''Halve Maen'' (; ) was a

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

''jacht'' (similar to a

carrack A carrack (; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal and Spain. Evolving from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for Europea ...

) that sailed into what is now

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

in September 1609. She had a length of 21 metres and was commissioned by the VOC Chamber of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

to covertly find a northern passage to Asia. 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 The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

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. Over 50 years later, in 1989, the New Netherland Museum commissioned a second replica.

History

''Halve Maen'' was built on a wharf on Rapenburg. 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 the

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

to the Pacific. After a severe storm in ice and snow in the North Cape, the expedition finally reached the

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

Bank and what is now Canada. From

Cape Sable Cape Sable is the southernmost point of the United States mainland and mainland Florida. It is located in southwestern Florida, in Monroe County, and is part of the Everglades National Park. The cape is a peninsula issuing from the southeastern ...

, Hudson followed the eastern American coast south to the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

, 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 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 (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

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, lying between the states of Delaware and New Jersey. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltw ...

and, subsequently, the bay of the river which Hudson named the Mauritius River, for Holland's Lord-Lieutenant Maurits. ''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 List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, 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 ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

were islands, and crossed the Atlantic to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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 Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

in the Dutch East Indies.

Replicas

1909 replica

In 1909 a

replica A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...

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 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 steamboat ...

. 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 ...

, and perished in a fire in 1934; the ''Clermont'' was broken up for scrap 3 years later.

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, following delays and additional expenses. Half Moon Replica

The year 2009 marked NY400, 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. The replica took part in

SAIL Amsterdam SAIL Amsterdam is a sea, maritime event held once every five years in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Tall ships from all over the world visit the city to moor in its eastern harbour. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. H ...

2015. In 2019, the Hoorn Council decided not to renew their lease. Today, Halve Maen is located in the port of

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbour-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade ...

and is open to the public at a permanent mooring.

Weathervane

At in both height and length, the model of ''Halve Maen'' on top of the SUNY System Administration Building in Albany,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, is claimed to be the largest working

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

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 history of the United States, colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Du ...

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 wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...

, when the protagonist ventures into the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

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