THE ILLUSTRATIONS


No portrait of Hudson is known to be in existence. What has passed
with the uncritical for his portrait--a dapper-looking man wearing
a ruffed collar--frequently has been, and continues to be,
reproduced. Who that man was is unknown. That he was not Hudson is
certain.

Lacking Hudson's portrait, I have used for a frontispiece a
photograph, especially taken for this purpose, of the interior of
the Church of Saint Ethelburga: the sole remaining material link,
of which we have sure knowledge, between Hudson and ourselves. The
drawing on the cover represents what is very near to being another
material link--the replica, lately built in Holland, of the "Half
Moon," the ship in which Hudson made his most famous voyage.

The other illustrations have been selected with a strict regard to
the meaning of that word. In order to throw light on the text, I
have preferred--to the ventures of fancy--reproductions of
title-pages of works on navigation that Hudson probably used;
pictures of the few and crude instruments of navigation that he
certainly used; and pictures of ships virtually identical with
those in which he sailed.

The copy of Wright's famous work on navigation that Hudson may have
had, and probably did have, with him was of an earlier date than