Happy Birthday, Milton Friedman

To many, this man changed the face of economics forever. His theories are being taught every day in college campuses across our nation. His philosophy was being preached at a time when fiscal conservatism wasn’t being  discussed the way it is in 2009… Milton Friedman would have been 97 today…Finding Dulcinia has the more about the man…

July 31, 2009

by Isabel Cowles

In his 94 years of life, Milton Friedman changed the field of modern economics. His teaching at the University of Chicago created a new school of economic thought that continues to thrive.

Early Days

Milton Friedman was born in New York City on July 31, 1912, to working-class Hungarian Jewish immigrants; he was the youngest of four children and the only boy. Friedman’s parents kept a dry goods store in Rahway, N.J., according to the Academy of Achievement. Although they struggled financially and no member of the family had attended college before, they were determined to send their son to college. Friedman graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in math. He then received a full scholarship from the University of Chicago to study economics.

Friedman had wanted to keep studying math and could have accepted a math scholarship from Brown University. But he accepted the scholarship in economics from the University of Chicago instead. “His choice was inspired by the ongoing Great Depression and his belief that economists could help solve it,” Brian Doherty wrote for Reason Magazine. “That decision guided the rest of Friedman’s career, as his reputation would be forever intertwined with the University of Chicago, the colleagues and students he met there, and the intellectual tradition its economics department came to represent.”

In 1937, Friedman joined the research staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research in New York City. Thanks to his steady salary, he was able to marry fellow economist Rose Director, whom he had met while studying in Chicago.

Friedman received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1946. For his doctoral thesis, he used his essay “Income from Independent Professional Practice,” coauthored with Simon Kuznets. In the paper, Friedman argued that “licensing procedures limited entry into the medical profession, thereby allowing doctors to charge higher fees than they would be able to do if competition were more open,” the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (CEE) reports.

In 1951, he won the John Bates Clark medal, which honors economists younger than 40 for outstanding achievement, according to the CEE. Another essay, “A Theory of the Consumption Function” (1957), provided evidence against the Keynesian view of individual incomes, stating that instead of adjusting their expenditures in response to their current income, consumers’ annual consumption actually reflected their “permanent income,” or “a measure of the average income people expect over a few years,” the CEE reports.

In his 1962 book “Capitalism and Freedom,” Friedman argued in favor of the free market, using terms accessible to the lay reader. The book “Free to Choose” (coauthored with his wife) further outlined Friedman’s economic theories and was “the best-selling nonfiction book of 1980,” CEE notes.

In 1976, Friedman won the Nobel Prize in economics.

Friedman died on Nov. 16, 2006, at age 94. According to BusinessWeek’s Peter Coy, Friedman’s death ended “the greatest rivalry in modern economics”: a 60-year competition between Friedman and the liberal economist Paul Samuelson of MIT. Samuelson said on the day of Friedman’s death, “Milton Friedman was a giant. No 20th-century economist had his importance in moving the American economic profession rightward from 1940 to the present.”

Premier League Preview

We’re seeing fairly good attendance for the most part in Major League Baseball here in the United States this summer. College football and the NFL will hopefully do well this fall as we approach that time of the year once again. But what about across the pond? How well will football do in Britain? The Evening Courier has a preview…

Football crowds predicted to drop as recession bites and ticket prices rise

Published Date: 29 July 2009

The number of football fans intending to turn their backs on going to live matches has increased as the cost of attending games becomes ever harder to bear for hardcore fans, according to Virgin Money’s authoritative Football Fans’ Inflation Index.

Research for the index shows that 30 per cent of regular match goers plan to go to fewer live games in the 2009/10 season because of the cost – up from 26 per cent in pre-season last year.

And of those out-priced fans, 22 per cent are intending to follow a less expensive lower league club in order to ensure they continue to get their regular fix of live football.

According to the index, which has tracked the cost of being a fan since January 2006, costs have risen 15.1 per cent year-on-year and by 29.6 per cent compared to when the index launched in October 2006.

Rail fares, ticket prices and pay-per-view expenses have also all increased significantly since last year, as have the price of match day goods such as food, alcohol and replica shirts.

The research was carried out among more than 4,000 fans representing all 92 clubs in the Football League.

In the Premier League, three of the Big Four are most at risk as 33 per cent of hardcore fans say they plan to go to fewer games. Birmingham, West Ham and Wolves fans are close behind at 31 per cent.

Premier League clubs that have the least to worry about include newly-promoted Burnley, Fulham and Hull. However, even they face up to one in five fans cutting down.

Grant Bather, spokesman for Virgin Money, said: “Clubs need to come down from planet football and live in the real world. Despite some efforts to cut or freeze ticket prices, for many fans attending just one game burns a big hole in their pockets. To attend 10, 20 or 30 games in a season is asking a lot when prices are so high.”

Virgin Money says supporters are only reacting to increasing pressures on their finances which have been caused by rising unemployment and increasing mortgage, food and fuel costs.

Malcolm Clarke, Chairman of the Football Supporters Federation, commented: “It is very worrying that ‘football inflation’ continues at a level way above standard inflation. Football fans are you, me and the bloke next door, not a different race, and with people losing their jobs and being worried about the future, it’s not surprising that going to the match – a leisure activity – might suffer.

“And in the middle of all this, fans see huge sums of money being paid in transfer fees and even a club talking of paying a player a million pounds a month, which many regard as obscene. A little bit of prudence – and a little bit of humility – from those at the top of our game, would not come amiss in the current climate.”

PREMIERSHIP CLUB PERCENTAGE PLANNING TO ATTEND FEWER GAMES THIS COMING SEASON
Arsenal 33%
Liverpool 33%
Man Utd 33%
Birmingham 31%
West Ham 31%
Wolves 31%
Portsmouth 29%
Sunderland 29%
Tottenham 29%
Aston Villa 28%
Stoke 28%
Chelsea 27%
Wigan 26%
Blackburn 25%
Everton 25%
Man City 25%
Bolton 24%
Hull City 23%
Fulham 22%
Burnley 19%

Linked by Blood:When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Ancestry. Heritage. Whatever you call it, when we start looking into who we are and from whence we came, the further we look, the more we find… It seems that two people who have been in the news lately are actually related, as we read in this report from ABC News…

Harvard Prof Gates Is Half-Irish, Related to Cop Who Arrested Him

Two Men at Center of Controversy Linked by Irish Heritage

By NIALL O’DOWD
IrishCentral.com Publisher

July 28, 2009—

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black professor at the center of the racial story involving his arrest outside his Harvard University-owned house, has spoken proudly of his Irish roots.

Strangely enough, he and the Cambridge, Mass., police officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, both trace their ancestry back to the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages.

In a PBS series on African-American ancestry that he hosted in 2008, Gates discovered his Irish roots when he found he was descended from an Irish immigrant and a slave girl.

He went to Trinity College in Dublin to have his DNA analyzed. There he found that he shared 10 of the 11 DNA matches with offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the fourth century warlord who created one of the dominant strains of Irish genealogy because he had so many offspring.

Ironically, James Crowley, whose name in Gaelic means “hardy warrior,” is also descended from the same line as Gates, having very close links to Niall of the Nine Hostages.

So the two men who took part in what is now an infamous confrontation outside the Gates home near Harvard this month are actually related through common Irish lineage — one of the more extraordinary aspects of the incident that has sparked worldwide headlines.

Gates is one of many famous African-Americans with Irish heritage, including President Barack Obama and award-winning author Alice Walker.

On the PBS series, Gates visits Trinity College to find his roots, and says to the genealogist, “Do I look like an Irishman to you? I’m here to find my roots. I’ve been looking all over Africa and I couldn’t find anybody, so I ended up here.

“I’m descended from a white man, he says. “A white man who slept with a black slave. And we know from the analysis of my DNA that … goes back to Ireland. So maybe you can help me.”

When the genealogist tells him he does indeed have Irish links, Gates says, “I find this oddly moving. It is astonishing,” he says, “that I have a kinship with someone (Niall of the Nine Hostages) dating back to the fourth century A.D.”

Millions of Irish Americans, especially those in New York, may be directly descended, like Gates, from Niall of the Nine Hostages, the most prolific warrior in Irish history.

A team of geneticists at Trinity College led by professor Dan Bradley have discovered that as many as 3 million men worldwide may be descendents of the Irish warlord, who was the Irish “High King” at Tara, the ancient center of Ireland from A.D. 379 to A.D. 405.

The story of Niall of the Nine Hostages is already the stuff of legend, which has been passed on to countless Irish schoolchildren over the years.

The supposedly fearless leader battled the English, the Scots, the French and even the Romans, and struck fear into the heart of his enemies. His dynasty lasted for centuries, continuing up until the Elizabethan conquest of Ireland at the end of the 16th century.

Legend has it that it was Niall of the Nine Hostages who, on a raid in Wales, captured a young slave and brought him to Ireland. That slave would later escape, and go to become Ireland’s patron saint, St. Patrick.

But one story not told to most Irish elementary schoolchildren was of Niall’s prolificacy.

When it came to the bedroom, it seems that Niall of the Nine Hostages was even more fearless and energetic than he was on the battlefield.

This warlord was responsible for the very common Irish surname “O’Neill” — which means “descendant son of Niall.” It is also the name of Irish pubs all over the world.

The researchers also found that as many as one in 12 men in Ireland have the same DNA as the Irish king — and in Ireland’s northwest, that figure rises to one in five.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

Budweiser or Samuel Adams?

ABC News Photo Illustration

It seems like the perfect diplomatic approach. Two opposing sides, at odds with one another, coming together at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for a cold one. Henry Louis Gates, a Harvard professor and police Sgt. James Crowley will drop by the White House to sip a glass with the president of the United States to settle their their dispute. The burning questions , as we read in this report from ABC News,  is what type of been should be served?

Frothy Diplomacy: What Beer Will Obama Choose for White House Meeting?

The President Hopes to Ease Tensions by Drinking Beer with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley

By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
ABC NEWS Business Unit

July 28, 2009—

The easy part for President Obama might have been getting Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. to accept his invitation to the White House for a beer.

Now comes the hard part: finding just the right beer for the occasion.

Does the president choose a lager for Thursday’s gathering? A porter? Maybe a wheat beer? Does he pick something light to help the men with the Washington, D.C., summer heat?

Whatever the president picks, it is likely to be closely watched and could even help propel a lesser-known beer into the mainstream.

“In the summertime people want something maybe just a little bit lighter, more refreshing. They’re not going to go for a heavier stout or nut brown,” said Steen Sawyer, general manager of John Harvard’s Brew House a few steps away from Harvard’s campus in Cambridge.

Donna Brazile, an ABC News political consultant, suggested Boston-brewed Sam Adams. The beer is sold everywhere from police bars to academic haunts.

“Honestly, I am a wine drinker and find common ground with beer could be tough,” Brazile added. “Who knows, the two might decide to have ice tea. It’s hot outside.”

Choosing a drink is not an easy decision for politicians. During the heated Democratic primary in Pennsylvania Hillary Clinton pounded back a shot of Crown Royal whiskey and chased it with a beer. Obama visited a sports bar and sampled a Yuengling after making sure it wasn’t ”some designer beer.”

This time around the president might instead choose to highlight a beer from his hometown of Chicago.

Goose Island, the city’s largest brewery, provided the only beer at Obama’s election night celebration in Grant Park, according to Anthony Bowker, the brewer’s chief operating officer.

That night, 3,000 bottles of Goose Island’s 312 Urban Wheat Ale and Honker’s Ale were at the celebration. The brewery was started in 1988, at the beginning of the craft beer resurgence and is made using water from Lake Michigan.

“We’re rooting for the home town,” Bowker said. “We’d be, naturally, absolutely thrilled. It’s a point of pride for us that Chicago beer is known outside the region.”

The company sells its beer mostly around the Midwest but started to distribute to Washington after Obama’s victory.

“Goose Island beers are available in D.C. now,” Bowker said. “And it’s all on the coattails of the president.”

The presidential choice could provide a big bounce for any beer maker. A presidential endorsement — official or not — sticks in people’s minds.

Ask anybody what Bill Clinton ate during the 1992 presidential campaign and they are likely to mention McDonald’s. And Michelle’s Obama’s selection of a J.Crew wardrobe brought the company massive spikes in orders, especially of outfits she has worn.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, when asked by reporters at a briefing Monday about the beverage choice, noted that Obama hoisted a Budweiser at baseball’s All-Star Game earlier this month. Granted, however, the game was in St. Louis, home of Budweiser.

Gibbs also noted that Crowley told the president he was more partial to Blue Moon. No word yet on a favorite beer for Gates.

“It’s widely know that people have sat down together over a beer to resolve differences and disputes. We’re happy to know that beer continues to be a beverage that brings people together for fellowship and our beer Blue Moon may be considered for the occasion,” said Julian Green, a spokesman for MillerCoors, which owns Blue Moon.

“Blue Moon is a classic style of beer that is artfully crafted with an inviting twist and would be great for any occasion when people want to connect for a lighthearted moment,” Green said.

Blue Moon, however, could be a problematic pick for the Democratic president, because while it is marketed as a small craft beer, it was actually created by Coors and today owned by MillerCoors. The Coors family has been a long-time supporter of the Republican party. Additionally, the AFL-CIO ran a decade-long boycott of the company’s beer in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

Gates told The Boston Globe over the weekend that he was partial to Red Stripe and Beck’s. But both of those are foreign beers. The White House only stocks American beers, under a tradition dating to the Johnson administration.

Budweiser isn’t a slam dunk either. Some could argue that the beer is no longer an American beer after being bought out by Belgian-Brazilian beer giant InBev, maker of Hoegaarden, Leffe and Stella Artois.

Devin Dinneen, general manager of Tommy Doyle’s Irish Pub in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, the bar that Crowley was in Friday when the president called, inviting him to the White House for a beer, offered some perspective.

Dinneen said Sam Adams Summer Ale “is a good seller in the warm weather” but that pub also sells a fair amount of Guinness, being an Irish bar. He also suggested Magners Irish Cider.

“It’s a nice summer drink with a bit of ice,” Dinneen said.

He was there on Friday when Crowley and some other police officers were eating lunch and Obama called.

“They’re regulars at the bar because the [police] station is right around the corner from us in Cambridge,” he said.

But Dinneen couldn’t say any particular beer that Crowley likes to drink. The New York Post reported that he had a Blue Moon during the call. But Dinneen said the sergeant was drinking “orange juice, I think.”

So what beer would the manager of Crowley’s bar choose if he got to go to the White House?

“I would have the most expensive beer I could order, I suppose,” Dinneen said. Or just “maybe a cold pint of Guinness.”

Matt Simpson, who goes by the nickname The Beer Sommelier, provides craft beer consulting for individuals and businesses and writes the “Ask Beer” column for Beer Magazine, said his first choice would probably a Hennepin Farmhouse Saison from the Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“It would probably be the single beer that would go with just about every course served,” Simpson said. “So, if I could just choose one, it would be that one because it pairs remarkably well with salads and cheeses but has enough body, heft and flavor to balance out other richer, heavier entrees.”

Simpson said Sam Adams — with its very wide range of beers for all tastes — or Goose Island would both be great choices.

“There are many great craft beers that are made right here in the United States that have lots of flavor, aroma and complexity that would give them lots to talk about besides race relations,” he said.

But he urged Obama to stay away from the larger, mass-produced beers.

“They’re uninteresting beers,” Simpson said. “They’re very light. They’re crisp and refreshing and thirst-quenching. But that’s really about it. There’s no depth of flavor, no big aroma, no character.”

But perhaps that lack of pizzazz is just what Obama needs to get through what could be a very awkward meeting.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

Burmese Peril

Photo by TIFFANY TOMPKINS-CONDIE | Bradenton Herald

Some people are cool with them. Others actually own them. Others still, like myself, loathe them. Within the Reptilia Class of the Animalia Kingdom, they are known as Python molurus molurus, or Pythons, for short. Thing is, there was nothing short about this discovery as we read in this report from the Bradenton Herald…

EAST MANATEE, Fla. — A wildlife expert caught a python measuring more than 14 feet over the weekend in west Florida. Wildlife expert Justin Matthews of Matthews’ Wildlife Rescue, an animal care and educational company, and his son ended up dragging the snake out of a pipe without being bitten on Saturday. It took six people to hold it down and measure it. Matthews thinks the snake has been in the area for years living off Muscovy ducks from a nearby pond. As a wildlife expert and instructor, Matthews has permits to take pythons and other large reptiles. The snake will be taken to an animal clinic to scan its body for a microchip. Matthews says that if it has one there will be consequences for its owner. If not, Matthews will use it for his classes

40 Years Ago—One Small Step

You’ve probably seen the television commercial by now  for the wristwatch… Archival footage of President John F. Kennedy, speaking at Rice University on a hot September day in 1962, promising the world that the United States would put a man on the moon.

And did we ever…

Those of old enough to remember will not forget where we were July 20th, 1969. 40 years ago  I stood in Trafalgar Square, a mere lad of 16, and watched Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon. He was followed by Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins, inside Apollo 11, orbited around the moon. The moon landing was a milestone for NASA and a milestone for America. Who will ever forget…

The Most Trusted Man in America

The most trusted man in America has died. Walter Cronkite, the voice of CBS news, particularly to aging baby boomers like myself, brought the news home in a way that we’ll never forget.

Before the emergence of Fox News and CNN, the events that shaped the sixties and seventies were brought home to us via television on CBS news. His story-telling ability was second to none. The assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, the historic moon landing of 1969, and those day to day broadcasts, year in and year old, earned him the trust from America.

When he closed his shows with ‘ And that’s the way it is’, you know he meant it…

As a journalist, I can say that his presence on television inspired this reporter.

Uncle Walter, you will be missed.

Jersey City Shootout

Photo  Courtesy of ABC

Police had been watching the place. Early this morning, as most residents were either still sleeping or pouring their first cup of coffee of the morning, Jersey City erupted in gunfire… The story from The New York Times…

July 17, 2009

5 Police Officers Shot and 2 Suspects Killed in Jersey City Melee

By LIZ ROBBINS

A chaotic predawn shootout outside a Jersey City apartment building between a shotgun-wielding suspect and the police left five officers wounded — two critically, including one shot in the face — and two suspects dead, according to the Jersey City mayor, Jerramiah Healy, who spoke at a news conference in Jersey City.

Five police officers were taken to New Jersey Medical Center with gunshot wounds in what Mayor Healy called a “terrible gunfight,” and several others sustained injuries relating to the fight.

The officer who had been shot in the face had no signs of life when he was brought in, officials said, but was revived, said doctors at the Jersey City Medical Center. He remained in extremely critical condition.

The other police officer in critical condition was hit in the neck and was in surgery.

Of the other officers injured, one was hit in the vest, another in the arm, and another was grazed in the leg by a bullet and already released.

Gunfire erupted just after 5 a.m. outside an apartment on 24 Reed Street near Bergen Avenue, where the two suspects had already been under investigation by the police. According to another Jersey City law official who requested anonymity, the two people dead are suspected of conducting a robbery in Jersey City with shotguns in June.

One of the suspects had come out of the apartment carrying a shotgun and ammunition and “ready for war,” said the Jersey City police chief, Tom Comey, and when the police officers approached him, the suspect opened fired.

The suspect retreated into the apartment, and the officers called for emergency backup. About an hour later, with building evacuated, a team of heavily armed emergency service officers went in, and the shootout erupted. The police chief said at least one shotgun blast was fired through a wall or door.

“These individuals were sought by our department,” Chief Comey said. “This individual came to us fully ready to go to war with us. That weapon was meant to hunt nothing other than men.”

29 Year Old Tennessee Case Still Up in the Air

Photo by Tom Killips

Memories of former Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton have re-appeared. New York authorities are holding a man they say is a fugitive from Justice here in Tennessee. 62 year old Robert T. Henry III says otherwise. He claims money was paid to Blanton for a pardon, as we read in this report from The Troy Record…

By Dave Canfield The Record

TROY — Two months after his arrest, Tennessee authorities have yet to submit the proper paperwork to New York to extradite Robert T. Henry III, wanted in his home state for the past 29 years as a fugitive from justice. An appearance in Troy City Court Thursday moved the 62-year-old’s case no further, as public defender John Turi asked the judge to release Henry — like he did a month ago — and was again told it was not within the judge’s authority. “I haven’t seen a governor’s warrant. I haven’t seen a warrant at all,” Turi told Judge Kathleen Leahey-Robichard. “He’s been in custody 60 days. Sixty days is certainly a more than adequate period of time for someone to travel from Tennessee to Troy.” The judge told Turi a request for bail must be filed in Rensselaer County Court, as Judge Christopher Maier told him at Henry’s last court appearance. While Tennessee authorities attempting to extradite the man they say never returned from a prison work release on June 10, 1980, have not produced the proper paperwork — they need warrants signed by Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen and Gov. David Paterson — Assistant District Attorney Shane Hug said he has been in touch with them in the past week and was told the proper forms have been sent to Bredesen. Hug sought and was granted a 60-day extension at Henry’s last appearance on June 4. “It’s just a process that takes a little time,” Hug said, suggesting that extensions are available for just that reason. “Tennessee is trying to get him.” Henry, a Vietnam veteran with physical and mental health problems, had been serving a 15-year sentence on a robbery charge. He has claimed that he was granted executive clemency in return for $10,000 campaign contributions from his mother and aunt to former Tenn. Gov. Ray Blanton, who halted his re-election bid and left office three days early amid a clemency-for-cash scandal, among other ethical issues. That scandal, for which aides of Blanton were charged but not the former governor himself, has been the subjects of movies and books. Henry has produced no proof of such a deal, but friends and relatives said he had spoke about it long before he was re-arrested in Troy on June 4. He had been living on and off for in Troy about six years at that time. It was his attempt to contact Tennessee authorities when he learned they were after him allowed them to easy track his location. He is scheduled to re-appear in Troy City Court on July 30.

What Really Happened to Henry Hudson?

They named a river after him in New York. We  read about him in history class.  400 years have come and gone, and the details about the final days of Henry Hudson remain a mystery, as we read in this story from MSNBC…

MSNBC.com
400 years later, explorer’s death still a mystery

New research indicates that navigator Henry Hudson was murdered by crew

By Heather Whipps

LiveScience

updated 5:42 p.m. CT, Tues., July 7, 2009

It has been 400 years since English explorer Henry Hudson mapped the northeast coast of North America, leaving a wake of rivers and towns named in his honor, yet what happened to the famed explorer remains a mystery.

Hudson was never heard from again after a mutiny by his crew during a later voyage through northern Canada. That he died in the area in 1611 is a certainty, and he may have even been killed in cold blood, according to new research.

The anger among Hudson’s crew over his decision to continue exploring after the harsh winter could have easily fueled a murderous mutiny, suggests Peter Mancall, a professor of history at the University of Southern California.

“The full story of Hudson’s saga reveals one of the darker chapters of the European age of discovery,” said Mancall, who explores the 1610 voyage in his new book “Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson” (Basic Books; 2009).

Hudson claims Manhattan
Before the fatal voyage that took his life, Henry Hudson found great success as a navigator the way many men did during the Age of Exploration — by accident.

Hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a new passage to spice-rich Asia by way of the Arctic Ocean, Hudson was ultimately forced by impassable ice to seek another route south. Sailing into what would eventually be named the Hudson River in 1609, he did not find the Northwest Passage he was looking for, but did manage to stake the first loose claim to the territory — including the island of Manhattan — on behalf of The Netherlands.

The value of the land he’d claimed for a foreign power wasn’t lost on the rulers of his home country. Upon his return, England’s royal council forbid Hudson from ever sailing under another flag, and he was sent back to the New World in 1610 aboard the English ship Discovery.

Hudson’s objective was, once again, to find a northern passage to Asia, but he would never return from that trip. The Discovery docked back in London in 1611 without having reached Asia, without the captain aboard and with just eight crew, all of whom were now subject to death by hanging for the murder.

Set adrift
Some facts about the 1610-1611 voyage of the Discovery are certain.

Discovery plied the Canadian bay that also took Hudson’s name in the summer of 1610, the captain believing that he’d possibly found the elusive northern passage to the Pacific. The ship was forced to ground itself for the winter, however, with Hudson ordering a return to the route the next spring, despite his crew’s wish to return to England. When the ship took to the water again for its return trip in June 1611, Hudson was not aboard.

On trial for Hudson’s murder later that year, the remaining crew admitted to cutting the captain and a group of individuals still loyal to him loose on a small lifeboat, according to court documents.

None of the men was convicted of the murder or even punished for the mutiny, and historians  generally believe their claims, too. But some physical evidence points to a more violent end for the captain, Mancall believes.

Mancall highlighted evidence that was found and documented after the ship docked in London: blood stains, most damningly, along with letters from another sailor mentioning the growing personal rift between captain and crew. A number of Hudson’s possessions were also missing.

Since Hudson’s body was never found, however, it will never be known for sure whether the captain was murdered or given a more subtle death sentence, set adrift in the harsh environment of northern Canada.

It was Hudson’s steely nature to press on and meet his objective that led to his demise, whatever that may have been, historians agree.

“Hudson was one of the most intrepid and important explorers of his age,” said Mancall. “He was not a man who easily gave up.”

© 2009 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.