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The prow of the “Half-Moon” has left a broadening wake whose ripples have written an indelible history, not only along the Hudson’s shores, but have left their imprint on kingdoms over the sea.

    William Wait.

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=Its Discovery.=—­In the year 1524, thirty-two years after the discovery of America, the navigator Verrazano, a French officer, anchored off the island of Manhattan and proceeded a short distance up the river.  The following year, Gomez, a Portuguese in the employ of Spain, coasted along the continent and entered the Narrows.  Several sea-rovers also visited our noble bay about 1598, but it was reserved for Hendrick Hudson, with a mixed crew of eighteen or twenty men in the “Half Moon,” to explore the river from Sandy Hook to Albany, and carry back to Europe a description of its beauty.  He had previously made two fruitless voyages for the Muscovy Company—­an English corporation—­in quest of a passage to China, via the North Pole and Nova Zembla.

In the autumn of 1608 he was called to Amsterdam, and sailed from Texel, April 5, 1609, in the service of the Dutch East India Company.  Reaching Greenland he coasted southward, arriving at Cape Cod August 6th, Chesapeake Bay August 28th, and then sailed north to Sandy Hook.  He entered the Bay of New York September the 3d, passed through the Narrows, and anchored in what is now called Newark Bay; on the 12th resumed his voyage, and, drifting with the tide, remained over night on the 13th about three miles above the northern end of Manhattan Island; on the 14th sailed through what is now known as Tappan Zee and Haverstraw Bay, entered the Highlands and anchored for the night near the present dock of West Point.  On the morning of the 15th beheld Newburgh Bay, reached Catskill on the 16th, Athens on the 17th, Castleton and Albany on the 18th, and sent out an exploring boat as far as Waterford.  He became thoroughly satisfied that this route did not lead to China—­a conclusion in harmony with that of Champlain, who, the same summer, had been making his way south, through Lake Champlain and Lake George, in quest of the South Sea.

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    O mighty river of the North!  Thy lips meet ocean here, and in deep
    joy he lifts his great white brow, and gives his stormy voice a
    milder tone.

    William Wallace

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There is something humorous in the idea of these old mariners attempting to sail through a continent 3,000 miles wide, seamed with mountain chains from 2,000 to 15,000 feet in height.  Hudson’s return voyage began September 23d.  He anchored again in Newburgh Bay the 25th, arrived at Stony Point October 1st, reached Sandy Hook the 4th, and returned to Europe.