REVIEWS sailed for the London-based Muscovy Company and attempted the polar and northeast passages. He was blocked both times by the ice between Greenland and Nov a Zembla, bu the succeeded in reaching 80°23' north latitude, closer to the Pole than any mariner would get in a century. The famous third voyage, begun as another try at the northeast passage for the Dutch, ended in Hudson 's navigation up-river, from New York Bay to the site of present-day Albany. The possible reasons why Hudson changed his course and headed westward for America on this attempt have been thoroughly discussed by historians. It is surprising to read in Johnson's preface that he uncovered some of this information only after he published an article on Hudson's four voyages which, expanded, became the present book. Mate Robert Juet's log of the third voyage suggests a mutiny aboard the HalfMoonthatHudsonprobablyquelled through compromise, in order to pursue his real obsession: the discovery of the Northwest Passage so persuasively indicated by the explorations of Frobisher, Davis and Hudson 's friend, Captain John
Charting the Sea of Darkness: The Four Voyages of Henry Hudson, by Donald S. Johnson (International Marine{f AB Books/McGraw-Hill, Blue Ridge Summit PA, 1992, 256 pp, illus; $22.95hb) In 1607, the year of Henry Hudson's first voyage, the Spanish and Portuguese were aggressively harassing foreign sea traffic on the established southern routes to the markets of Asia. France, England and the emergent Netherlands were forced to find a new and, if possible, a quicker route to the Far East. There were three theoretical alternatives, all in the northern latitudes: a voyage across the North Pole; a northeast route along the Arctic coast of Siberia; and the fabled Northwest Passage through the upper half of the Americas. In this new book on Hudson, Donald Johnson impressively presents the background, the log, and an interpretation of each of Hudson 's daring explorations of these possible new routes. In doing so, Johnson provides the first full-length study of Hudson in over 60 years and helps considerably to restore the English navigator's faded reputation. On voyages one and two, Hudson
'54. fascinating, essential chapter in the history ofthe Bounty"*
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GREGDEN!NG ''A learned, humane, provocative 'creative reading' of mutiny on the Bounty- the events; their meaning and representation in native lore, British life, the theater, and cinema; and their historical value." -
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42
Smith. Smith claimed that an opening in America, west to the Pacific, lay only a short distance north of the English colony ofJamestown; it seems likely that Hudson had secreted aboard the Half Moon Smith's new chart of that part of the Atlantic coast. Though he failed to reach China, Hudson discovered on this trip an irresistible access for European ships through the Appalachian barrier to the rich interior of North America. Hudson's career ended with his murder. Led by his treacherous mate, Robert Juet, the crew on his fourth voyage cast Hudson and seven others on the ice in James Bay and sailed for home. Mr. Johnson fully presents and interprets the account, including the court proceedings against the mutineers, who were never convicted. A great strength of Charting the Sea of Darkness is its clear and organized exposition and expansion of the material so fogged over in Llewelyn Powys's Henry Hudson (1928), until now the standard treatment of Hudson's achievement. Mr. Johnson ' s sections on ancient and contemporary cosmography and their relation to Hudson ' s own thinking are excellent. The crisp portions he devotes to figues like Plancius, Barents, Hondits, Weymouth and Gosnold, to name afew, are relevant and instructive. The shps' logs, via Purchas, are incorporate( unabridged, and usefully rendered ilto modem English. Some may wish to skim the more routine entries. Mr. Johnson writes for the enthusiastic lay reader, but he pursues the mechanics of navigation in ways that will satisfy the seasoned sailor. This book is a valuable resource to Hudson scholars and to students of sea history in general.
Coastal Maine: A Maritime History, by Roger F. Duncan (W.W. Norton & Co., New York NY, 1982, 544pp, illus; $29.95hb) Roger Duncan has spent over fifty years sailing New England waters and doing his shoreside research for six editions of A Cruising Guide to the New England Coast. Now, from his study overlooking Maine's Linekin Bay, Duncan turned his attention to maritime Maine from the first European contact to the uncertain future faced by Maine 's boatbuilders and fishermen. Coastal Maine is an ably-skippered cruise SEA HISTORY 63, AUTUMN 1992