One fair June morning in 1668, more than half a century after the mutinous crew of the Discovery had pushed Hendrik Hudson into an open boat in Hudson Bay and set him adrift to die, the 50-ton ketch Nonsuch with a company of 42 hoisted anchor in Gravesend, England and sailed away for Hudson Bay to open up the fur trade. On promise of receiving "two elks and two black beavers." King Charles II gave the "Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay" a charter two years later for the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
