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Richard Hudson in Japan, 1614-1623 F all the navigators produced by the golden age of exploration, none has been happier in the enduring quality of his fame than Henry Hudson. All the elements of contemporary circumstance and posthumous events seem to have combined for the preservation and magnification of his reputation. In the pages of his tory is to be found nothing but praise of his skill and courage, mingled only with a tender regret for his untimely end. The ideal captain of a heroic age, he had the exceptional good fortune to have his name perpetuated by two great natural features of a new continent, one of which has become, and will always remain, an important center of human interest and activity. In one respect Fate dealt somewhat barshly with Hudson, in that, for many years, very little was known about his personality, his family, or his antecedents. In writing his Henry Hudson the Navigator, published by the Hakluyt Society in 1860, Dr. Asher felt obliged to say: "The whole period of his life known to us extends over little more than four years, from April 19, 1606, to June 21, 1611." In the year preceding the appearance of Asher's work, Henry C. Murphy, United States Minister at The Hague, had found in the Royal Archives there a copy of the contract between Hudson and the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company. This contract, which led to the discovery of the Hudson River, is still in existence. It shows that Hudson was an "Englishman," that he had a "wife and children," and that an inter

preter was employed in the negotiations, because he did not understand Dutch.

For many years past a series of important historical collections has been. appearing in England, including the publications of the Hakluyt and other societies, the Calendars of State Papers, the Records of the English East India Company, and other similar publications. No single discovery of firstrate importance concerning Captain Hudson or his voyages has been made, yet many interesting side-lights are thrown upon his associates and some disclosures made concerning his immediate family. It appears that he had at least one son, in addition to John, who is usually described in histories as an only son, and that he left a widow; and we are able to trace the fortunes of this widow and younger son for a time and to follow them through some interesting adventures.

The story opens on the fourteenth day of April, 1614, in the council chamber of the English East India Company, at London, where the directors were discussing the extension of trade, the rivalry of the Dutch, and the arrangements for a new voyage to the Far East. Announcement was made that Mrs. Katharine Hudson was without, and had a boon to crave. Almost three years had elapsed since "that worthy irrecoverable discoverer, Master Henry Hudson," was left to perish in the great inland sea. The ships sent out to search for him had brought no news, and none would ever come; but the directors could not yet reconcile themselves to this, and described their caller as "Mistress Hudson, the wife or widow of Mr. Hudson, who was left in

hereafter." The man selected was John Hunt, who was going on the contemplated voyage as master's mate of the ship Samaritan. Five pounds were ordered to be laid out upon the boy for "apparel and necessaries." The fleet, consisting of the Samaritan, the Thomas, and the Thomasine, all under the command of General David Middleton, sailed in June or July.

The fleet reached the Cape of Good Hope on the Third of October, "where," wrote Middleton, "we had refreshing both of flesh and fish to content." Departing thence on the 20th, they made Bantam, Java, on the 13th or 14th of February, 1615. Here the General called a court to determine the disposition of the ships, and it was ordered, among other things, that the Osiander (or Hoseander), "a ship forlorn," (laid up for want of men) should be sent to Japan, with Hunt as master. Middleton furnished the ship with "the principal men" of his fleet, thirty in number, "together with provision of furniture and victuals," and she was to touch at the English factory at Patani, in Siam, and take on commodities suitable for Japan. Richard Hudson took passage on this ship, as did also John Osterwick, both having been assigned to the English trading post, or "factory," in Japan. Of the events of the voyage we learn little; the ship reached its destination on the iast day of August, and Richard Hudson passed from the care of Captain Hunt to that of Captain Richard Cocks, the head of the factory in Japan.

The English attempt to establish trade with Japan was largely due to an Englishman named William Adams, who, after an adventurous voyage, reached the coast of that country in April, 1600. He was sent to the court of the Shogun by his comrades, and there, because of his knowledge of mathematics and ship-building, was taken into favor and became a man of great influence. Indeed, he was "in such favor with two emperors of Japan as never was any Christian." He was made an officer and granted the revcnues of the village of Hemi, near the

modern city of Yokosuka, where is now situated the imperial ship-building plant. He married a Japanese woman and had by her a son and a daughter. Permission to return to his family, in England, was, however, refused him, and he was virtually a prisoner until 1612. In October, 1611, he addressed a letter to his "unknown friends and countrymen," who had settled in Java, calling their attention to the opportunities for trade in Japan. The company was then looking for openings for trade and lost no time in despatching from England a fleet equipped for the establishment of a factory. The ship Clove, of this fleet, under command of Captain John Saris, reached Japan on the 12th day of June, 1612.

Upon Saris's intervention, the Shogun released Adams and he took service under the Company at their factory, for two years. Limited trading privileges were granted, and the factory was located at Firando (also written Hirado and Hirato), in the Strait of Korea, at the extreme west of Japan. on the east side of the island of Firando. This was a convenient port for shipping from Europe, it lay in a favorable position for opening trade with China, and its ruler was friendly; but, on the other hand, it was on an insignificant island, there was no good anchorage, and the Dutch, who had been settled in Firando for some years, proved formidable rivals. The old ruler, Foyne Sama, shared the government with his grandson, Figen a (or Figeno) Sama. The former was friendly and encouraged foreign trade; but he died in 1614, and Figen a Sama proved a weak ruler, who was governed by his nobles, and the latter were hostile to the English.

It was stipulated that, as one of the conditions of their trading privileges, the English were to carry a present to the Shogun whenever one of their ships arrived from Europe. The regular route for this journey, over which Richard Hudson was to pass more than once, was down the inland sea to Osaka, thence by land to Suruga (now called Shidzuoka), where the Shogun,

Iyeyasu, resided. It was also necessary to visit, in returning, the court of Hidetada, son of Iyeyasu, at Yedo, his father having transferred the title to him and he being the actual Shogun. Saris left eight men in the new factory. The cape or head-merchant was Richard Cocks. He was one of the original incorporators of the Company, having subscribed £200, and resided abroad five years before going to Japan. His selection for a post presenting so inany difficulties was not a forunate He was both easy-going and quarrelsome. There seems reason to believe that he was the dupe of a designing Chinaman, Andrea Dittis, whom he called the Captain of the China Quarter, or the China Captain. It was through this man he chiefly endeavored

to secure

concessions for the much-desired trade with China, and considerable sums were paid the China Captain and his brother, to be used in forwarding the negotiations, but nothing ever came of them. On the other hand, many traits make the old Captain an agreeable character, even though he was not a successful business agent. He cultivated a garden and planted the first potatoes grown in Japan. kept a diary, most of which has survived. This diary abounds in strange words, borrowed from many tongues; its language is archaic and misspelled with great ingenuity, yet it gives an entertaining picture of Japanese manners and much information of value. Cocks very weaknesses render his story entertaining; and in its trivialities and unconscious humor it deserves a last

He

ing place in the literature of its class. Some of his letters from Japan having been sent to King James I. to read, he declared they contained "the loudest lies that he had ever heard"; but the verdict of the modern reader will be that, to the extent of his powers, Cocks was a faithful chronicler. There is contemporary testimony that he was a man of honesty, years and judgment. William Adams, who was second in authority under Cocks, was employed in various capacities about the factory. He was a man of more skill and learning than Cocks, who stood somewhat in awe of him. They quarrelled at times, but, despite occasional outbursts, got on fairly well together.

Richard Wickham was an old employee of the Company, who had led an adventurous life. He was in more independent circumstances than the other factors. His letter-book for the years from 1614 to 1616 is still preserved in the India Office.

William Eaton and Edmund Sayers were with the factory from the first, and were the only members, besides Cocks and Richard Hudson, who remained till the end. Tempest Peacock and Walter Carwarden were among the original members, but soon went on a trading voyage to Cochinchina, where the former was drowned and whence the latter never returned. William Nealson, also an original member, was consumptive, quarrelsome, and addicted to drink. Cocks registers many complaints about Nealson's conduct, especially when he was in his "fustian fumes." Osterwick, who joined the factory in 1615, with Richard Hudson, was of Dutch descent and was a kinsman of Wickham. He was the accountant of the factory. The eight original members, with Osterwick and Hudson, a cook and a few servants, comprised the total membership of the factory; and toward the end the number of factors was reduced to four.

Upon the arrival of the Osiander off Cochi (the harbor of Firando), salutes were exchanged with the Dutch factory and due ceremony observed. A

visit to the court of the Shogun, with presents, being necessary, Capt. Ralph Coppindall was assigned to that duty. While awaiting his return, the Osiander was brought aground and sheathed. She sailed again on February 26th, 1616, greatly to Cock's relief, for the crew were a turbulent lot of Dutchmen, concerning whom he writes: “A strange kind of people they are all of them which came in this shipp"; and again: "I never saw a more forward and bad leawd company then most of them are." Neither did he like Captain Hunt, although at the beginning he had made him a peace-offering of "a pig, 6 hense, 10 loves of bread, with peares, redish, cowcumbers, and bell engines." A rumor having arrived, soon after the Osiander's departure, that she had been attacked by a Portuguese vessel and several of the crew killed and made prisoners, Cocks gravely recorded his opinion that it was too good to be true. Concerning Hunt he felt constrained to write: "I could not forget to note downe how Mr. Hunt, the master of the Hozeander, fell out with Roland Thomas, the purcer. Soe they went together by the eares. I condemn them both very much, but surely they were drunk, espetially the master, and I think he is crazed in his witts."

Richard Hudson was now settled at the factory where he was to pass eight years. His position was that of an unattached servant, whose duties and occupations may be inferred, to some extent, from Cocks' diary. His associates were, at first, Cocks, Nealson and Osterwick. Branch factories had been opened soon after Saris' departure and different members sent to take charge of them: Wickham to Yedo, Eaton to Osaka, and Sayers to the northern parts of Kiushiu and the island of Tsuchima; while Adams, Peacock, and Carwarden had gone on a voyage to Cochinchina. About a year after Hudson's arrival, the branch factories had to be closed, and after that the force consisted of Cocks, Adams, Wickham, Eaton, Sayers, Nealson, Osterwick, and Hudson. Later, death and departures