Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson

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About Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition Of Henry Hudson

Product Description The English explorer Henry Hudson devoted his life to the search for a water route through America, becoming the first European to navigate the Hudson River in the process. In Fatal Journey, acclaimed historian and biographer Peter C. Mancall narrates Hudson's final expedition. In the winter of 1610, after navigating dangerous fields of icebergs near the northern tip of Labrador, Hudson's small ship became trapped in winter ice. Provisions grew scarce and tensions mounted amongst the crew. Within months, the men mutinied, forcing Hudson, his teenage son, and seven other men into a skiff, which they left floating in the Hudson Bay. A story of exploration, desperation, and icebound tragedy, Fatal Journey vividly chronicles the undoing of the great explorer, not by an angry ocean, but at the hands of his own men. From Publishers Weekly In April 1610, Henry Hudson set sail on the Discovery with a crew of 22 (including his 17-year-old son) on his fourth expedition in search of a shorter route to the Far East. USC historian Mancall ( Hakluyt's Promise) vividly recreates the eager anticipation of the voyage, the lust for conquest and for spices, the voyage's risks and the joy and terrors that Hudson and his crew faced. But as winter approached, rather than return to England, Hudson set anchor in the bay named for him. Stuck in ice for seven months, their provisions dwindling, the crew mutinied in the spring, forcing Hudson, his son and seven other sailors into a skiff left floating in the bay. When the mariners on the Discovery returned to England without Hudson, they were tried for murder but never convicted. As for Hudson and the rest, their remains were never found and their fate is the stuff of legend. As Mancall so eloquently points out, the resolute will that had served Hudson so well in reaching this summit of exploration also made him unwilling to abandon his goal and led to his demise. Illus., map. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review Booklist “Mancall’s account of the doomed voyage is exciting, tense, and tragic…. This is an excellent re-examination of [Hudson] and his final, sad effort.” About the Author Peter C. Mancall is Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Southern California, as well as Director of the USC–Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute. He is the author of Hakluyt's Promise and At the Edge of Empire. He lives in Los Angeles. From The Washington Post From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Dennis Drabelle Chronicles of exploring the far north and south are full of erratic behavior by men suffering from the staggering cold, little or no sunlight, and a lack of the right food. Boredom, frustration, claustrophobia, petty jealousy and raving madness lie in wait for those stuck on a ship or a barren coastline for the long winter; and few physical conditions are more debilitating than scurvy, which sets in as the body runs out of Vitamin C. Most sufferers just stick it out, but historian-anthropologist Peter C. Mancall's "Fatal Journey" covers one of the rare instances when expeditionary tensions led to outright mutiny. Timed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of English mariner Henry Hudson's last voyage, the book recounts the puzzling episode of a captain overthrown by an enraged faction of his own crew. In his mid-40s at the time, Hudson had commanded earlier voyages aimed at carving out a passage around northern Europe and Russia to India. Foiled in these attempts, he turned west, hoping to reach the same end-point the other way 'round. In either direction, the underlying goal was the same: a shortcut to flavor. As Mancall puts it, "The spices grown on the tropical islands in the Southwest Pacific had become not just a commodity but an obsession for people across England. Physicians sought them to harvest their medicinal value; cooks wanted the