew members that was inconclusive, and the author's own reasonable speculation as to the ultimate and unpleasant fate of Hudson and those marooned with him.

In many ways, this is a melancholy book that serves to push a somewhat leftist agenda.  The author spends a lot of time talking about the social animosities of the crew members based on matters of class, and his speculation about Hudson is based on his desire to point out the fragility of European explorers and their dependence on the know-how of the local indigenous population.  Indeed, a less than charitable reader would suspect that there are a few obvious motivations for the author writing this book.  For one, it allows him to praise the culture and knowledge of indigenous peoples in the age of exploration, which the author has written and edited about at some length.  In addition, the research involved is close to his own existing interests in the efforts of the English establishment (led by Haklyut and others) to support missions of exploration and colonization.  This, therefore, is no great stretch for the author, and allows him to add to his list of published works without requiring a substantial amount of new research, especially given the paucity of accounts to work with and the large amount of room for guesswork and speculation that the subject affords.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...

[David Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry Hudson was hired by private investors to find a shorter route to Asia from Europe through the Arctic Ocean. After twice being turned back by ice, Hudson embarked on a third voyage in 1609, backed by the Dutch East India Company. He chose to continue east by a more southern route, drawn by reports of a possible channel across the North American continent to the Pacific. Hudson’s ships sailed up the river that now bears his name but turned back when they determined it was not the “Northwest Passage” they sought.

Little is known about Hudson’s early life, he studied navigation and was renowned for his skills, as well as his knowledge of Arctic geography. After landing in Newfoundland, Canada, Hudson’s expedition traveled south along the Atlantic coast and put into the great river discovered by Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524. They traveled up the river about 150 miles, to what is now Albany, before deciding that it would not lead all the way to the Pacific.

The British East India Company, along with private sponsors, jointly funded Hudson’s fourth and final voyage. Hudson sailed from London in April 1610 in the Discovery, stopped briefly in Iceland, then continued west. After traversing the coast again, he passed through the inlet described as a potential entry point to a northwest passage. Now called Hudson Strait, it runs between Baffin Island and northern Quebec. When the coastline suddenly opened up towards the south, Hudson believed he might have found the Pacific, but he soon realized he had sailed into a gigantic bay, now known as Hudson Bay.

Hudson continued sailing southward along the bay’s eastern coast until he reached its southernmost extremity at James Bay, between northern Ontario and Quebec. While enduring harsh winter conditions with no outlet to the Pacific in sight, some crew members grew restless and hostile, suspecting Hudson of hoarding rations to give to his favorites. In June 1611, as the expedition began heading back to England, sailors who had been demoted, led a mutiny. Seizing Hudson and his son, they cast them adrift on Hudson Bay in a small open lifeboat, along with seven other men who were suffering from scurvy. Hudson was never heard from again. Hudson’s discoveries laid the groundwork for Dutch colonization of the Hudson River region, as well as English land claims in Canada.

[J.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wanted to like this but just can't get into it.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 2 out of 5]

My frustration with this book began early, and prompted this comment: "I've just finished reading the description of Hudson's first Arctic voyage, in this book, and it's utterly incoherent. The author seems to think that Svalbard is just off the coast of Greenland, and that Hudson passed it in May, and then was there again in July. The place names don't match the positions, and he forgets to tell us where those place names apply to. How the heck are people taking the book seriously??"

Having finished the book now, I can say that these problems persisted, more or less, throughout. The book is very well researched, with excellent endnotes, but the concept of the thing is weak, and the presentation and editing are second-rate.

First problem: maps and names. There is really only one two-page map in the book, depicting the four Hudson voyages, with an inset of Hudson Bay, where the mutiny put him in a small boat, never to be seen again. The first irritation is that most of the important named places in the book are not named on the map. The second irritation is that the author decided to use (though he doesn't stick to it) "the names that appeared on contemporary maps" and in most instances neglects to tell us what those places are now called. So if you have an atlas to consult, however detailed, IT WON'T HELP YOU. Ahem. This is because most of the names have changed. An annoying example is the Davis Strait. The author calls it Davis Strait several times, and then on page 148 switches to Fretum Davis (the period name) without explaining that they're the same thing. He sticks to Fretum for a while, then switches back. The map, of course, only shows Davis Strait.

Why have names on the map that aren't the ones you use in the text???

Second problem: incoherent travelogue. The narrative of the first voyage is incoherent, and it isn't just one error. I thought, at first, that a paragraph might have been switched, but it's clear that the author was not following a map as he wrote the thing, and he then seems to have edited it into nonsense. The author has great trouble writing spatial descriptions, which I assert because three of the four voyages have incoherent elements. When you are writing a book centering on voyages, that's a crippling deficit. He fails to stick to sequence. The sailors go ashore, he doesn't tell us what land they're on. The sailors see an island, he often forgets to tell us anything about where, exactly, that island might be.

Third problem: there ain't much there, there. The title tells us that this book is about the final expedition of Henry Hudson. In fact, it isn't. Why? Because everything we know about that voyage could be related in less than ten clear pages. We've never discovered (unlike with the Franklin expedition)(which, oddly, is never mentioned) any evidence of Hudson's fate, so most of what would be interesting about this mystery is, well, just a mystery. So the author writes about everything else. And then he fake-describes what happened to Hudson by presuming it would be analogous to what happened on this other expedition, and then mentioning that actually we have no idea. He loads us with context, but there's no kernel of truth in the middle. Just emptiness, and vague supposition.

There are also spelling errors. He thinks the Faroë Islands are the Faro Islands. I've got several period maps and narratives, and that never seemed to have been a spelling. He mentions ships trying to get to Friesland, but doesn't tell the reader (that I can find from the index) that Friesland didn't, in fact, exist. There are repetitions. He doesn't tell us how many people were on the Discovery when it started on the last voyage, until they get home. So the whole time we're putting this many in the shallop, and this many are dying in the attack, the reader has no idea how many people are still on the ship.

In sum, 5-star research, 1-star presentation.

[Audra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting look at almost-primary sources that manages not to be boring. I'm a big fan of maps, especially endpaper maps, so I would have liked to have had a better map than the frontispiece, but that's really a minor complaint, especially considering the interesting (and idiosyncratic) illustrations chosen for the book.

Because I like to wonder "what if?" his speculations on the fate of Hudson was just too short, but realistically there isn't a lot to go on. (I sure would like to know what the deal was with that rock found in Ontario, though.) He manages to entwine the historical record with an interesting and even lively narrative that does not pall.

Now I want to go read about Frobisher and Davis. And listen to Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage about 87 more times.

[Edgar Lavoie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have tremendous respect for the historian who wrote this: well researched, well written. Claims he has insights that others have missed, and I want to believe him: e.g., that Hudson was the premier mariner/explorer of the Arctic regions of his era; that he normally chose his crews well, but slipped up when choosing for the last, "fatal" voyage. When I finish, I plan to read another Hudson history, "God's Mercies" by Douglas Hunter. I live in Northern Ontario, and the fact that Hudson was likely the first European visitor to the region, rather intrigues me. Mind you, there are some who say the Vikings were first.

[Juliet · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit stiff & stuttering. A lack of primary materials means the narrative is too reliant on conjecture ("perhaps he" and "he may have") and there's not enough information available to tell an exciting, immediate story. Likewise, the novel is "filled out" with extraneous contextual information. A certain amount of historical context and details of the day is enlightening -- the heavy leaning on it here feels tangential.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. A lot of the book is general arctic exploration information. Maybe about half the book is actually about Hudson's final expedition. For a person that is reading their first arctic exploration book it may be more interesting. Was not the best written book in my opinion. The author never really grabbed me and the book seemed to take a long time to read. Kinda dull. But a interesting story, just not an exciting read.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent but brief recounting of the last trip of Henry Hudson. While this book is not an academic work it seems well researched and adequately documented. I would recommend this to anyone interested the grim but stirring history of European exploration of the Arctic and the quest for the Northwest Passage.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

So little is actually known about Henry Hudson's life and death, I am absolutely amazed that Mancall was able to eke over 300 pages out of his subject matter. However, his lack of source material was more than likely the reason behind my lack of interest while reading this book.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may sound a bit crazy, but this book made me miss Canadian Winters.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting and readable. not just about Hudson last expedition. there is also information about earlier and later expeditions.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For myself I am no expert on 16th, 17th, 18th, or 19th century sea faring adventures. And although I have visited the Hudson River in my journeys to New York, New York, I knew virtually nothing of the man the river’s moniker is derived, to say the least of Hudson Bay and Straits. Thus, this book provided my first real introduction to the man Henry Hudson and what a sea faring and daring adventurer/explorer he was.

Author Peter Mancall has produced a very readable and well researched book for which any one at any level of historical knowledge, especially about the search for the elusive Northwest Passage, will find well worth the time. I believe Mr. Mancall has give us firm reasons to believe that after the mutiny of his men leaving him, his son, and mostly weakened souls adrift in James Bay, Mr. Hudson survived, at least for a time. The dogged determination of Hudon’s character, his resourcefulness, and ability to lead probably preserved the doomed men longer than we may think. On the other hand, the harshness of the upper stretches of the Canadian Shield would prove more stubborn that Hudson himself and their having survived a second winter is most unlikely.

Beyond the speculation of Hudon’s and the others fate, Mancall provides insight to the men who did make it back on the Discovery to tell the tale of mutiny (over Hudson’s hoarding food stores) and survival in getting back to England. We only have the scant records to go by, but one is left with wondering just how reliable the testimonies of the survivors are. It seems their first interrogations proved sufficiently believable that nothing legal proceeded forward until several years later, and a growing worry about piracy arose. Even then, after the second inquiry into the story of Hudson in which no survivor served any time, one is left to wonder if those stories had been deliberately shaped to clear them of any guilt. How convenient that the four ringleaders of mutiny happened to all die in a Native Inuit encounter turned violent.

Whatever the fate of Hudson and his other castaways was, or the veracity of the survivor’s testimony, the book will give the reader a fuller appreciation of Hudson the man, the courage and skill of the explorers themselves, and the energetic depth of European engagement to find the shortest route to the valuable trade that was enriching a few. You are left with a brisk and educational tome enveloped in mystery in the drama of Henry Hudson’s final end.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like history, and this is the interesting story of Henry Hudson's voyage into what became Hudson's Bay. In 1611, after wintering here, some of his crew mutinied and sent Hudson, his son and six others adrift in a small boat. They and no trace of them were never seen again. The story is put in context of the search for the elusive North Passage to Asia. Britain hoped to find a route that would bypass Spanish and Portugese colonies. After a few more attempts, they realized the passage did not exist.

[Emily Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

three stars has nothing to do with the writing quality or the authors research, both were good. however this story was less interesting just because there is so little documentation of what happened compared to other similar stories I have enjoyed. the account of the actual voyage is very short. a large portion of this book is historical context and speculation about what *might* have happened. its a story that would be a lot more interesting if we had more extensive details about the voyage and clues about what actually happen to Hudson.

[Robert Flaxman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though it does a pretty good job of giving the reader an image of England in the early 17th century, Mancall's narrative is - necessarily - fairly scant. It is difficult to write a complete story about a centuries-old event about which so little is known, and the author's efforts to stretch things to book lengths at times feel painfully obvious on the page. Still, a solid enough read for anyone interested in the Age of Discovery.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as it gets, from the extant records. What happened to Henry Hudson?
The author takes it back, and as deeply as possible. We can only go by the testimony recorded back in London. I rate this slightly higher than I would because I disagree with some of the harsh reviews here, left by others earlier.
I found it to be a good read and in reality, the author only repeats himself a few times.

[Oliver Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

!***WARNING: The following contains spoilers, but is not hidden due to the book being non-fiction and not suspenseful.***!
Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson by Peter C. Mancall is about the great explorer Henry Hudson and his death in the Arctic. Henry Hudson spent his life exploring in search of the Northwest Passage, a sea route over the top of America. He went farther than any other explorer before him into the freezing cold and ice. His last voyage in 1611 ended with mutiny. He persevered so far into the north that it became impossible to go back before winter set in. His only choice was to winterize the ship (make it ice-proof) and spend the winter on land. Many men got scurvy or other diseases, and morale was extremely low. Eventually, the crew mutinied and left Hudson with his supporters behind. Nobody knows exactly what happened to them. There are numerous stories of later explorers who found houses with human bones, and there was an Inuit town whose name allegedly indicates that Hudson was buried there. In addition, the surviving crew members were all tried in England. However, nobody really knows who told the truth. Surviving crew members all agreed that Hudson deserved what he got for showing favoritism when distributing rations and hiding food for his own personal use. According to the crew members who made it back to England, all the men who started the mutiny died on the way back. Although blood was found on the decks and clothes on the ship, crew members claimed that an Inuit attack caused these. The characters whom I dislike the most are the crew members Greene and Juet, both of whom apparently died before the ship arrived home. Those crew members allegedly started the mutiny and were disrespectful towards the captain’s authority. Although information about the true occurrences on the Discovery (Hudson’s ship) is hard to find, another crew member called Pricket wrote a record of the voyage. According to Pricket, who stayed on the ship with the mutineers rather than leaving with Hudson but claimed to not be a mutineer, Juet was demoted from the position of First Mate for not respecting Hudson’s authority.

According to Wydowse [a mathematician taken on the voyage], on September 10, 1610, Hudson summoned the men together to confront charges leveled by Juet that the commander had abused his authority. Apparently he heard even more than he expected. Wydowse wrote that Hudson had listened to "many and great abuses, and mutinous matters" muttered by Juet, the kind of insubordination that could threaten a voyage if a captain ignored it. Hudson decided, again according to Wydowse, to punish those he deemed responsible and to "cut off farther occasions of the like mutinies." Wydowse kept track of those who came forward to repeat Juet's angry claims. The first was Mathews, "our Trumpet," who reported that by the time the English first saw Iceland Juet had warned there would be "man-slaughter, and prove bloody to some." His words implied that discord had beset the ship very early in its route west. One unnamed witness alleged that after the ship had left Iceland Juet had hoped to turn the Discovery around and head back to England—an idea that Hudson himself had managed to quell.

I can guess that, later on, Juet was even more vindictive towards Hudson, which may have caused the mutiny. Greene was never officially a crew member, but was taken on because he knew the captain. From what the book states, Greene was certainly not a respectable gentleman. If I could speak with Henry Hudson, I’d ask what really happened in 1611. Was he left behind? Was he killed? Who really was behind the mutiny? There are no completely trustworthy sources about what occurred in 1611, as the only people who made it back were somehow in the mutineers’ good graces. Pricket claimed that he didn’t approve of the mutiny and offered to go with Hudson, but that Greene wanted him to stay. The setting of this story, the cold Arctic, is important because it affected the crew’s morale. The cold and lack of fresh vegetables made many crew members get so sick that they couldn’t move. The crew probably was afraid that Hudson would keep exploring after the winter instead of sailing home. If I were Henry Hudson, I would try to stay in the good graces of people like Juet and Greene. Furthermore, I would not hire somebody like Greene for a long voyage. Lastly, I liked this book because of the sense of unsolved mystery about what really happened to Hudson.

However, I only gave this book a 3-star rating due to the somewhat boring parts. Although the book is commendable for getting to the most interesting part as soon as possible (the 1611 voyage & mutiny aboard the Discovery), I somewhat disliked the dryness of the information. Also, I think that Peter C. Mancall should have used a more story-like tone for the story. The initial description of voyages before 1611 isn't, in my opinion, relative to the book because the book is meant to concern "mutiny and murder" Hudson's previous voyages. Besides that, the book was extremely informative and mostly concise.

[Tom Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a straightforward account of Hudson's 4 voyages to North America. There were few embellishments but several asides that just barely risked getting too far off track. Mostly the book had some importance by filling in some of the questions of the explorer's achievements. The mystery of what happened on that fateful expedition is still to be answered.

[Mi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting historical information, but not much else. The main story is kind of a non-story, don't expect any excitement, mainly just an interesting overview of mainly British trade and shipping policies in the early 1600s. Not for everyone. It's a shortish book, about 230 pages; do-able, but not terribly enjoyable.

[Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was over halfway before the book was. In addition to this catastrophic oversight, the author consistently leaves the reader confused (by not properly introducing characters for example). Read the book and you’ll see what I mean.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

B. Subtitle explains the subject well enough. I did learn quite a bit about the man and the times.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A decent read in the shipwreck/mutiny genre but not my favorite.