目前對亨利·哈德遜的出生日期及早期的生活大多仍未明朗[4]。有一些消息來源指出哈德遜是在1565年左右出生的[5],而其他人則認為是在1570年左右[6][7]。其他歷史學家的斷言則更無法確定,比如曼考爾(英语:Peter C. Mancall)說「哈德遜可能是出生在1560年代」[8],而彭寧頓(Pennington)則沒有給出具體的時間[4]。歷史學家認為哈德遜曾在海上工作一段時間,一開始是船艙男侍(英语:cabin boy),後來逐步成為船長。
許多作家錯誤的紀錄說[11],哈德遜在這次航行中在斯匹次卑爾根海域發現大批鯨魚,導致數個國家派出的捕鯨船到斯匹次卑爾根。雖然他的確在航行中看到許多鯨魚,但是他的報告並沒有導致捕鯨商業貿易出現,而是後來喬納斯·普爾(Jonas Poole )在1610年的探險才導致英國建立捕鯨基地,尼古拉斯·伍德科克(Nicholas Woodcock)及Willem Cornelisz. van Muyden在1612年的探險則促成荷蘭、法國和西班牙發展商業捕鯨[12]。
^亨利·哈德森所有的肖像畫均為死後所繪,參閱Butts, Edward (2009). Henry Hudson:New World Voyager. Toronto:Dundurn Press. p. 17. See also Hunter, Douglas (2007). God's Mercies:Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery. Doubleday Canada. p. 12.
^The following paragraph relies on Asher (1860), pp. 1-22; and Conway (1906), pp. 23-30.
^Observations made during this voyage were often wrong, sometimes greatly so. See Conway (1906).
^Among them are Sandler (2008), p. 407; Umbreit (2005), p. 1; Shorto (2004), p. 21; Mulvaney (2001), p. 38; Davis et al. (1997), p. 31; Francis (1990), p. 30; Rudmose-Brown (1920), p. 312; Chisholm (Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911), p. 942; among many others.
^See Poole's commission from the Muscovy Company in Purchas (1625), p. 24. For Woodcock see Conway (1906), p. 53, among others.
^"Having perused Hudsons Jounrall written by his owne hand... ", p. 88. For Fotherby's 1615 voyage see Purchas (1625), pp. 82-89.
^Louwrens Hacquebord, “The Jan Mayen Whaling Industry” in Jan Mayen Island in Scientific Focus, pp. 230-31, Stig Skreslet, editor, Springer Verlag 2004
Hacquebord, Lawrens. (2004). The Jan Mayen Whaling Industry. Its Exploitation of the Greenland Right Whale and its Impact on the Marine Ecosystem. In: S. Skreslet (ed.), Jan Mayen in Scientific Focus. Amsterdam, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 229-238.
Juet, Robert (1609), Juet's Journal of Hudson's 1609 Voyage from the 1625 edition of Purchas His Pilgrimes and transcribed 2006 by Brea Barthel, Juet's Journal of Hudson's 1609 Voyage(PDF). [2009-10-22]. (原始内容(PDF)存档于2011-06-28)..
Purchas, S. 1625. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes: Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells by Englishmen and others. Volumes XIII and XIV (Reprint 1906 J. Maclehose and sons).
A Journal of Mr. Hudson's last Voyage for the Discovery of a North-west Passage ; Abacuck Pricket ; Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca ; OCLC17312467