Douglas Hunter (1) (1959–)

Most folks know that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492 by figuring out the world is round and that he could sail west from Europe to get to China and the Far East. Um, no. The reality is that there has been a centuries-long (millennia, even!) tradition of western exploration from Europe, and knowledge since at least the ancient Greeks of the shape and rough size of the Earth. In fact, Columbus played loose with the known science to sell his attempt to cut the Portugese show more out of the Asian trade for the Spanish by taking an unexplored route - he vastly, and purposefully, underestimated the size of the Earth and the length of the trip to India to get funding, and once he got there, seriously misrepresented what he'd found and shoehorned the geography of the Caribbean into what was known of the Far East.

Now, Columbus didn't do this just because he was a bad guy. He was just one of, and not even the most qualified or able, many people seeking royal backing for western exploration from the various courts of Europe. But he was perhaps the luckiest. His major competitor following his first two trips was a Venetian con man known to us by the English version of his name, John Cabot, who sold Henry VII on a northerly route that wouldn't tick the Spanish or the Portugese off enough for them to complain. But what's most interesting about Cabot is that he may have been on Columbus' second trip west, and most certainly modeled himself and his associates closely after Columbus and his entourage.

Hunter's Race to the New World is a very good history of exploration in this period fraught with economic competition and political maneuvering between complexly intertwined royal families and nations vying for empire. Now, this isn't narrative nonfiction a la Millard's [Destiny of the Republic]. Instead, it's a proper historical work accessible enough for non-experts while retaining the depth needed for historians. And not to give away too much, the story of modern research into this era told in the introduction and afterword could easily have been a good book itself.

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What is most excellent about this account of the exploits of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot is that Hunter does the best job I've seen of putting these men in to the social and geo-political context of their times. Cabot is the more interesting story, as new evidence suggests that he was the front for continental exploration enthusiasts seeking entrance to the court of Henry VII, and who used Cabot's Spanish experience to wrap their proposal in credibility. The book ends on something of show more slack note, as our protagonists are on the verge of passing on (Cabot now appears to have survived his third voyage and died in England), at the same time it's being recognized by 1500 that something other than the Far East has been found. Some readers are going to wonder if some of the conclusions drawn and linkages made are a bit speculative, but I thought it was a great story. show less

The product of deep, fresh research, Douglas Hunter's The Race to the New World places the Columbus and Cabot voyages into the important political and mercantile contexts in which they were carried out. Hunter ably combs and analyzes existing sources, and while occasionally speculations come into play, they are generally carefully couched and qualified so as to not exceed the evidence.

Packed with detail, this is a serious history and may not be for the faintest of hearts; Hunter's prose is show more dense and tends toward the dry side, but this is not a bad thing given how fascinating the source material is. That said, on some level I couldn't help but wish that Hunter had done something slightly different with the book: he opens and closes it with discussions of Dr. Alwyn Ruddock, for decades the acknowledged preeminent scholar on the life and voyages of John Cabot, who died in 2005 and insisted that her research materials and all her drafts be destroyed. They were, and now scholars are working diligently to try and replicate what she had done over decades. The story is absolutely enthrallingly interesting to anyone with an interest in history writing, archival preservation, &c., and I'd love to see Hunter expand on this aspect of the story in greater depth.

My one other quibble with the book is that I'd have liked to see more thorough scholarly apparatus here, with individual footnotes or endnotes as compared to paragraph-length notes on sources for each chapter. It's just hard sometimes to suss out which reference belongs to which statement. But this is minor. Overall, very well done. show less

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 show more 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. show less