Delaware Bay - Part VII

Yet, it wasn’t until 1613-1614 that the bay was officially explored.  This time it was Captain Cornelius Hendricksen, aboard the boat called Onrust (“Restless’).  Hendricksen is regarded by several historians to be the first “civilized man” to set foot in what is now Delaware.  His record of this exploration (interestingly told in third person), however, was quite meager:

"He hath discovered for his aforesaid Masters and Directors certain lands, a bay and three rivers, situate between 38 and 40 degrees. And did there trade with the inhabitants; said trade consisting of Sables, Furs, Robes and other Skins. He hath found the said country full of trees, to-wit: oaks, hickory, and pines, which trees were in some places covered with vines. He hath seen in the said country bucks and does, turkeys and partridges. He hath found the climate of the said country very temperate, judging it to be as temperate as that of this country, Holland. He also traded for and bought from the inhabitants, the Minques, three persons, being people belonging to this Company, which three persons were employed in the service of the Mohawks and Machicans, giving for them kettles, beads, and merchandise"

As you’ll note from the last sentence in the entry above, Captain Hendricksen “relieved” the Minques Indians of three individuals (prisoners).  It seems that these three men had fled a Dutch fort near Albany, New York.  After lots of wandering around the wilderness the three individuals found themselves near the Delaware Bay and in the hands of the Minques.  They were, as you might image, quite delighted to see some fellow Dutchmen willing to exchange a couple of kettles and beads for their freedom.

Sometime later, in December 1630, the ship De Walvis (The Whale) set sail from Texel, Holland under the command of Peter Heyes.  Aboard were immigrants, food, cattle and whaling implements (Heyes’ sponsor, David Pietersen De Vries, was told that whales abounded in the bay – a whale of a story, to be sure!).  At the time the Dutch were interested in making money in the New World and the partners planned to open a whale and seal fishery as well as a settlement and plantation for the cultivation of tobacco and grains.