Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World [Hardcover]

Douglas Hunter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 159691680X | ISBN-13: 978-1596916807 | Publication Date: September 1, 2009 | Edition: 1

A bold new account of explorer Henry Hudson and the discovery that changed the course of history.

The year 2009 marks the four-hundredth anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the majestic river that bears his name. Just in time for this milestone, Douglas Hunter, sailor, scholar, and storyteller, has written the first book-length history of the 1609 adventure that put New York on the map.

Hudson was commissioned by the mighty Dutch East India Company to find a northeastern passage over Russia to the lucrative ports of China. But the inscrutable Hudson, defying his orders, turned his ship around and instead headed west—far west—to the largely unexplored coastline between Spanish Florida and the Grand Banks.

Once there, Hudson began a seemingly aimless cruise—perhaps to conduct an espionage mission for his native England—but eventually dropped anchor off Coney Island. Hudson and his crew were the first Europeans to visit New York in more than eighty years, and soon went off the map into unexplored waters.

Hudson’s discoveries reshaped the history of the new world, and laid the foundation for New York to become a global capital. Hunter has shed new light on this rogue voyage with unprecedented research. Painstakingly reconstructing the course of the Half Moon from logbooks and diaries, Hunter offers an entirely new timeline of Hudson’s passage based on innovative forensic navigation, as well as original insights into his motivations.

Half Moon offers a rich narrative of adventure and exploration, filled with international intrigue, backstage business drama, and Hudson’s own unstoppable urge to discover. This brisk tale re-creates the espionage, economics, and politics that drove men to the edge of the known world and beyond.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although not the first mariner to explore North America, Henry Hudson (1565–1611) left a powerful legacy, vividly described in this richly detailed biography 400 years after his journey up what became the Hudson River. Canadian historian Hunter (God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery) reminds readers that 16th- and 17th-century European entrepreneurs remained obsessed with finding a shortcut to Asia. An experienced English seaman, Hudson was hired by the Dutch East India Company in 1609 to sail east above Russia. Having already failed at that route, Hudson departed with other ideas. He quickly found his way blocked by ice, but instead of returning to Holland sailed west across the Atlantic, eventually stopping near Manhattan and sailing up his eponymous river as far as present-day Albany. Hunter has clearly immersed himself in the period, producing a meticulous account of Hudson's three months in the New World. Readers may prefer to skim precise descriptions of his navigational difficulties, but few will resist the colorful personal conflicts, tortuous politics and alternately friendly and vicious encounters between Europeans and Native Americans. Photos. (Sept.)
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Review

“[Douglas Hunter] is also an experienced sailor, and his observations of nautical life are astute … Behind that, a picture emerges of Hudson as a wily operator who knew what he wanted to find, and where he wanted to go to find it—and wasn’t about to tell his merchant backers any more than they needed to know so they would give him a ship. Hunter provides a fine account of Hudson’s wheeling and dealing, and the hoodwinking of the Dutch and English backers of his various voyages.”—Boston Globe

 

“[Hunter's] firm grasp of the politics and history of Hudson’s time make the book stand out. Insightful look at Hudson, his pivotal achievement and the world events surrounding it.”—Kirkus Reviews

 

“Few will resist the colorful personal conflicts, tortuous politics and alternately friendly and vicious encounters between Europeans and Native Americans.”—Publishers Weekly

 

“Hunter delivers a vivid rendition of Hudson’s entrance into New York Bay, ascent to the future site of Albany, and peaceful and violent encounters with the native peoples. Fans of the era of discovery will delight in Hunter’s history of Hudson’s famed expedition.”—Booklist

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159691680X
• ISBN-13: 978-1596916807
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #884,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More relevatory than celebratory; an engaging read!, September 11, 2009

By 

Todd Bartholomew (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World (Hardcover)

With 20009 the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's landmark third voyage, it is understandable there is interest in his accomplishments. If Americans recall Hudson at all, it is for this particular voyage for the Dutch that led to the exploration of Chesapeake Bay and of the river in modern-day New York that bears his name. Typically though Hudson is somewhat lost in the array of explorers who mapped the Americas. And while Hudson's demise on his fourth voyage was well chronicled in Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson Douglas Hunter seeks to tell the far more celebratory story of Hudson's third voyage that cemented Dutch claims to present-day New York.

From today's perspective it is hard to grasp the dangers Hudson and his crew faced. The Americas were uncharted unmapped wilderness, fraught with the potential for disaster, and Hudson was sailing with no back up, no support network, no Plan B if things took a turn for the worse. "Half Moon" seeks to recapture the desire European nations had for finding a shorter trade route to Asia and the exploration it spurred. Turning to the few available experienced mariners nations were willing to expend treasure and prestige in efforts to find an elusive passage to Asia. From our present age these seem like scattershot trial and error, but there was a method to Hudson's madness as he defies orders and probes methodically for the fabled Northwest Passage. Thanks to Hudson's incessant probing the knowledge of the contours of the New World were greatly expanded and reshaped European thinking of what the Americas were and were not. Hunter painstakingly recreates the course of the voyage and in the process comes up with new discoveries of his own and new insight into Hudson and his crew. Drawing from primary sources such as logbooks and diaries Hunter not only reshapes our thinking of Hudson but gives us greater insight into his character and his motivations and those of his crew.

"Half Moon" seeks to add flesh and blood to the Age of Exploration rather than having it remain a series of names, dates and places we learned by rote in school. Explorers didn't always succeed and there was a true cost to be paid, as in Hudson's case, when things went horribly wrong. And while there is always a question of objectivity in original logbooks and diaries Hunter uses them in an objective manner, seeing them for what they are, much in the manner Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney would employ in both Captive Histories: English, French, And Native Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid (Native Americans of the Northeast) and Captors And Captives: The 1704 French And Indian Raid on Deerfield (Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History, & the Contemporary). "Half Moon" is less about creating a hagiography of Henry Hudson than it is about challenging what we think we know about Hudson and the Age of Exploration.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Half Moon, September 2, 2009

By 

Cap'n G "The past is like another country, th... (Dumfries, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World (Hardcover)

Just in time for the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's discovery of the Hudson River, Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World tells the story of Hudson's second to last voyage on which he discovered the river that would one day bear his name. Hudson had been retained by the Dutch East India Company to find a passage to the Orient across the top of Asia. Hudson was mildly certain this could not be done, so after a short attempt to round the top of Russia he sailed the Half Moon to the east coast of North America, in violation of his contract, in an attempt to find a mid-continental passage to the Pacific. After ranging up and down the east coast, Hudson entered what would later be called New York Bay. He soon discovered the mouth of a river he thought would lead him either to the St. Lawrence River or to the Pacific Ocean. Hudson proceeded up the river as far as it was navigable, then came back down, and set sail for England, not wanting to return to Amsterdam after violating his contract. There are few surviving records from the voyage. The primary source was the journal of Robert Juet, one of Hudson's officers. In addition to the description of Hudson's voyage, Mr. Hunter describes previous and concurrent journeys to the New World as well as the European politics of exploration.

I found it interesting that even though by the time of Hudson's voyage, multiple trips had been made to North America by different explorers, there was no agreement on the shape of the coast line, the locations (or existence) of islands, or the locations of rivers and bays. This was due, in part, to the imprecise determination of longitude, as well as the inability to determine latitude at all.

I found Hunter's portrayal of the trip up the Hudson River interesting and engaging. Unfortunately, the journey up the river doesn't begin until well past the half way point in the book. Prior to that, Hudson sailed up and down the coast seemingly at random and I had a difficult time maintaining interest in this portion of the journey. While Mr. Hunter is obviously very knowledgeable regarding the tidal patterns, salinity, and currents of the New York Bay and its surrounding waterways, I began to feel my eyes glaze over whenever he began to discuss them.

There is a lack of source material covering this voyage and Hudson in general. Nothing is known of his life prior to 1607, just two years prior to this voyage. This is obviously not the fault of Mr. Hunter, who made a good effort with what was available. Perhaps the scarcity of source material precluded this subject from being treated in this format.

Overall I would not recommend Half Moon to the general reader. Anyone who already has an interest in Hudson and his travels might find it of interest. 2.5 stars.

I received an ARC of this book from Bloomsbury publishing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Arcana and conjecture up front, great adventure narrative in the back., November 30, 2009

By 

C (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World (Hardcover)

This book was okay, and was worth reading, but it started extremely slowly. I felt that the author couldn't decide between writing adventure narrative and writing academic historical research, and in the end, produced something that was simply a poor effort at both.

The front half of the book was very hard to slog through for me, though I suppose someone with extensive background in the time period and other explorations may have enjoyed it more. Hunter spent a great deal of time describing arcane nautical minutiae, techniques, and history which admittedly did set a richer stage for the latter half of the book, but not so much as to make all that detail necessary. I think it was just too much arcana.

Also, Hunter engaged in what clearly was passionate and possibly heroic research to piece together the front-story to the expedition of the New Moon. Unfortunately for me, I thought his track of connect-the-dots was presented as much more concrete than it warranted. For example, several phrases and types of statements occurred so frequently that they distracted me and made me question what exactly the author actually knew or if he was just guessing at the entire story. These repeated statements were about who "may have" been related to whom, who "must have" met whom as well as where and when they must have met, how four or more different names used by several different people "surely were" referring to the same person, and what books, records, and maps Hudson "would have," "must have," or "surely was," familiar with, in possession of, or basing his explorations on.

The story he weaves is plausible, and I find the effort truly genious, and readily admit that part of my trouble may simply be my failure to be able to follow, but I just found the thread was consistently a bit thin, sketchy, conjectural, and hard to follow. If it was indeed simply my anemic intellect inhibiting my ability to see well-grounded validity in his arguments, then even so that simply illustrates my point that the book was not written to a clear target audience. If written to a layman as an adventure narrative, then get to the story; if written as academic research, then nail down what is concrete, and discard or more clearly mark what is conjectural.

The last half of the book was very rewarding, though, as it cut much of the arcana and got down to the story. If the first 10 chapters were cut down to 1, I would give it 4 stars out of five