Exploratory Anniversaries
- Dennis L. Peterson
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
Early explorers must have been superstitious, or at least they were attuned to the importance of historic anniversaries of fellow explorers' deeds.
How so?
Well, consider the following three events that all occurred on this date during the so-called Age of Exploration, yet they were years apart.
First, on this date in 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian, entered into contract with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.
By the terms of the contract, Columbus's primary objective was to reach "the Indies" (presumably what we now call the East Indies) by sailing west, and, once there, to convert the inhabitants to Christianity, which at the time would have consisted solely of Roman Catholicism.
An alleged secondary goal (but more likely the real primary goal) was to find wealth, especially gold, for Spain. In return, Columbus would receive 10 percent of all the riches he brought back.
We know more about Columbus's several voyages to the New World and the many statues, schools, cities, etc., that are named for him, so we'll not belabor that point but hasten to the other two anniversary exploratory events.
Also on this date a little more than 30 years later, in 1524, the Florentine explorer Giovanni Verrazano set out on a voyage of his own. Like Columbus, Verrazano was sailing for a country that was not his mother country. Instead of sailing for Italy, he was sailing for France. In 1523, King Francis I of France asked him to explore the coast of North America from Florida to Newfoundland in search of a passage to the Pacific Ocean.
Verrazano complied, setting sail on this date the following year. A storm blew him off coarse, and he sighted the Pamlico Sound of what is now North Carolina. He was convinced, however, that the Sound was the entrance of the passage to the Pacific that he (and many others) sought .
Rather than entering the Sound and sailing up it to find out if his assumption was correct, however, he sailed northward along the coast, in the process becoming the first European (as far as we know) to discover what are known today as New York Harbor and Cape Cod Bay.
Verrazano later made other voyages. He met his fate (maybe--historians can't agree) either by being killed and eaten by Carib natives or by being hanged as a pirate by the Spanish. Either way, he's no longer available to set the record straight.
Yet, Verrazano's name lives on in at least three bridges that are named for him: the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, the Jamestown Verrazano Bridge in Rhode Island, and the Verrazano Bridge in Maryland. One of the New York ferry vessels is also named for the explorer.
Finally, the saddest of the three examples we're discussing was Henry Hudson, an Englishman who sailed, at least a few times, for his own native country, England. He sailed from London on this date in 1610, 118 years after Columbus's voyage and 86 years after Verrazano's voyage. He was in search of the legendary Northwest Passage.
Hudson was a veteran sea captain and explorer, having made voyages in 1607 and 1608 for the Muscovy Company, trying to find a passage through to the Pacific coast of Asia. He sailed again in 1609, that time for the Dutch East India Company, with the same goal and sailing aboard the Halve Maen (Half Moon).
But it was his voyage in 1610-11 for which he is infamous. He sailed under the English flag that time, financed by the Virginia Company and the British East India Company, this time aboard the Discovery.
During that voyage, Hudson entered what is now known as Hudson Bay, and everyone thought they had finally found the elusive Northwest Passage. Unlike Verrazano, however, he took time to slowly explore and map the shoreline. But he never found the passage he sought because there wasn't any passage to find, but he didn't know that.
In November, the Discovery became trapped in ice. They moved to shore for the winter, hoping to await the spring thaw that would free their ship.
When the ice thawed, Hudson planned to resume his explorations, but the crew had other plans. They were tired of sailing and longed for home, so they pressured Hudson to call off his explorations and return to England. When he refused, the crew mutinied. They set Hudson, his teenage son John, and seven crewmen (who were either sick or loyal to Hudson and refused to join the mutineers) adrift in an open boat and sailed the Discovery back to England. Hudson et al. were never seen again.
Is this account true? The only record we have of the incident was written by one of the mutineers, so we'll probably never know for sure.
What we do know is that numerous geographic features were named for Hudson, including Hudson Bay; Hudson Strait; the Hudson River; Hudson County, New Jersey; the Henry Hudson Bridge; the Henry Hudson Parkway; and the city of Hudson, New York.
All three of these explorers set sail on this date. Coincidence or commemorative?
By the way, in case you're curious as to whether the Hudson car was also named for Henry, the answer is no. It was named for Joseph Hudson, a department store owner who provided the financing necessary to start the Hudson Motor Company. And no, the car maker wasn't named for Henry either!