Delaware Bay - Part V

Although we don’t have absolute records, there seems to be some agreement that the earliest explorations of the Delaware coastline were made around 1526 by Spanish and Portuguese sailors.  While that isn’t an absolute certainty we do know that the first recorded discovery of what was to be known as Delaware Bay was by one Henry Hudson  – the famous (or infamous, depending on which historian you’re talking to) English explorer who devoted his life to a search for the fabled Northwest Passage.«

In 1608 Mr. Hudson desired to command a third expedition to the New World.  Unfortunately, there was this little financial impediment - he was unable to find backers.  This was probably due in large measure to his failures in finding the fabled Northeast passage on his previous two voyages (it seems that bankers then, as now, like to get a little return on their investments).  So he left England and approached the Dutch (who apparently had a little extra money…and a lot more faith in Mr. Hudson) and was eventually contracted to make an expedition to, once again, locate that ever elusive Northwest Passage.  On January 8, 1609 he signed a contract with the Dutch United East India Company and in April of that year Hudson and his crew of twenty men set out on his ship, the Half-Moon, sailing under the Dutch flag.  Unfortunately, freezing weather and ice lead the crew to near mutiny (the same thing happened on Hudson’s previous two voyages – not a good omen).  Hudson wisely decided to change direction (and the minds of the crew) and head into warmer waters and toward the New World.  In July of 1609 he passed Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.  Later that month they landed in Maine and eventually sailed into George’s Harbor where they made contact with some native Indians (referred to in the ship’s log as “savages.”).

Finally, on August 28, 1609 Hudson and his crew entered what was to be known as Delaware Bay.  For reasons that aren’t quite clear, he did not come ashore, but reported that the area seemed to be a good location for settlement.  He decided to name this body of water the South Bay – although it was north of the considerably larger Chesapeake Bay.  Eventually, Hudson decided that the bay was too shallow to explore fully and he sailed on.

Hudson’s subsequent discoveries along what is now the eastern seaboard of the United States would eventually give the Dutch the right to claim a major chunk of the New World – hence to be called New Netherlands.  It’s important to note that at the time, Holland was the major maritime power and the world’s greatest trading country.  Dutch explorers (and those in their employ) were sent to the New World, not to build a political empire, but to find a faster route to the riches of India.  It was hoped, briefly, that the Delaware Bay and eventually the Delaware River would be a shortcut to India.

It wasn’t!

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« In 1607 Hudson led the first of four missions that he hoped would take him from Europe over the top of the world and past the pole toward East Asia.  It was the first voyage that would eventually make him one of the most intrepid explorers of his age – even as he failed, four times, in his quest to find a northern route to the coveted riches of the East