James Hall, the Hull Explorer

Last July we recalled the account of Hull explorer, Captain Luke Fox. This fascinating account, written by Fox himself, recalled his quest in the search for the North-West Passage in 1631. Unfortunately, Fox never found the elusive North-West Passage. 

However, Fox was not Hull's only early explorer. James Hall, an earlier explorer from Hull, went on to pilot four expeditions to Greenland in the early years of the seventeenth century. Although little is known about his personal life, his impact on the development of Arctic and Greenland exploration was significant.

James Hall was born in Hull around 1560. Little is known of his early life. It has been suggested he was the son of Christopher Hall of Hull, who himself served as a master in a voyage to Greenland with Martin Frobisher. Perhaps it was he that told James accounts of his voyages prompting James to follow in his father's footsteps.

In 1587, James had participated in a voyage to Greenland under John Davis, and it was during this voyage that James became familiar with the waters of the Arctic. James was recommended by Charles I to Christian VI of Denmark to pilot an expedition to Greenland. Hull mariners appear to have had somewhat of a reputation for exploration in this period. After recommending James to Christian IV, Charles I went on to finance Luke Fox's voyage to seek out the North-West Passage in 1631.

Greenland had been settled by Vikings in the tenth century. By the fifteenth century, however, contact with the colony had been lost. It was the presence of English and Dutch ships in Arctic waters which prompted Christian IV of Denmark to reassert Danish claims to Greenland.

The first voyage left Copenhagen in May 1605. James, responsible for navigation, piloted the expedition but no trace of the colonists was found. Agreeing to temporarily leave the main expedition, James sailed north naming areas after Christian IV as he went. Upon his return to the main expedition the whole party returned to Denmark. 

A year later he returned to Greenland. In the 1605 expedition James had discovered ore, which he believed contained silver. He now gathered samples but they proved to be worthless. During the expedition, four Inuit people were captured and brought back to Denmark, this inexcusable action serves as a reminder of the human impact of European exploration in the Early Modern period, and was to eventually prove fatal for James.

In 1607, James once again sailed to Greenland to seek out the Viking colonists. However, bad weather prevented them from landing, which resulted in the expedition returning home in the June of that same year.

John Speed’s plan of Hull (1610). James Hall set off from Hull in 1612 on his final voyage to Greenland just two years after Speed made this plan of Hull. This was to be James Hall’s final visit to his home town.

James made what would be his final visit to Greenland in 1612. On this occasion he managed to convince four London merchants to largely finance the expedition. The expedition set sail from Hull in two vessels, the Patience and the Heartease. James still pursued the belief that the ore he had found contained silver. Once again he went to investigate and once again the ore proved worthless. During the expedition, James returned to the place where the earlier expedition had taken four Inuit people. Recognised by the local Inuit population, he was singled out in an attack and was fatally injured by an Inuit spear. He died the next day on 22nd July 1612 and was buried on a nearby island, but the exact location is not known.

An account of the voyages of James Hall were published in 1625. Much of his own text was heavily edited and his maps were largely omitted. However, a manuscript copy of Hall's 1605 expedition report, along with four of his maps, were later discovered in the British Library. 

Whilst the treatment of indigenous people in such a way as occurred during these expeditions is a terrible and shameful part of our past, the remaining evidence serves to illustrate the contribution that explorers like James Hall made to the expansion of safe navigation around Greenland and the Arctic seas. We do not present these navigational achievements as a way of justifying the historical actions that led to their development, rather we do so to expose some of the ethical dilemmas inherent in the history of European scientific discovery.

Neil Chadwick, Project Officer