What is known, though, is that Thomas James led a ship, the Henrietta Maria, sponsored by Bristol merchants, which left port May 3, 1631. Its interesting to note that Luke Foxe, of a rival company that left London at the same time, had the same orders that James had, to search Hudson's Bay for a Northwest Passage. James was very knowledgeable in navigation and thought it necessary to have good equipment and instruments. He studied many charts and journals and bought compasses and quadrants before he set for sea.
James navigated only to the Hudson's Bay, where he met Foxe's company for a moment before they split up. James ventured south in the bay until he reached what is now known as James Bay. He searched the coast of the bay to try and find a passage, not to the Pacific but rather to the Saint-Lawrence. Unfortunately the bay started to freeze and he set up camp for the winter, settling on Charlton Island. The boat had to be sunk to protect it from the tide, and for that reason, the men could only make it out of the bay by the end of spring. During the summer, once their vessel was repaired, James and his men continued to look for the Northwest Passage even though the company had been weakened by scurvy. After coming to the conclusion that, through Hudson Bay, there was no aformentioned Northwest Passage, they decided, bugger it, let's get back home, lads. And so they did, reaching England in 1632.
Not much is known about James after the voyage either, only that he published from his notes and journals a book known as Strange and Dangerous Voyage, which was published in 1633. He is believed to have died in 1635.
So that, my friends is the story of Thomas James, the explorer from Bristol who discovered James Bay (actually Henry Hudson had been there before...), who discovered that there was no Northwest Passage coming out of the Hudson Bay. It is his findings and those of Luke Foxe that discontinued the search for a Northwest Passage for a few centuries, before it became fashionable again.
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