John Davis

John Davis 1550?-1605, English navigator. He made his first voyage in search of the Northwest Passage in 1585, continuing the work of Martin Frobisher . On this voyage he discovered Cumberland Sound of Baffin Island and made explorations that prepared the way for his later voyages in 1586 and 1587. On the third exploration he sailed through Davis Strait into Baffin Bay and coasted down Baffin Island and across the east end of Hudson Strait. He clarified much of the confusion over the geography of that region. In 1591, Davis sailed S for the Straits of Magellan, and in 1592 he sighted the Falkland Islands. He later made voyages to the East Indies and was killed in a fight with Japanese pirates. A type of quadrant he invented was used for more than a century, and he wrote a manual, The Seaman's Secrets (1594).

Bibliography: See The Voyages and Works of John Davis, ed. by A. H. Markham (1880, repr. 1970); biography by Sir Clements Markham (1889, repr. 1970).

Davis, John (c.1550–1605). One of the long line of English navigators who sought the North-West Passage, he obtained some sort of backing from Walsingham for three expeditions in 1585–7. Following Frobisher's example, he sailed south and west of Greenland, but then penetrated much further north to about 73° in the strait that bears his name. His men played football with Inuit (Eskimos). Later in his life, Davis sailed to the Magellan Straits, fought the Spanish Armada, and died in a skirmish in the East Indies. He continued to believe that a North-West Passage could be found, expounding the view in books of 1584 and 1595.

Roy C. Bridges