Most schoolchildren know the story of Henrik Hudson, the Dutch explorer who was sent to find the New World and after a routine trip, lived happily ever after. Luckily Douglas Hunter has come forward to set the record straight, informing us that none of the above is true. The actual story, as it has been unfolding after closer scrutiny of Robert Juet's journal and other sources, is a lot more interesting.

To begin with, Hudson was a man who at the least found ways to get financial backing for his projects by selling investors on what they wanted to hear. At most he might have been one of the all-time great snake oil salesmen with a gift of relieving the gullible of their funds to finance his own projects. As the final years of his life approached, he probably had many places he avoided and there were few locations in the western world where he could go without facing major consequences to his actions.

Henry Hudson was an Englishman, not a Dutchman, and how he came to be working for the Dutch VOC investors is a good story in itself. Having had some success in his ventures, he comes up with a scheme to get funds to go where he wants to go and do what he wants to do, not exactly what his investors have paid him for. There is speculation, as well as some circumstantial evidence, that he may have been a “double agent”, actually being protected and/or reimbursed by English interests at the expense of the Dutch. Douglas Hunter astutely points out that it was only in the years afterwards, when claims were disputed over which country actually could claim rights to the new world, that more than one country claimed Henry Hudson was working for them and that they were the ones who sent him out on the mission. In actuality, the Dutch East India Company sent him in the complete opposite direction and we don’t know for certain if Hudson even had the same objective as his backers.

One interesting and completely overlooked item of interest on Hudson’s voyage has been the crew manifest. Can you expect a good outcome when you sail off with a bunch of pirates who are lying in wait for the captain to make a mistake? Perhaps Henry Hudson was the greatest pirate of all on board, pulling off greater (corporate) thefts, more than simply taking what could be pilfered on the high seas and at ports of call. The author has some interesting observations and speculations on the crew, too. Who were Robert Juet and John Colman and what did they bring to the voyage in terms of skills, distractions, or drama? If the author’s speculations are even partially correct, then Hudson was sailing off into the perfect storm, with his fate already sealed although he managed to put it off for a while. It was only a matter of time until his crew sent him and his teenage son out to their cruel end. The crew turned up later with all the messy details of Hudson’s fate neatly tied up and, as a consequence, no one was punished. Stories persisted in later years that Hudson’s son may have been rescued and joined up with the Inuit or First Nations but that has never been proven. Perhaps DNA could prove this is so one day.

What makes Hunter’s contribution so valuable, at least to me, is that he knows maritime navigation, maps, tides, and 17th century sailing and navigation procedures. What makes the Hudson River one of the most unusual rivers in the world and why did the Native Americans call it “The River That Flows Both Ways”? What is it about the Hudson River and nearby geography that made it impossible to hop into a 17th century sailing ship and zip through the bays, then head up the river? What took them so long? Why is there salt water so many miles to the north of the outlet of the Hudson, oftentimes days north toward the freshwater source? The author patiently takes the time to explain this to us so we can fully understand what a monumental undertaking it was for Hudson to push forward, trying to make sense of readings that were nothing like what an experienced navigator had come to expect.

In particular, Douglas Hunter’s excellent maps and illustrations of the sailing ship are extremely helpful in understanding the challenges and issues confronting Hudson and his crew. Henry Hudson was indeed a brave man, especially if you consider that he set out with overly optimistic myths about the weather, incredibly inaccurate maps, fear and ignorance, as well as plain old callous indifference to the numerous indigenous people he would encounter along the way, many of them well-armed. Even so, he refused to turn back until it was all too clear that his ship could proceed no further.

Perhaps I have a special interest in that Hudson is a family name and I have spent a good deal of time on and in the Hudson, from the headwaters in the Adirondack Mountains to New York’s bays, and points in between. I have also spent time on several 17th century sailing ship replicas and have a special interest in the beginnings of our country, in particular, the beginnings of New Amsterdam where New York City is today. What I really enjoy though, is a good investigation, especially a historical one. Like unraveling a good mystery, investigation is busting the old myths and bringing an already interesting story into three-dimensional relief. We can thank Douglas Hunter for giving us a new perspective and understanding of our history. ( )

Douglas Hunter is a competent researcher and wordsmith. I was intrigued in the story of Henry Hudson, since the history books of my schooling showed nothing but adoration for the Englishman come Dutch explorer. In what would normally be a half-to-full page oratory on the man that is both the proto-founder of Newfoundland and New York, Mr. Hunter has expanded this into a tome that is a more of an anatomy of the business of sailing than it is of discovery. Practically every name that was involved with exploration and maps in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries is mentioned here, with frank openness contrary to what history may say. Douglas Hunter takes great leave with history, making assumptions calculated by his knowledge of sailing and maps, which may fuddle the mind as he traipse through his book with collaborations of fact and his own thoughts of what might have really happened.

Undoubtedly this is a must-have for any historian or history book collector, and those curious of shipping in that time of Hudson. But, also, without a doubt, this book shines poorly on Henry Hudson, making him seem aloof as a captain, and a somewhat accidental adventurer. His first trip to America (or in this case, Newfoundland and the future New York area), would cause bloodshed for natives in LaHave, and later, the death of a crewman during a botched trade. And more death when Natives became more suspicious of the voyagers.

Most of the book does deal with the explorations by the Half Moon and crew, and touches briefly with the Hopewell voyage prior, and the disastrous Discovery voyage later. Once involved, it seemed that the ending of the book was too short, yet with little that is known of the latter trip to America, it is natural that it should be thus.

The book is plodding, but if you can read Tom Clancy, then this is an obvious read. And again, it is a cornucopia of words and fact. In the end, a once trivial man becomes a poor man of fate. ( )

Half Moon is an very detailed account of Henry Hudson's voyage of 1609 and his discoveries in the New York area. It seems to be very well-researched and it is a good read for anyone who is interested in Hudson or the feeling of that time period. I enjoyed the narrative in general and was able to follow the flow of events as the book develops into more of an adventure in later chapters. The players and events leading up to the main voyage covered in this book are intricately described and these chapters at the beginning of the book took me a lot of effort to get through. Around the 6th and 7th chapter, however, as the ship sails, you feel like the book begins to run faster as well and the read becomes easier and, to me, much more interesting.
As it turns out, Mr. Hudson is a bit of a rogue. He has the traits you might expect of a 15th century sea captain - he is secretive, driven, a bit brutal and myopic. It is these characteristics and the crew mixture that drive the results of each voyage...good or bad. I won't give this away here.
The book was informative and I learned a great deal about the voyages that I had not learned growing up (including some obvious facts that schools should include). For me, the book was more detailed than I would have hoped, but for a 15th century history buff...probably just about right. ( )

Overall this was an interesting book about a little-known explorer's little-known explorations of the northernmost coast of North America. However, while you have to applaud the author's efforts given the scarcity of historical documentation, as some other reviewers have already pointed out, the lack of information leads the writer to speculate more frequently than I'd like or to simply leave some loose ends untied. Similarly, the author does tend to jump back and forth within the time line of Hudson's story -- sometimes without forewarning the reader -- which can be frustrating at best, confusing at worst leading the reader to use a little more brainpower than one would sometimes like while doing leisure reading in order to straighten out the chronology in your mind. Others have correctly pointed out that the author employs a lot of detail regarding the nautical and political background but rather than find this distracting as some put it, I appreciate such attention to detail in a historical biography. But then I really enjoy history with a story behind it and read this book that reason. For someone who prefers a story with a bit of history to back it up, this text may prove too fastidious a read. ( )

Half Moon by Douglas Hunter is the history of Henry Hudson's voyage where he discovered the Hudson River. While the story was interesting, ultimately I found it buried too deeply for me to enjoy. The details on ship construction, sailing, and navigation were just too distracting for someone (like me) with no background in these areas. The narrative also often jumped from the main story to a description of a previous or even a subsequent voyage, which interrupted the flow.

Overall, it was a worthwhile read, but it took me a long time to get through it because I kept losing interest. I must say that the second half of the book seemed to move along much more smoothly than the first half. ( )