{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/hudsons-last-voyage",
 "title": "Hudson’s Last Voyage",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": "The Shallop on Hudson Bay",
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 94,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 171,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 52,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "One sail in sight upon the lonely sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And only one! For never ship but mine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has dared these waters. We were first,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My men, to battle in between the bergs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And floes to these wide waves. This gulf is mine;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I name it! and that flying sail is mine!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And there, hull-down below that flying sail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The ship that staggers home is mine, mine, mine!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My ship Discoverie! The sullen dogs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of mutineers, the bitches’ whelps that snatched",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their food and bit the hand that nourished them,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Have stolen her. You ingrate Henry Greene,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I picked you from the gutter of Houndsditch,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And paid your debts, and kept you in my house,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And brought you here to make a man of you!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You Robert Juet, ancient, crafty man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Toothless and tremulous, how many times",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Have I employed you as a master’s mate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To give you bread? And you Abacuck Prickett,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You sailor-clerk, you salted puritan,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You knew the plot and silently agreed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Salving your conscience with a pious lie!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes, all of you⁠—hounds, rebels, thieves! Bring back",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My ship! Too late⁠—I rave⁠—they cannot hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My voice: and if they heard, a drunken laugh",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would be their answer; for their minds have caught",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fatal firmness of the fool’s resolve,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That looks like courage but is only fear.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They’ll blunder on, and lose my ship, and drown;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or blunder home to England and be hanged.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their skeletons will rattle in the chains",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of some tall gibbet on the Channel cliffs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While passing mariners look up and say:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Those are the rotten bones of Hudson’s men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who left their captain in the frozen North!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O God of justice, why hast Thou ordained",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Plans of the wise and actions of the brave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dependent on the aid of fools and cowards?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Look⁠—there she goes⁠—her topsails in the sun",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gleam from the ragged ocean edge, and drop",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Clean out of sight! So let the traitors go",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Clean out of mind! We’ll think of braver things!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Come closer in the boat, my friends. John King,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You take the tiller, keep her head nor’west.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You Philip Staffe, the only one who chose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Freely to share our little shallop’s fate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rather than travel in the hell-bound ship⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Too good an English sailor to desert",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Your crippled comrades⁠—try to make them rest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More easy on the thwarts. And John, my son,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My little shipmate, come and lean your head",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Against my knee. Do you remember still",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The April morn in Ethelburga’s church,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Five years ago, when side by side we kneeled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To take the sacrament with all our men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the Hopewell left St. Catherine’s docks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On our first voyage? It was then I vowed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My sailor-soul and yours to search the sea",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until we found the water-path that leads",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Europe into Asia. I believe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That God has poured the ocean round His world,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not to divide, but to unite the lands.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all the English captains that have dared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In little ships to plough uncharted waves⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Davis and Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Raleigh and Gilbert⁠—all the other names⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are written in the chivalry of God",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As men who served His purpose. I would claim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A place among that knighthood of the sea;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I have earned it, though my quest should fail!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For, mark me well, the honour of our life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Derives from this: to have a certain aim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before us always, which our will must seek",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Amid the peril of uncertain ways.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then, though we miss the goal, our search is crowned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With courage, and we find along our path",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A rich reward of unexpected things.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Press towards the aim: take fortune as it fares!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I know not why, but something in my heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has always whispered, “Westward seek your goal!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Three times they sent me east, but still I turned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The bowsprit west, and felt among the floes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of ruttling ice along the Greenland coast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And down the rugged shore of Newfoundland,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And past the rocky capes and wooded bays",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where Gosnold sailed⁠—like one who feels his way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With outstretched hand across a darkened room⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I groped among the inlets and the isles,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To find the passage to the Land of Spice.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I have not found it yet⁠—but I have found",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Things worth the finding! Son, have you forgot",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Those mellow autumn days, two years ago,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When first we sent our little ship Half-Moon⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The flag of Holland floating at her peak⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Across a sandy bar, and sounded in",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Among the channels, to a goodly bay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where all the navies of the world could ride?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A fertile island that the red-men called",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Manhattan, lay above the bay: the land",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around was bountiful and friendly fair.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But never land was fair enough to hold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The seaman from the calling of the sea.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And so we bore to westward of the isle,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along a mighty inlet, where the tide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was troubled by a downward-flowing flood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That seemed to come from far away⁠—perhaps",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From some mysterious gulf of Tartary?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Inland we held our course; by palisades",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of naked rock; by rolling hills adorned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With forests rich in timber for great ships;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through narrows where the mountains shut us in",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With frowning cliffs that seemed to bar the stream;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then through open reaches where the banks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sloped to the water gently, with their fields",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of corn and lentils smiling in the sun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ten days we voyaged through that placid land,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until we came to shoals, and sent a boat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upstream to find⁠—what I already knew⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We travelled on a river, not a strait.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But what a river! God has never poured",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A stream more royal through a land more rich.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Even now I see it flowing in my dream,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While coming ages people it with men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of manhood equal to the river’s pride.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I see the wigwams of the red-men changed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To ample houses, and the tiny plots",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of maize and green tobacco broadened out",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To prosperous farms, that spread o’er hill and dale",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The many-coloured mantle of their crops.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I see the terraced vineyard on the slope",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where now the fox-grape loops its tangled vine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cattle feeding where the red deer roam,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And wild-bees gathered into busy hives",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To store the silver comb with golden sweet;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all the promised land begins to flow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With milk and honey. Stately manors rise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along the banks, and castles top the hills,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And little villages grow populous with trade,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until the river runs as proudly as the Rhine⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The thread that links a hundred towns and towers!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now looking deeper in my dream, I see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A mighty city covering the isle",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They call Manhattan, equal in her state",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To all the older capitals of earth⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The gateway city of a golden world⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A city girt with masts, and crowned with spires,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And swarming with a million busy men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While to her open door across the bay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The ships of all the nations flock like doves.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My name will be remembered there, the world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will say, “This river and this isle were found",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By Henry Hudson, on his way to seek",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Northwest Passage.” Yes, I seek it still⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My great adventure and my guiding star!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For look ye, friends, our voyage is not done;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We hold by hope as long as life endures!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Somewhere among these floating fields of ice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Somewhere along this westward widening bay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Somewhere beneath this luminous northern night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The channel opens to the Farthest East⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I know it⁠—and some day a little ship",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will push her bowsprit in, and battle through!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And why not ours⁠—to-morrow⁠—who can tell?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The lucky chance awaits the fearless heart!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These are the longest days of all the year;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The world is round and God is everywhere,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And while our shallop floats we still can steer.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So point her up, John King, nor’west by north",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll keep the honour of a certain aim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Amid the peril of uncertain ways,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sail ahead, and leave the rest to God.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}