The death of the gunner was followed by consequences which may be regarded as the beginning of troubles that in the end proved fatal.  It appears that it was the custom in those times, when a man died at sea, to sell his clothes to the crew by auction.  In one respect, Hudson violated this custom, and probably gained no little ill will thereby.  The gunner had a gray cloth gown or wrapper, which Henry Greene had set his heart upon possessing; and Hudson, wishing to gratify his favorite, refused to put it up to public sale, and gave Greene the sole choice of purchasing it.

Not long after this, Hudson ordered the carpenter to go on shore, and build a house, or hut, for the accommodation of the crew.  The man replied, that it would now be impossible to do such a piece of work, from the severity of the weather, and the quantity of snow.  The house ought to have been erected when they had first fixed their station there, but now it was too late, and Hudson had refused to have it done at first.  The carpenter’s refusal to perform the work excited the anger of the master to such a degree, that he drove him violently from the cabin, using the most opprobrious language, and finally threatening to hang him.

Greene appeared to take sides with the carpenter, which made Hudson so angry, that he gave the gown, which Greene had coveted so much, to Billet, the mate; telling Greene, with much abusive language, that, as not one of his friends at home would trust him to the value of twenty shillings, he could not be expected to trust him for the value of the gown; and that, as for wages, he should have none if he did not behave better.  These bitter taunts sunk deep into Greene’s heart, and no doubt incited him to further mutinous conduct.

The sufferings of the men were not less, during the winter, than they had had reason to apprehend.  Many of them were made lame, probably from chilblains and freezing their feet; and Pricket complains in the Journal, written after the close of the voyage, that he was still suffering from the effects of this winter.  They were, however, much better supplied with provisions than they had anticipated.  For three months they had such an abundance of white partridges about the ship, that they killed a hundred dozen of them; and, on the departure of these, when spring came, they found a great plenty of swans, geese, ducks, and other waterfowl.

Hudson was in hopes, when he saw these wild fowl, that they had come to breed in these regions, which would have rendered it much easier to catch them; but he found that they went still further north for this purpose.  Before the ice had broken up, these birds too had disappeared, and the horror of starvation began to stare them in the face.  They were forced to search the hills, woods, and valleys, for anything that might afford them subsistence; even the moss growing on the ground, and disgusting reptiles, were not spared.  Their sufferings were somewhat relieved at last, by the use of a bud, which is described as “full of turpentine matter.”  Of these buds the surgeon made a decoction, which he gave the men to drink, and also applied them hot to their bodies, wherever any part was affected.  This was undoubtedly very effectual in curing the scurvy.