Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-03-27
The Narrowing of Henry Hudson,

1t was a black windy night. The seas
were moaning against the ice fields. As
far as human mind could forestall devil
ish designs, these mutineers were safe;
| for all would be alike guilty and so
| alike pledged to secrecy. 1t must be
| remembered, too, the crew We're inn
pressed seamen, unwilling sailors. the
| backyard riffraff of London streets. At
daybreak two had stationed themselves
at the hatch, three lowered round the
door of the captains cabin. When Hud-
| son emerged from the room, two men
leaped On him to the fore third, Viii
son, the bo'swain, caught and bound his
arms behind When Hudson demanded
| what they meant, they answered with
! sinister intent that he would know when
he was put in the shallop. Then all pre-
| tense that what they did was for the
good Of the crew was cast aside. They
! threw off all disguise and gathered round
him with shouts and jeers and ratings
and mockery of his high ambitions. 1t
| was the old story of the Ideal hOoted by
the mob, crucifed by little-minded mai
ice, misunderstood by evil and designing
fools. The sick were tumbled out of
| berths and herded above decks till the
shallop was lowered. One man from
| Ipswich was given a chance to remain,
but begged to he set adrift. lie would
| rather perish as a man than live as a
thief. The name of this hero was Phil
| ip Static. With running commentary
of curses from Henry Green, Juet, the
mate, now venting his pent-up Walls of
| spleen, eight sick men were lowered into
the small beat with Hudson and his son.
Some one suggested giving the casta-
ways ammunition and meal. Juet
roared for the men to make haste. Will
son, the guilty bo'swain, got anchors up
and sails rugged. Ammunition, arms and
! cooking utensils were thrown into the
small boat The Discovery then spread
her sails to the wind-a pirate ship. The
towrope of the small boat frightened. She
| followed like a despairing swimmer
climbing over the wave wash for pace
| or two, when someone cut the cable.
! The castaways were adrift. The dis
lance between the two ships widened
| Prickett, looking from his portfolio be-
low. caught sight of Hudson with arms
bound and panic-stricken, angry face.
| AS the boats drifted apart, the old com
mander shouted a malediction against
his traitor crew:
"Juet will ruin you all
NAY but it is that villain, Henry
Green" Prickett yelled back through the
porthole; and the shallop fell away. Some
miles out of sight from their victims, The
mutneers slackened pace to ransack the
contents of the ship. The shallop was
sighted, oars going, sails spread, coming
over wave in mad pursuit. With a
guilty terror, as if their pursuers had
been ghosts, the mutineers out with
crowded sails and fed as from an aveng-
ing demon. So passed Henry Hudson
down the Long Trail on June u, 1911.
What became of him? A silence as Of
n grave in the sea rests over his fate.
Not the shadow of a legend illumines his
last hours. When Radisson came over
land to the bay fifty years later, he
found an old house ''all marked by bull
let's" Did Hudson take his last stand
inside that house? Did the loyal Ipswich
man fight his last fight against the pow
ers of darkness there where the Goddess
of Death lines her shores with the bodies
of the dead? Also the Indians told Rad
isson childish fables of ship with
sails" having come to the bay; but many
ships came in those fifty years: Buttons
to hunt in vain for Hudson, Munck, the
Danes, to meet fate worse than Hud-
sons.
Hudson's shallop went down to as ut
ter silence rs the watery graves of those
old sea Vikings, who rode out to meet
death on the billow. \ famous paint
ing represents Hudson huddled panic
stricken with his child and the ragged
castaways in n boat driving to ruin
among the ice fields. Better to think rs
we know last of him, standing with
bound arms and face to fate, shouting
defiance at the fleeing enemy. They
could kill him, but they could not crush
him. 1t was more as a Viking would
have liked to die He had left the world
benefited more than he could have
dreamed, this pathfinder of two empires
He had done his work. He had chased
his idea down the Long Trail. What
more could the most favored child OF
the gods ask? With ones task done
better to die in harness than rot in some
garnet of obscurity or grow garrulous l.
an imhecile old age-the fate of SO many
great benefactors of humanity
1t needed no prophet TO predict the
end of the pirate ship with such a crew
they quarreled over who should be cap
, tain, They quarreled over who shoulC
be mate. They Quarreled over wht
should keep the ships log. TSey lost
themselves in the fog and ran amuck Of
icebergs, and disputed whether they
| should sail east or west. whether the1
/ the strait whether they should turf
, back south to seek the South sea- The,
We're like children lost in the dark. The,
i ran on rocks, and lay icebound with N,
food but dried sea moss and soup mad
of candle grease boiled with the offa
They steered past the outlet and nov
steered back only to run ON u rock nea
i the pepper-colored sands of Cap
q Digges. Flood tide set them free,
< Green's body was thrown into tn
+ sea without shroud or shrift. OF TIL
z other three. two died in agonies. Thi
c encounter left only four well meu t
man the ship home They landed twic
g among the numberless lonely island
? that line the strait and hunted partridg
S and sea moss for food Before they ha,
l. left the strait they We're down to IA
d tons of half bird a day. Juet. the Oh,
mate. died of starvation in sight of Ire
Y land. The other men became so veal
n they could not stand at the helm. Sail
Tapped TO the wind in tatters. Mast
snapped off short Splintered yardarm
hung in the ragged rigging. Ii was lk
: an ocean derelict or a haunted Graf
with q manned crew. In Septemhe
y land was sighted of Ireland and a JOY
E,,I g 49, a..