History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 55

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 55
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 55

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CHAPTER IL.

Hudson Employed by the Dutch-Deover and Explores North River -Mutiny-Ili. Detration in England-The " Half-Moon " mils for Anoterdan-Soon Expedition of the Dutch to New Netherland- Overtures by the Dutch to the English-Vessels " Little Fox " and "Little ('rano "-Christinenson's First Voyage-Pubhe Attention Awakened in Holland.

THE discovery of New York Bay and Hudson River has been necredited to different persons, and at dif- ferent times. Some assert, and with seeming good authority, that this bay and river were discovered by Jean and Sebastian Cabot as early as 1497, while sailing along the coast of North America, under a commission from Henry VHI. of England.1 Truly enough, they had a view of the coast, as far as they sailed, from southwest to northeast, or from the mouth ofthe Mississippi to Cape Cod ; yet they never claimed the discovery of any particular bay or river north of Virginia.

Then, again, the claim is set up in favor of Jean de Verrazzano, a Florentine, who was in the service of Francis I., King of France, in 1524, and is supposed to have visited the bay of New York.3 To prove this assertion, Governor Stuyvesant is brought on the

1O'Callaghan's " Now Netherlands, " i. 96.

3 Bancroft, " I nited Maten, " 1. 17

896

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

witness stand, and in his "Manifesto" to the Governor of Maryland, says: "The French were. in the year of our Lord God Almighty, 1524, the second followers of the discovery in these northern parts of this America, by Johan de Verrazzano." !

Another navigator appeared upon the scene in 1525, Estevan Gomez by name, a Portuguese, em- ployed by Emperor Charles V., who had fitted out an expedition to discover some shorter passage to the Moluccas. It is supposed that he visited New York Bay, but how thorough his explorations were is not known.

In 1598 the Greenland Whale Company had some Dutch in their employ, who in that year, it is said, came into the bay of New York, intending to use it for winter shelter. For fear of the Indians, they built, it is asserted, a small fort, merely for temporary protection.

Hudson Employed by the Dutch .- Our next ex- plorer was an Englishman, named Henry Hudson,2 who, for the time being, was in the employ of the Netherland East India Company, in the year 1609, when they fitted him out with a ship, and sent him in search of a passage to China by the north or north- cast. Hudson was, no doubt, a proper person for such an enterprise. Ile had already undertaken a voyage in the year 1007. in behalf of a few English merchants, and arrived at the Island of Spitzen- bergen, previously discovered by the Hollanders. He had gained the confidence of his masters in so great a degree that they sent him again to sea the next year (1608) with the same object in view.3

The inelinations of the directors of the East India Company were much at variance upon the proposals of Hudson. The directors of Zealand opposed it ; they were probably discouraged by the fruitless results of former voyages, concerning which they could not obtain sufficient information from their colleague, Balthasar Moucheron, who long before had traded the north.4 It was said they were throwing money away, and nothing else. If private merchants would run the risk they had no objection, provided the com- pany was not injured by it. The Amsterdam directors, nevertheless, would not give up their plan, and sent Henry Hudson in the same year (1609) with a yacht called the " Half-Moon,"5 manned by sixteen Eng- lishmen and Hollanders, again to sea.

Hudson's Third Voyage and Account of Dis- covery. lo Henry Hudson, more than to any other man, belongs the honor of the discovery of the river

1 Col. ITist. of N. Y , 1. 149. Winftehl's " llist. Hudson ('o," p. 1. 2 N. V. Hist. Col .. N. S., PP. 84, rlc.

The journal of both there voyages of Human are from " Purchas' Pilgrims ' vol. i. p. 567-610, London fol. ed., 1625. Inserted in the Coll. of the N. V. Hist. Mx vol. i. p. 61-102.

4 Balthwar Moucheron was one of the Art founders of the East India Company and use of the first trading merchants in Muerovy. Ils nam in perpetuated in the Moucheron's River, on which is Archangel.

& This yacht en suemed in the Natales of the Depart, of XVII. the

that bears his name, as well as the discovery, occupa- tion and settlement of the territory or municipality now honored with the name of Hudson.

The vessel in which he sailed, the " de Halve Maan"" ("Half-Moon"), left the Texel on the 6th of April, 1609, sailing towards the north. Prevented by the ice from reaching the latitude of Nova Zembla, he went to Newfoundland, and from there to Acadia, or New France, till the vessel was driven into a bay known only to the French, who arrived there annually to purchase hides and furs from the savages.7 Hudson, unwilling to approach these chilling shores, returned to sea, and steering southwest discovered land, which was at first considered to be an island, but which was soon discovered to be a part of the continent. named l'ape Cod.

This industrious navigator felt (although born in England), so sensibly his relation to the Holland East India Company, who had employed him in discoveries, that he could not have hesitated a moment to give the name of his adopted Fatherland to this newly dis- covered country, which he called New Holland. But not wishing to fix his permanent residence on this spot, Hudson preferred the sea, taking a southwest course till he discovered a flat coast in 37° 35', which he followed in an opposite direction.

At this time he discovered a bay, in which several rivers were emptying, which no doubt must have been the South River, afterward named Delaware. It has a projecting point, which then, or afterwards, obtained the name of Cape Hlenlopen, probably from the family name of the first discoverer. Now the bay was again left, and they steered northeast along the coast at 40° 18', where, between Barnegat and Godinspunt, named thus afterwards in remembrance of him who discovered this cape, there was a good anchorage to explore the country, and to open a communication with the inhabitants; but Hudson's curiosity was not so easily satisfied.

Hle went again to sea, following the coast in the same direction, till the mouth of a large river wax discovered, which then was named by the sailors the North River, and afterwards, in honor of the name of the first discoverer, Hudson's River.

This river was sailed up as far as could be effected, viz., to 43º. Hudson became acquainted with the natives, and was fully persuaded, as far as inquiries went, that this river and country had never been visited before by any Europeans. "I dare not, never- theless, decide (says Lambrechtsen) if in this they were correct." The Rev. S. Miller, D. D., one of the ministers of the First Presbyterian Church at New York, and member of the Historical Society in that eity, mentioned, in a discourse delivered before that society in 1809, that one John de Verrazzano, a Florentine, who was in the service of the French King (Francis the First), must have discovered, in

· Winfield, p 1. : Robertson, 1 % p 4

-97

HUDSON EMPLOYED BY THE DUTCH.

the year 1524, in the ship " Dolphin," the American const in the latitude of 31 , and followed it to 41º; that he entered a large bay containing five islands, which may be taken, with great probability, for the present New York ; that they stayed there fifteen days, conversing much with the natives. The Rev. Mr. Miller refers to the journal of Verrazzano of July 8, 1524, which he borrowed from Hackluyt's Voyages vol. ii. 295-300, which, with the conclusions of the Rev. Mr. Miller, is inserted in the Collections of the New York Historical Society, vol. i. 19-60.

C'ertain it is that Van der Donck, who resided several years in New Netherlands, asserts that he often heard the ancient inhabitants, who yet recol- lected the arrival of the ship, the " Half Moon," in the year 1009, saying that before the arrival of the Nether- Innders they were entirely ignorant of the existence of any other nation besides their own, and that they looked at the ship as a huge fish or sea monster.1

The evide wes of this, nevertheless, as well as the statement of Hudson himself, render it not improba- ble that Verrazzano landed in the bay of the present New York, but the event must have taken place eighty-five years before, and might have been oh- literated by the departure of a whole generation.

Mutiny on the "Half-Moon." - But whatever may have been the case, the vigilant Hudson resolved to return to Amsterdam, and communicate his report of the voyage to the directors. The voyage was pros- peroux. But when he approached the English coast a mutiny was stirring among the crew, among which were several Englishmen. They compelled the skip- per to enter Dartmouth, from which the rumor of his discoveries ere long reached the capital.

Hudson Detained in England .- Nothing was more averse from the views of King James than of allow- ing the Netherlanders any advantages from the trates- marine colonies, while he, in imitation of Queen Elizabeth, desired to convert the whole to the profit of his own subjects. Hudson was considered as a per- son of importance, and he was forbidden to pursue his voyage towards AAmsterdam, with the intention, ere long, to make use of his services. Again Lam- brechtsen says : " I could not discover that a voyage to the South or North River was ever repeated by Hud- son, but well that he discovered, in the year 1610, a narrow pass to the sea to the North of Terra Labrador, called by him the Strait of Hudson, and a large bay to the South of Canada, to which he gave the name Hudson's Bay. This was the last voyage of this man. He was placed with his son and five men, by a mutinous crew, in an open boat. a prey to the sen, and never was heard of any more."?

Atter the ship, the " Half-Moon," had been detained

at Dartmouth for some time, it was at length per- mitted to return to the Fatherland, where it arrived in the beginning of the year 1610. And now did the directors obtain such favorable reports of the conn- tries discoveried by Hudson that, in thor opimon, these were a full compensation for thor disappoint- ment intheir principal aim, the passage to India by the north.

De Laet, one of the Holland directors of the Wis India Company, who published, in the year 1621. a history of the West Indies,3 preserved a part of Hud- son & journal, and made as further acquainted with the country of New Netherlands, its inhabitants, cli- mate and natural productions.

It was yet, like other climates to which no Europeans had penetrated, in a state of nature, as it was formed by the hand of the Creator or left by unknown events. Immeasurable wouds, with numerous swamps, covered the soil. The savages lived along the rivers, and covered them- selves with skins of wild beasts, increasing in the forests with great rapidity Their precious furs, so highly valued by luxurious Europeans, were the first objects of trade. The same woods supplied an inex- haustible provision for the construction of vessels. The soil's fruitfulness execede I the warmest imagina- tion, principally so along the rivers, when, overflow - ing their borders, they left a rich loam behind. There was found not only Indian wheat (probably corn), but grapes, too, with other fruit.

The rivers abounded with every variety of fish, and the adjoining seas were rich in codfish, tunnys and whales. In short, New Netherland, to make use of Hudson's own words, "was the most beautiful country on which you could trend with your feet. The natives were good-natured, peaceable and oblig- ing; the climate pretty near at par with our ; so that therefore New Netherland was very properly adapted for our nation to be settled by it, as there sermed nothing wanting but domestic rattle."

Several tribes of savages inhabited this unculti- vated territory, sustaining themselves by hunting ; they roved along the numerous immeasurable plains of America, to return to the borders of the rivers and bays laden with the furs of beavers, otters and other wild beasts, where the Netherland colonists and mariners were ready to barter other articles of comfort for these furs, then so highly valued in Europe.

Hudson's favorable account of the country which he visited in America was favorably received in the Fatherland, and inflamed the zeal of some merchants to send a ship thither, which was carried into exe- ention in the year 1610. They addressed, too, the States-General of the I'nited Netherlands, soliciting

I Van der Donck's Description of Now Netherlands, p. 3.

" Burko " Hist. des Colonies Europeanare dans l'Amerique," tom. li. p. 326, Raynal, " Ilist Philos, et Polit.," toin. vi. p. 289. There IN An extract of the journal of Hudson's last voyage in the Coll. of the New York Him Qx . tom 1, 146-18h.

" De Lavt. i . p. Jo, Van Meteren, " Ved. Hint p GM. The first writer has a small cap, entitled Nocne Anglia, Sorum Belgium et l'argonne This map was not contained in the edition referred te, but in a puber squeezed une.)- Falsom

898

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

their privilege and encouragement, so that their High Mightiness satisfied their desires by a placard of the 17th April, 1614, granting to the discoverers of thus far unknown countries the exclusive right, besides other advantages, to make four voyages towards such lands.1

The "Half-Moon" sails for Amsterdam .- The " Half-Moon"' having been detained eight months in England, did not reach Amsterdam until the summer of 1610. and the directors of the East India Company, indisposed to continue efforts in a quarter which did not seem to promise the coveted passage to Cathay, and which was not strictly within the limits of their charter, took no further steps to make available the discoveries which their yacht had effected.

But meanwhile, if the glowing accounts of the country he had visited which Hudson sent from England to his Dutch patrons, corroborated by his companions in discovery, on the " Half-Moon's" re- turn to Amsterdam, did not at once induce active effort- to transfer to those pleasant regions perma- nent colonies from the over-populated Fatherland, it did not fail to stimulate commercial adventure in a quarter which promised to yield large returns.

A new temptation was unexpectedly offered to the expanding commerce of Holland. Vast regions in North America, which Hudson had seen abounding in beaver and other valuable furs, and where native hunter-, unrestrained by arbitrary regulation of ex- cise, furnished ready and exhaustless cargoes, were now open to Dutch mercantile enterprise.

Second Expedition of the Dutch to New Neth- erlands. - The tempting opportunity was not ne- glected, for another vessel was immediately fitted out and dispatched from the Texel, in the summer of IGH, to the great river of the mountains, with a cargo of good- suitable for traffic with the Indians. The new adventure was undertaken at the private risk of some merchants of Amsterdam,? who, perhaps, as directors of the East India Company, had read Hudson's re- port to his Dutch employers.

The " Half-Moon" had now just returned to Am- sterdam after her long detention in England. A part of her oldl erew manned the new vessel. the command of which was probably intrusted to Hudson's Dutch mate," who had opposed his early return ; and the ex- perienced mariners soon revisited the savages on the great river, whom they had left the autumn before. Tradition relates that when the Europeans arrived again among the red men "they very much rejoiced at seeing each other."4

Overtures by the Dutch to the English .- Mean- while, the occupation of Virginia by the English had become well known in Holland, and the States-Gen- eral, through Caron, their ambassador at London, had

even made overtures to the British government "for joining with them in that colony." A proposition had also been made to unite the East India trade of the two countries. But the statesmen of England would not favor either of the Dutch projects. They feared, they said, " that in case of joining, if it be upon equal terms, the art and industry of their people will wear out ours. "5

The Vessels "Little Fox " and "Little Crane" sent out by the Dutch .- The theory of a northern passage to China by way of Nova Zembla had con- tinned in the mean time to be warmly supported by many learned men in Holland. Among them was Peter Plancius, of Amsterdam, who, like his contem- porary, Hakluyt, was distinguished no less as a cler- gyman than as a promoter of maritime enterprise. Planeius insisted that Heemskerk had failed in 1596 because he attempted to go through the Straits of Weygat, instead of keeping to the north of the island.

In compliance with Plancius' opinion, the States- General, early in 1611, directed that two vessels, the "Little Fox" and the " Little Crane," should be fur- nished with passports for voyages to discover a north- ern passage to China. But the ice arrested the vessels long before they could reach the eightieth degree of latitude, to which they were ordered to proceed.6

Christiaensen's First Voyage to Manhattan. - About the same time Hendrick Christiansen, of Cleef, or Cleves, near Nymegen, returning to Holland from a voyage to the West Indies, found himself in the neighborhood of the newly discovered river. which the Dutch had already begun to call the " Mauritius," in honor of their stadtholder, Prince Maurice, of Na-sau. But deterred by the fear of los- ing his heavily laden vessel, and remembering that a ship from the Monichendam, in North Holland, had been cast away on the coast, Christiansen did not venture into the river at that time, reserving the en- terprise for a future occasion. On his arrival in Ilolland, Christiansen, in company with another "worthy " mariner, Adrien Block, accordingly char- tered a ship, with the skipper Ryser, and accomplished his voyage thither, bringing back with him two sons of the chiefs there.7

& Winwood's Memorial, it. 230 ; extract of a letter from Mr. Juba Moore to Sir Ralph Winwood, English andmenudor at Haque, dated London, Dec. 15, 1610. " So soon as the ' lectur' (now ready to Hoist davil shall be sent forth of this Haven towarda Virginin, Sir Thomas Gates will hasten to the Hague, where he will conter with the States about the overture that Sir Noel Caron hath made for joining with us in that Col- ony Sir Noel hath also inde a motion to join their East Indin trade with vur ; but we fear that in case of joining, if it br on equal terms, the art and industry of their people will wear ont ours."

6 Jul. Doc. i. 12 ; Van Meteren, xxxii. 716 ; Davies, ii. 204, 743 ; Neg. de Jeannin.

I Wwwwnaar's " Historische Verhael, " etc., vii. 85; Mailkerk, A 21. Wassenaar's work has hitherto been unknown to our historians. Brand- head onnl thut " in 1818 I was fortunate enough to procure a copy in Lon- don, from which a short ' Memoir of the Early Colonization of New Noth - erland ' was prepared and published in N. Y. H. S. Coll. (acond series). 1

il. 335," A translation of some extraeta from Wassenaar has just appeared in Doc. Ilint X Y., ni. 27-48. The preciso date of Christinensen's first voyage is not given.

1 Gir Hlavanl B&w.k. i. D. f. A63.

2 Richer de la Hollande, 1 51 ; Met'ullagh's " Industrial Hist , " ii. 255. @ Mailkerk, A 19

4 lol |4w ... i 211 ; lockwelder, In IT N. Y 1. & Coll., i. p. 73 ; and In Vatra and Moulton, 1. 1. 21.

8:00

COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF MANHATTAN IN 1613.

Public Attention Awakened in Holland in 1611. -The reports which the comrades made on their return to Hv land, and the personal presence of the two young savages, named Orson and Valentine, whom they had brought over as specimens of the inhabitants of the New World, added a fresh impulse to the awak- ened enterprise of the Dutch merchants. Publir attention in the Netherlands soon became alive to the importance of the newly discovered regions in North America. A memorial upon the subject was pre- sented to the Provincial States of Holland and West Friesland by several merchants and inhabitants of the United Provinces, and it was judged of sufficient consequence to be formally communicated to the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hoorn and Enekhuysen.

The experience which Christiansen and Block had now gained naturally recommended them for further employment. Three influential and enterprising merchants of Amsterdam-Hans Hongers, Paulus P'el- grom and Lambrecht van Tweenhuysen, of whom Hongers was a director in the East India Company -- soon determined to avail themselves of the favorable opportunity thus offered to their enterprise. Equip- ping two vessels,-the "Fortune " and "The Tiger,"- they intrusted the respective commands to Christiaen- sen and Block, and dispatched them to the Island of Manhattab to renew and continue their traflie with the savages along the river.

In 1613 other merchants in North Ilolland soon joined in the trade. The " Little Fox," under the charge of Capt. John De Witt, and the "Nightingale," under Capt. Thys Volckertsen, were fitted out by the Witsens and other prominent merchants of Amster- dam; while the owners of the ship "Fortune," of Hoorn,-the city which was soon to give its immortal name to the southern cape of America,-dispatched their vessel, in charge of Capt, Cornelius Jacobsen Mey, to participate in the enterprise of their metro- politan friend on the Mauritius River, as the Hudson was then known by the traders .?

CHAPTER IL.

Commerci. Importance of Manhattan in 1613-Introduction of Domestic Animale-Pioneer Ship-Building-Progress of Dutch Discovery-1914, Block Completes his Yacht-Block Visits Varlons Points along the Const-Charter of New Netherland-ote.

Important Fur Trading Point .- The admirable commercial position of Manhattan Island soon indi- cated it. by common consent, as the proper point whence the furs collected in the interior could be

1 Hol. Doc., 1. 14; Wassenaar, iv. 14.

211+1. 14x., 1. 39 ; Mullkerk, A. 24. The " Little Fix " was probably the same veel which had been sent to Novu Zembla in 1611.

most readily shipped to Holland. To secure the largest advantage from the Indian traffic it was, never- theless, perceived that inland depots would become indispensable. Thus, cargoes of furs could be col- lected during the winter, so as to be ready for ship- ment when the vessels had been refitted after their arrival out in the spring. Manhattan Island at this time was in a state of nature ; herbage was wild and luxuriant, but no cattle browsed in its fertile valleys, and the native deer had been almost exterminated by the Indians. What was true of what is now New York City was equally true of what is now Hudson County, N. J., and, in fact, all the territory covered by this work

Up to this time (1613) the Dutch traders had pur- sued their lucrative trathe in jultry without question or interruption. No European vessel but theirs had yet visited the regions around the Mauritius River.3 Their ships returned to Holland freighted with large vargoes of valuable furs, which yielded enormous profits to their ow ners.

From Manhattan small trading shallops were dis- patched into the neighboring creeks and bays of "Scheyichbi," or New Jersey, and up the river as far as the head of navigation. The Dutch had been the first, and hitherto the only, Europeans to visit the Indian tribes in these regions, with all of whom they had continued to maintain a friendly and cordial intercourse. But while the Ilolland merchants pro- moted new explorations, they do not appear as yet to have directed the construction of permanent defenses, although it has been said that " before the year 1614" one or two small forts were built on the river for the protection of the growing peltry trade.'

Burning of Block's Ship and Building a Yacht, 1613 .- By accident Adriaen Block's ship "Tiger" was burned at Manhattan while he was preparing to return to Holland in the fall of 1613. Undismayed by his misfortune, the persevering mariner set about building a small yacht out of the admirable ship timber with which the island abounded. This work occupied Block during the winter of 1613 and spring

& Wassenaar, ix. 1. It meme from Warennar's account that the native species of dogs in New Netherland was quite small , for when Lambrecht Van Tweenhnym'n, one of the owners of (hriatiaensen's and Block's ship, gave one of those captains a " large dog " to take out with him, the Indiana, coming on lword the ship, were very much afrani al the animal, and ralled him " the richem of the dogs," lacause he was one of the largest they had ever seen. The translation in Doe. Hast. N. Y., ili. to, is innenrate. Van Tweenhuysen gave the dog to his . schipper, " him- self being Iont a " reeder," or alupowner, and he does not appear to have ever visited Manhattan.

4 In a memorial to the States-General, dated Ort 2", 134, the West In- dia Company my that " under the chief command of your High Mighti- urss lafure the year 1611, there were one or two little forts built there and provided with gurrisous for the protection of the trade." ( Hol. Dor., il. 138.) De Let, however, who wrote in 16.4 (ten years before the company's memorial), distinctly states that one amall fort was built " in the year 1614 ' opis an island In the upper part of the river In another place he myn it was built in 1615. De lautet's luwik, ill. cap. vil. ix. For various reasons, I think there was only one fort built ; that it was on ('nstle Island, near Albany, and that was erected in 1614

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 55

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830