sion; as they could not agree, they all
sailed in one ship, the Sea Venture.

This brave expedition was involved in a contest with a hurricane; one
vessel was sunk, and the Sea Venture, with the three commanders, one
hundred and fifty men, the new commissioners, bills of lading, all sorts
of instructions, and much provision, was wrecked on the Bermudas. With
this company was William Strachey, of whom we shall hear more hereafter.
Seven vessels reached Jamestown, and brought, among other annoyances,
Smith's old enemy, Captain Ratcliffe, alias Sicklemore, in command of a
ship. Among the company were also Captains Martin, Archer, Wood, Webbe,
Moore, King, Davis, and several gentlemen of good means, and a crowd
of the riff-raff of London. Some of these Captains whom Smith had
sent home, now returned with new pretensions, and had on the voyage
prejudiced the company against him. When the fleet was first espied, the
President thought it was Spaniards, and prepared to defend himself, the
Indians promptly coming to his assistance.

This hurricane tossed about another expedition still more famous, that
of Henry Hudson, who had sailed from England on his third voyage toward
Nova Zembla March 25th, and in July and August was beating down the
Atlantic coast. On the 18th of August he entered the Capes of Virginia,
and sailed a little way up the Bay. He knew he was at the mouth of the
James River, "where our Englishmen are," as he says. The next day a gale
from the northeast made him fear being driven aground in the shallows,
and he put to sea. The storm continued for several days. On the 21st "a
sea broke over the fore-course and split it;" and that night something
more ominous occurred: "that night [the chronicle records] our cat ran
crying from one side of the ship to the other, looking overboard, which
made us to wonder, but we saw nothing." On the 26th they were again off
the bank of Virginia, and in the very bay and in sight of the islands
they had seen on the 18th. It appeared to Hudson "a great bay with
rivers," but too shallow to explore without a small boat. After
lingering till the 29th, without any suggestion of ascending the James,
he sailed northward and made the lucky stroke of river exploration which
immortalized him.

It seems strange that he did not search for the English colony, but the
adventurers of that day were independent actors, and did not care to
share with each other the glories of discovery.

The firs