along as ship’s boy. The lad wanted to go to sea, and who better to teach him the mariner’s trade than his own father? What annoyed Katherine was the rather small sum of one hundred pounds that Hudson had agreed to accept for his services. She thought he should have asked for more money. Though Hudson had a verbal agreement with the Muscovy Company, he had not yet signed a contract. Katherine put her foot down and told Hudson that for the sake of his family, he had better demand better payment.
Hudson was embarrassed to haggle over money, but he knew Katherine was right. He was so happy to have this expedition, he’d probably have gone for nothing. But he was also aware that the company was underpaying him for a voyage that would be hazardous, but could ultimately prove very profitable for them. When Hudson demanded more money, the Muscovy men wrung their hands and wailed about piratical sea captains. They finally, reluctantly, agreed to pay Hudson an additional thirty pounds and five shillings.
Hudson would be making his voyage in a Muscovy Company ship called the Hopewell. Like most of the merchant vessels of the time, the Hopewell was a bark; a small, square-rigged ship of about eighty tons with two principal masts and a short foremast. She was made of seasoned oak. The Hopewell had already made two trips to the cold Baltic Sea, and four down the Atlantic coast to Portugal, so she was known to be seaworthy. The steering wheel so often associated with sailing ships had not yet been developed in Hudson’s time. All ships were steered by means of a whipstaff, a bar attached to the tiller.
Though the Hopewell was only three years old, and Hudson had her seams sealed with gum, like all wooden sailing ships she leaked. Hand operated pumps were used to get water out of the hold, but there would always be some bilge water sloshing around in the bottom. Also, like every other ship afloat, the Hopewell had rats. Most ships had a cat aboard not as a pet or a mascot, but to keep the rat population down. To completely clear a ship of rats would have been next to impossible, because every port a ship visited was infested with them. Rats got aboard simply by scurrying along the ropes that secured a ship to a wharf.
Hudson would have personally seen to the provisioning of the ship. Into the hold went the main food supplies: pickled beef and pork, dried beef, dried peas, cheese, hardtack biscuits, and barley meal. Fresh fruit and vegetables like apples, carrots, and onions would be consumed early during the voyage, before they had a chance to spoil. As captain, Hudson would take aboard his own food supplies, which might include such luxuries as butter. They were stored in his private larder and cooked separately from the crew’s meals. The captain also had his own galley, with the stove set in a box of sand to prevent fire. The ship’s casks would be filled with fresh water. There would also be a supply of beer, and the captain would have a stock of wine for his personal use.
Among the many items loaded into the Hopewell’s hold were several barrels of salt for preserving fish. When crewmen were not busy with shipboard duties, they would spend some of their off-time fishing. The fish they caught would be cleaned and salted down for when the Hopewell returned to England. The Muscovy Company would then sell the fish to help defray the cost of the expedition.
Hiring a crew for the voyage would not have been difficult. London was a commercial maritime centre, and there were always sailors looking for work. Some of those who made up the Hopewell’s crew might very well have sailed with Hudson previously. Little is known about them except their names, but no doubt they were experienced seamen. First mate was William Collin, who had his master’s license and so was qualified to be a captain. James Young was the bos’un (boatswain), a ship’s junior officer. The other crewmen were John Colman, John Cooke, James Beuberry, James Skrutton, John Playse, Thomas Baxter, Richard Day, and James Knight. Young John Hudson was aboard as the ship’s boy. As the captain’s son, John Hudson would be entitled to the respect of the common sailors, but he had no authority. He did not share his father’s cabin or table, but slept and ate with the men. Besides Hudson, only the first mate had his own cabin. The rest of the men slept in the crew’s cramped quarters below decks.
On April 19, 1607, a special service was held for the ship’s company in tiny St. Ethelburga’s Church on Bishopsgate Street in London. Crowded into the smallest church in the city were Hudson, Katherine, his crewmen and the wives of any who were married, the directors of the Muscovy Company, and all of their servants. The clergyman delivered a sermon titled “God’s Known Realm,” and offered up prayers for the safe return of the ship and men. Hudson and the crew took Communion. They expected to weigh anchor in four days.
In spite of the prayers for fair weather, the elements did not cooperate. For two weeks unusually thick fog, followed by a storm with gale-force winds, kept the Hopewell in harbour at Gravesend, twenty-six miles downriver from London. This was not a good beginning, because in the short navigation season of the Far North every day counted. Finally, on May 1, the Hopewell sailed from Gravesend.
Contrary winds made the going slow. Twenty-six days after setting sail, Hudson was eighteen miles east of the Shetland Islands off northern Scotland. Over the next four days he covered only ninety miles. Another week passed before he crossed the Arctic Circle.
Life aboard ship was one of routine and monotony when seas were calm, and great danger when they weren’t. Every man had a duty to perform, from menial tasks like swabbing the decks, to the more hazardous job of climbing up to the yardarms to furl or unfurl sails. Orders came from the captain or the mate to the bo’sun or the bo’sun’s mate, who passed them on to the crew. The safety of the ship depended upon every man doing his job promptly and efficiently.
Almost all common seamen came from the lower class. In general, sailors were illiterate and superstitious. No matter how tough a sailor was, like all working class people he learned at a very young age to be submissive to authority and humble in the presence of people considered to be his social superiors.
Sailors on privately owned vessels were not necessarily subjected to the brutal discipline that existed on naval ships. Nonetheless, aboard any ship the captain was the law and his authority was not to be questioned. A captain had the right to promote men or demote them, and with demotion came a reduction in pay. If a sailor failed to do his job properly or was insubordinate, the captain could mildly reprimand him, or subject him to harsh punishment.
With men living together in close quarters for extended periods of time, it was inevitable that disputes and quarrels would break out. Some captains kept such situations in check by running a “tight ship.” That meant the captain would tolerate no slacking, no squabbling, and no trouble. Troublemakers were punished. However, the captain had to be consistent in his dispensation of punishments and rewards. To be inconsistent could be taken as a sign of weakness. A captain also had to avoid showing favouritism, as that could breed jealousy and trouble.
At some point early on this voyage something must have happened to cause Hudson to be unhappy with the performance of his ship’s officers. He did not record any details in his log, but there was a sudden flurry of promotion and demotion. William Collin was demoted from mate to bo’sun. This would have been humiliating to a man who had his master’s license. The former bos’un, James Young, was demoted to common seaman. Mariner John Colman was given the rank of mate. This was a major shift in the hierarchy of such a small company of men, and in a severely restricted environment in which there were so many potential threats to harmony.
A wooden sailing ship was not a comfortable place for the common sailor. The work was hard and often dangerous. There were scores of different ways a man could be killed or seriously injured. Merchant ships did not usually carry doctors. If a man was injured, the ship’s carpenter might do duty as a surgeon. He had the tools for splinting a broken bone, hacking off a shattered or infected arm or leg, or pulling out an aching tooth. The part of the ship below decks where sailors worked, slept, and ate was cramped, damp, and gloomy. It smelled of tar, bilgewater, rotting food, and unwashed men, clothing, and bedding. There was no toilet on the ship. The men urinated over the side, or they went to a location at the bow of the ship
