 19th-century illustration ofHalve Maen | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Dutch Republic | |
| Name | Halve Maen |
| Owner |
|
| Completed | 1608 |
| Fate | Destroyed |
Halve Maen (Dutch pronunciation:[ˌɦɑlvəˈmaːn]ⓘ;transl. "Half Moon") was aDutch East India Companyjacht[1] (similar to acarrack) that sailed into what is nowNew York Harbor in September 1609. She had a length of 21 metres and was commissioned by the VOC Chamber ofAmsterdam in theDutch Republic to covertly find a northern passage to Asia. The ship was captained byHenry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of the Dutch Republic.[2]
In 1909, theKingdom of the Netherlands presented the United States with a replica ofHalve Maen to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Hudson's voyage; the replica was destroyed in a fire in 1934. Over 50 years later, in 1989, the New Netherland Museum commissioned a second replica, which sailed for several decades along theHudson River until it was transported in 2015 to the Westfries Museum inHoorn, Netherlands, where it is permanently moored.
Halve Maen was built on a wharf onRapenburg.
On behalf of the Dutch East India Company, she set sail from the Netherlands on April 6, 1609 under the command of the Englishman Henry Hudson to explore thenorthwest passage to the Pacific. After a severe storm in ice and snow in the North Cape, the expedition finally reached theNewfoundland Bank and what is now Canada. FromCape Sable, Hudson followed the eastern American coast south to theDelaware River, past Manhattan and Long Island. In the summer of 1609, Hudson sailed the Hudson River named after him to what is now Albany. Since Hudson could not find a passage to the Pacific this way, he returned to the Netherlands.
In his 1625 bookNew World,[3] which contains invaluable extracts from Hudson's lost journal,Johannes de Laet, a director of theWest 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 theChesapeake Bay and then went north along the coast navigating first theDelaware Bay and, subsequently, the bay of the river which Hudson named theMauritius River, for Holland's Lord-LieutenantMaurits.Halve Maen sailed up Hudson's river as far asKinderhook, and the ship's boat with five crew members ventured to the vicinity of present-dayAlbany, New York, where the crew determined the water was too narrow and too shallow for further progress.[4] 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 ofManhattan andLong Island were islands, and crossed the Atlantic toEngland where he sailed intoDartmouth harbor with the Dutch East India Company ship and crew.[5]
In 1618, or a few years after, the ship was destroyed during an English attack onJakarta in the Dutch East Indies.[6]
In 1909 areplica ofHalve Maen was given to the United States by theKingdom of the Netherlands on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Hudson's voyage. The ship was constructed at theRijksmarinewerf 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 theHolland America Lines freight linerSoestdijk in order to attend the 1909Hudson-Fulton Celebration in New York, arriving in July.[7] She appeared in a parade with the American replica shipClermont celebratingRobert Fulton. This replica was eventually towed toCohoes, New York, and perished in a fire in 1934;[8][9] theClermont was broken up for scrap 3 years later.[10]
Another replica ofHalve Maen (officially Anglicized asHalf Moon) was constructed in Albany, New York, in 1989 by theNew 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 buildingHalf 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,[11] the construction of theHalf Moon was completed by the New Netherland Museum, following delays and additional expenses.[12]
The year 2009 markedNY400, the 400th anniversary ofHalve Maen's 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.[13]
A non-for-profit organization,Half Moon was run by a crew of volunteers that range in age from their teens to octogenarians.[14]
In April 2015 the ship was transported on loan to the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, Netherlands. The replica took part inSAIL Amsterdam 2015.[15] In 2019, the Hoorn Council decided not to renew their lease. Today, Halve Maen is located in the port ofEnkhuizen and is open to the public at a permanent mooring.[16]
At 10 feet (3.0 m) in both height and length, the model ofHalve Maen on top of theSUNY System Administration Building inAlbany,New York, is claimed to be the largest workingweathervane in North America.[17]
Halve Maen is mentioned in the 1819 story ofRip Van Winkle byWashington Irving, when the protagonist ventures into theCatskill Mountains and discovers Henry Hudson and the ship's crew.[18]
