to the north. He tried to round the northern end of Greenland, but the
great ice floes blocked his progress. Everywhere were icebergs and
cliffs of solid ice, grinding against each other with a wicked roar on
the great seas, and always was there fog born of the ice, or heavy
gales that tossed the little _Hopewell_ like a feather. After trying
for many days to sail where no ship has ever sailed, Hudson finally
gave up the attempt, and, bitterly disappointed, turned his prow toward
England, where he reported to the Muscovy Company that great numbers of
whales sported in the icy waters near Spitzbergen--a report that
afterward resulted in the great whale fisheries of that locality and
untold wealth for the ships and companies that pursued them. But Hudson
had done more than he realized. Not only had he reached a latitude of
eighty-one degrees, fifty minutes, north, but he brought back important
information that there was no hope of reaching Asia in the direction he
had followed.

The merchants of the Muscovy Company were disappointed, but they still
believed that the passage to China could be found, and in 1608 Hudson
set sail again, determined this time to find the great waterway that
would make his name and fortune. But again he was doomed to failure and
returned with even less to show than on the previous voyage. He did,
however, bring back a curious tale that added to the superstitious sea
lore of those times, for two of his sailors one morning when looking
over the side of the vessel beheld what they declared was a
mermaid--with a white skin and a tail like a mackerel, long, black
hair, and a back and breast like a woman's. For a long time, these
mendacious mariners insisted, the mermaid (who is believed to have been
a seal) swam beside the vessel looking earnestly into their eyes, but
at last a sea overturned her and she dove deep and disappeared from
view.

When Hudson returned again with nothing to show for his bravery and
daring, the Muscovy Company was not willing to fit him out for a third
voyage. The fame of his exploits, however, had traveled throughout
Europe, and he was summoned to Holland by a group of wealthy merchants
who asked him to try once more in any direction he saw fit, and in the
interests of the Dutch East India Company.

This time Hudson was to succeed, although in a way that he little
dreamed of--and certainly a way that was far removed from the discovery
of a sea route to China. In a little