''Halve Maen'' (; en, Half Moon) was a

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

'' vlieboot'' (similar to a carrack) that sailed into what is now New York Harbor in September 1609. She was commissioned by the VOC Chamber of Amsterdam in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

to covertly find a western passage to China. The ship was captained by

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

, an Englishman in the service of the Dutch Republic. In 1909, the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

presented the United States with a replica of ''Halve Maen'' to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Hudson's voyage; the replica was destroyed in a fire in 1934. Fifty years later, the New Netherland Museum commissioned a second replica.

History

''Halve Maen'' sailed from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

to the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

, turning southwest to traverse the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

to North America, then sailed from Newfoundland to the south in search of the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...

. In his 1625 book ''New World'', which contains invaluable extracts from Hudson's lost journal,

Johannes de Laet Joannes or Johannes De Laet (Latinized as ''Ioannes Latius'') (1581 in Antwerp – buried 15 December 1649, in Leiden) was a Dutch geographer and director of the Dutch West India Company. Philip Burden called his ''History of the New World'', ...

, a director of the West India Company, writes that they "bent their course to the south until, running south-southwest and southwest by south, they again made land in latitude 41° 43’, which they supposed to be an island, and gave it the name of New Holland, but afterwards discovered that it was Cape Cod". From there they sailed south to the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

and then went north along the coast navigating first the

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inland ...

and, subsequently, the bay of the river which Hudson named the Mauritius River, for Holland's Lord-Lieutenant

Maurits Maurits is the Dutch equivalent of the masculine given name Maurice. People with the name include: Royalty * Prince Maurice of Nassau, (1567–1625), military leader of the Dutch Republic, son of William I of Orange * Count John Maurice of Nassau, ...

. ''Halve Maen'' sailed up Hudson's river as far as Kinderhook, and the ship’s boat with five crew members ventured to the vicinity of present-day

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

, where the crew determined the water was too narrow and too shallow for further progress. Concluding then that the river was also not a passage to the west, Hudson exited the river, naming the natives that dwelled on either side of the Mauritius estuary the Manahata. Leaving the estuary, he sailed north-eastward, never realizing that what are now the islands of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and Long Island were islands, and crossed the Atlantic to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

where he sailed into Dartmouth harbor with the Dutch East India Company ship and crew.Robert Juet. Transcribed by Brea Barthel
"''Purchas His Pilgrimes'' (Juet's Journal of Hudson's 1609 Voyage)," 28 June 2006. In 1618, or a few years after, the ship was destroyed during an English attack on Jakarta in the Dutch East Indies.

Replicas

1909 replica

In 1909 a replica of ''Halve Maen'' was given to the United States by the

on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Hudson's voyage. The ship was constructed at the ''Rijksmarinewerf'' in Amsterdam. The keel was laid on 29 October 1908 and on 15 April 1909 the ship was launched and then transported to the US on the

Holland America Lines Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...

freight liner ''Soestdijk'' in order to attend the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration in New York, arriving in July. She appeared in a parade with the American replica ship Clermont celebrating

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboa ...

. This replica was eventually towed to

Cohoes, New York Cohoes ( ) is an incorporated city located in the northeast corner of Albany County in the U.S. state of New York. It is called the "Spindle City" because of the importance of textile manufacturing to its growth in the 19th century. The city's f ...

and perished in a fire on 22 July 1934.

1989 replica

Another replica of ''Halve Maen'' (officially Anglicized as '' Half Moon'') was constructed in Albany, New York in 1989 by the New Netherland Museum. The museum contracted with Nicholas S. Benton to design and build the replica. Benton, a master ship-rigger and shipwright, was president of the Rigging Gang of Middletown, Rhode Island, which specialized in colonial ship restoration and design. To prepare for building ''Half Moon'', a $1 million project, he visited maritime museums in the Netherlands and the United States. After his death while assisting with the rigging of another vessel, the construction of the ''Half Moon'' was completed by the New Netherland Museum. Half Moon Replica

The year 2009 marked

NY400 NY400: Holland on the Hudson was the 2009 commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's 1609 expedition up the river bearing his name, that later provided the basis for the founding of New Netherland. The peak of activity in New York Ci ...

, the 400th anniversary of ''Halve Maens voyage. For the anniversary, the crown prince of the Netherlands and his wife were on board, as well as students from a Dutch school. This anniversary was marked in September 2009 with festivals, music, sailing ships parading around New York Harbor. A non-for-profit organization, ''Half Moon'' is run by a crew of volunteers that range in age from their teens to octogenarians. In April 2015 the ship was transported on loan to the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, Netherlands. In 2019, the Hoorn Council decided not to renew their lease. Today, Halve Maen is located in the Port of Volendam and open to the public at a permanent mooring. The replica took part in SAIL Amsterdam 2015.

Weathervane

At in both height and length, the model of ''Halve Maen'' on top of the SUNY System Administration Building in Albany, New York, is claimed to be the largest working

weathervane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

in North America.

In popular culture

''Halve Maen'' is mentioned in the 1819 story of

Rip Van Winkle "Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Dutchmen, imbibes their liquor and falls aslee ...

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

, when the protagonist ventures into the Catskill Mountains and discovers Henry Hudson and the ship's crew.

References

External links

Official ''Half Moon'' website
at VOCsite.NL {{in lang, nl

1600s ships Age of Discovery ships Exploration ships of the Dutch Republic Individual sailing vessels New Netherland Replica ships Ships of the Dutch East India Company Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company