The Hudson River serves as both a physical crossing and a last-minute transport hub in Phileas Fogg’s journey. At its New York approach, a transcontinental rail connection fails to meet the Atlantic sailing schedule; after crossing the river, Fogg turns to the vessels gathered along its banks, looking for a route that can still save his wager.

Setting and Transport Network

The river enters the narrative not as a landscape to be toured but as a working passage through the transport network. On the night of December 11, the train races east through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, then reaches the Hudson at a quarter-past eleven. It stops on the river’s right bank, directly before the Cunard pier, making the waterway the boundary between the rail journey and the onward Atlantic passage.

The account emphasizes connections and timing rather than scenery: the party has crossed a continent by train, but its next stage depends on reaching a ship. The Hudson is therefore a decisive node in a larger system of railways, ferries, and steamers, where arrival at the right place does not guarantee arrival in time.

The Missed Atlantic Connection

The train reaches the Hudson too late for the China steamship, which has been gone for three-quarters of an hour. The missed departure converts the riverbank into the scene of a sudden reversal: after the party’s rapid passage across the United States, the remaining distance to England is no longer the main problem; finding another vessel becomes urgent.

The schedule makes the cost of the delay precise. On December 12, Fogg calculates that the period from seven that morning to a quarter before nine on December 21 amounts to nine days, thirteen hours, and forty-five minutes. Had the party boarded the China, it could have reached Liverpool and then London within the agreed period. The missed ship thus turns the river crossing into a test of whether the journey’s remaining links can be improvised quickly enough.

Crossing and Search Along the Banks

After consulting his Bradshaw, Fogg’s party crosses the Hudson by ferry to Jersey City and takes a carriage to the St. Nicholas Hotel on Broadway. The crossing gets them away from the missed Cunard departure, but it does not solve the larger problem. Passepartout is distressed by the loss of the ship and blames himself for earlier delays; Fogg does not reproach him, instead postponing a decision until the next day.

On December 12, Fogg leaves the hotel alone after instructing Passepartout to wait and have Aouda ready at a moment’s notice. He searches the Hudson’s banks among vessels moored or anchored in the river. Some are preparing to depart with the morning tide, but most are sailing ships and unsuitable for his purpose. Near the Battery he spots a screw-driven trading vessel whose smoking funnel indicates that it is preparing to leave. The riverfront search shifts the narrative from a lost scheduled connection to a possible, if improvised, passage onward.

Narrative Significance

The Hudson concentrates the tension between speed and dependence that governs Fogg’s itinerary. Rail travel has brought the party across the continent, yet its progress remains vulnerable to the timetable of a single steamer. The ferry provides another link, while the vessels at anchor offer possibilities that the published schedule cannot. Fogg’s response is characteristically practical: rather than dwell on the missed connection, he searches the available transport network and considers alternatives.

The river is also a threshold between the overland crossing and the final effort to reach England. Its function is repeated in the novel’s broader pattern of travel, in which a journey depends not on speed alone but on compatible routes, available vehicles, and successful transfers. At the Hudson, that pattern becomes especially stark: the party arrives at the pier, but the ship is already gone; the river must be crossed, and the next passage must be found.