Two Noted Events

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 15, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 36.

SEPTEMBER 2, 1609, Henry Hudson, in his good ship De Halve Maen (“The Half Moon”) entered New York Harbor. He wrote in his log-book, “This is a very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see.” A celebration in honor of that event, and of Fulton’s steamboat achievement, will be held September 27 to October 3. There will be a parade of 800 vessels on the Hudson; navies of this country and foreign powers will participate; but the center of interest will be the little craft, the reproductions of Hudson’s “Half Moon,” and Fulton’s “Clermont.” The new “Half Moon” is sent by Holland, equipped within and without as the original is supposed to have been equipped. The New York Herald gives this description: “The ‘Half Moon’ is built of heavy oak-timber with the high poop and long-nosed prow now seen only in prints of Dutch and Spanish galleons. She is of eighty tons displacement, sixty-three feet long, eighteen feet beam, and draws seven and one-half feet of water. Her crew consists of twenty men. The vessel is rigged with hand-woven sails, will carry hand-worked flags, and is antique enough in her fittings to confuse the best seaman afloat.” The new “Clermont” is 130 feet long.