Half Moon ship journey

Published by in History · 23 April 2021

Exploration ship Half Moon (Halve Maen in Dutch) was commissioned on March 25, 1609, for the Dutch East India Company. Her length on deck was 85 feet, length on keel was 64.5 feet and height was 78 feet. Crew size was about 20 and displacement was 112 tons. Half Moon used square and lateen sails. Her captain, Henry Hudson, was already a famous explorer of Arctic waters when in 1608 he was hired by the Dutch East India Company. In 1609 Hudson was chosen by merchants of the Dutch East India Company in the Netherlands to find an easterly passage to Asia. He was told to sail through the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, into the Pacific and so to the Far East.