Ever wondered where that Henry Hudson dude actually sailed in North America? Me too. So I figured, why not try plotting his exact route on a map myself? Sounded simple enough. Famous last words.
Jumping Down the Research Rabbit Hole
First thing, hit the books. Grabbed everything I could find online about Hudson’s last big trip for the English – the one where he discovered that huge bay. Old journals, websites from history nerds, even some dusty academic papers. Problem hit me fast: these records are messy. Dates get fuzzy, place names back then were wild guesses, and some accounts straight up disagreed. Spent way longer than planned just trying to untangle what happened when.
Picking the Map Mess
Time to pick something to draw on. Found an okay modern map of eastern Canada and the northeast US coast. But then I stared at it. How do I draw a line where they sailed 400 years ago? Those old ships zigged and zagged, hit dead ends, backtracked… this wasn’t gonna be a straight line on Google Maps. Felt overwhelmed.
Putting Pencil to Paper (Actually, Mouse to Screen)
Just started plotting points. Marked the easy wins:
- Left London in May 1610 (at least everyone agreed on that).
- Hit Iceland for supplies (saw that in a few diaries).
- Struggled past southern Greenland, fighting ice like crazy (lots of whining about ice).
- Found the strait nobody knew was there (later named Hudson Strait).
- Boom! Entered the giant bay (Hudson Bay) around August.
Felt good seeing some dots on the map. But the real trouble started when trying to trace where they actually explored INSIDE the bay before winter trapped them. The ship log gets super vague. One day they mention land “like a wolf’s head,” next day “flat islands.” Good luck finding THAT on a map! Spent hours cross-referencing vague descriptions with satellite images, trying to match coastline shapes. My head hurt.
Winter Hell & Mutiny Mayhem
Plotting their drift frozen in James Bay? Nightmare. Records say they were stuck near the shore, but pinpointing it? Mostly guesswork based on where the ice usually piles up. And then Spring 1611 – that mutiny is infamous. They kicked Hudson, his kid, and some sick guys into a tiny boat and just sailed off. Ugh. Drawing that last desperate trip for Hudson? Just a sad little dotted line fading out… nobody knows where they ended up. Haunting.
Finished the map. Looks rough, but it kinda tells the story. Learned one big thing: making a map like this is messy detective work. It’s not just facts; it’s wrestling with gaps, guesses, and human drama from centuries ago. Makes you realize how crazy brave (or nuts?) those explorers really were.
