Corona stories: Number 29 USA: New York 1996

Times change

On May 4th, 1609, Henry Hudson left the port of Amsterdam with his boat “De halve Maen” (Halfmoon) under the instruction of the Dutch East India Company to discover an arctic passage to Asia.

De halve maen in Delfshaven

For Henry Hudson, an Englishman born around 1565, exploration in Arctic waters was not new. In 1607 he had done a tour up the west coast of Greenland in search of a North West passage and the Year after he tried to find a way east along the North Coast of Russia and made it to Nova Zembla. Again, in 1609, his original instructions were to turn east, but soon ice blocked his way and he turned west again. He reached the coast of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and explored some of the deep bays on the American East Coast. When he reached the mouth of what was later named the Hudson river in his honor, he sailed upriver as far as Albany. There he finally realized that this was not a fast route to India and he turned around. The Hudson river had already been discovered as early as 1524, but Hudson’s exploration on behalf of the East India company laid the foundation for a dutch colony called New Amsterdam on an Island in the mouth of the Hudson river, future Manhattan.

The church in Delfshaven from where the Pelgrim fathers left

De halve maen and one of the last windmills of Rotterdam

De Halve Maen was a Dutch East India Company vlieboot (similar to a carrack). Built in 1608, it was 21 m long, weighed 60 t and could carry about 80 tons of cargo. For its time it was a fast boat which could be handled by a small crew of 14. After Hudson’s return it was used on the common trade routes of the Company to Indonesia. Around 1618 the ship was destroyed during an English attack on Batavia, the future Jakarta in the Dutch East Indies.

Essential instrument to keep the bearings ....

... and to keep track of time

In 1909, the Netherlands presented the United States with a replica of Halve Maen to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Hudson's voyage; however the replica was destroyed in a fire in 1934. Fifty years later, a second replica was constructed in Albany, New York in 1989. It sailed in and around the Hudson River and served as a traveling museum. In April 2015 the ship was transported on loan to the Netherlands. It was located at the West Frisian Ship Museum in Hoorn and also took part in SAIL Amsterdam 2015. At the moment it is in Delfshaven, the old VOC port of the former Dutch capital city of Delft, which is now a neighborhood of Rotterdam. Delfshaven was supposed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the departure of the Pelgrim fathers to the new world in 2020, but the Corona Virus reduced the celebration to a minimum. Nevertheless, for a couple of months, small groups of visitors can get a guided tour on the Halve Maen.

For many years Delfshaven was also the location of a social project to rebuilt a Dutch ship of the line, the Delft. The project was abandoned and even the skeleton meanwhile disappeared

There is no connection of the Halve Maen to Delfshaven, although the ship might have visited the port during its travels. However, Delfshaven has its own connection to the New World. On August 1st, 1620, the pelgrim fathers left the port for their journey to the new world. These pelgrims were English immigrants, who had fled their home country because they did not wish to adhere to the Church of England. They were strictly Calvinistic. Since the end of the 16th century English religious refugees had settled in Amsterdam, where they had established their own church.

The twin towers above the Hudson river

Being disappointed with their situation in Amsterdam, the Pelgrims soon moved to Leiden. But after eleven years they got disappointed in the Dutch, who were too worldly in their eyes. They decided to leave the city, and to find a place somewhere else in the world where they could live according to their orthodox religious principles. After much discussion they choose to settle in Virginia in America. It was a British colony, and eventually they got permission from the King. Finally they left Delfshaven on the ship “Speedwell”, to reunite in Southampton with other pilgrims and ordinary settlers on a second ship, the Mayflower. However, Speedwell was not speedy at all and not suitable for an atlantic crossings, so eventually only the Mayflower left for the new world.

Modern version of the Halve maen or the Delft

Some of the big cities in the old world have a long tradition. Think of Rome, Beijing, Cairo or Athene, which go back thousands of years and still preserve buildings thousands of years old. In contrast, a swampy island in the new world changed into a megapolis in far less than the 400 years it yet exists.

Not everything in New York is shiny and high

In 1996 a number of us went on a business trip to the American East Coast. I left from Amsterdam with the tallest and heaviest of my colleagues, Thomas, a couple of days early to spend a weekend in New York. In these times before internet, we had made a reservation for a hotel in Upper Manhattan by Fax. The flight was late and it was close to Midnight when we left the underground station. New York seems to have two climates, either freezing cold or steaming hot. Our visit was in late summer and it was steaming hot even at night. In addition, we had misjudged the location of the hotel and had left the metro too early. Covered in sweat we dragged ourselves block after block towards the hotel. When we arrived it turned out that nobody knew about our reservation. In retrospect, we thought they had given the rooms to somebody else since they probably thought we would not come any more. Since we already had paid in advance they finally found a last room we had to share. In the room it was even hotter than outside. In addition, there was only one small bed we had to share. They were not apologetic. At least we got our rooms the next night.

For me New York was and is a place of unbearable contrast. While skyscrapers house the headquarters of some of the world’s companies with the highest stock value and apartments of the rich worth many million, poor squatters build makeshift residences under the protection of bridges. While you are invited to give your attention to the shiny commercials usually featuring pretty women on the facades above you, you are in danger of getting hurt by stepping in one of the big holes in the sidewalk. And in time of corona, there is no doubt that an insufficient health system is absolutely unable to cope with the need of the over-densely populated Moloch while the city at the same time houses some of the world’s best medical facilities.

Squatters' buildings under the bridges

To get an overview of Manhattan, we went to the viewing platform on top of the twin towers. The centers of big cities do not change quickly. A radical change is usually caused by events beyond control. War (Rotterdam, Hiroshima), invasion (Mexico), political upheaval (Bucarest) or natural disasters like earthquake or fire (Tokyo, San Francisco) can be the reason. Nobody would ever have expected that these buildings and their surroundings would disappear in less than 5 years and this whole area of Manhattan would be changed beyond recognition.

24 years ago, everybody changes

View of Manhattan from the twin towers

Henry Hudson continued to search for an arctic passage to China. In 1610 he left with another ship, the “Discovery”. This time he went north west again, passed Greenland and entered what later became Hudson Bay. In James bay they were surprised by winter. It is a miracle that the Discovery survived the grip of the ice.

When the ice cleared in spring of 1611, Hudson planned to use his Discovery to further explore Hudson Bay with the continuing goal of discovering a passage; however, most of the members of his crew wanted to return home. Much of the crew mutinied. Descriptions of the successful mutiny are one-sided, because the only survivors who could tell their story were those who went along with the mutiny. Hudson, his teenage son and seven other crewman were abandoned with some provisions in a little open boat. They were never seen again. The ship's navigator, Abacuk Pricket, kept a journal that was to become the main sources for the narrative of the mutiny.

A Hopper'esque restaurant

Hudson was the first victim of the search for the north west passage. The most famous victim was Sir John Franklin. I can only recommend the lecture of the brilliant book about his life and the history of his ship, Erebus, by Michael Palin. And Sten Nadolny‘s fictional biography „Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit“ (discovery of slowness), one of the books that teaches a lesson for life. The 372 ton Erebus was 32 m long. The wreck of Franklin‘s ships was only recently discovered and part of the mystery of their disappearance solved. Today, in times of global warming, passing the north west passage is not an issue for a modern ship – at least in summer. Times change.