Henry Hudson disappeared in 1611 after his mutinous crew set him adrift in Hudson Bay. The English navigator was commanding Discovery on his fourth voyage, searching for a Northwest Passage through North America.
After the ship became trapped in ice during the winter of 1610–1611, Hudson wanted to continue exploring. Much of his crew wanted to return home instead, and tensions led to a mutiny in June 1611. The mutineers placed Hudson, his teenage son John, and several loyal or sick crewmen into a small open boat called a shallop.
The castaways were left with limited supplies, and no confirmed record of their fate exists. Discovery eventually returned to England, but Hudson and the others were never seen again. The year 1611 is therefore both the date of the mutiny and the last known point in Hudson’s life. A common mix-up is confusing this disappearance with his earlier voyages to the Hudson River in 1609 or Hudson Bay in 1610.