John Davis (English explorer)
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| John Davis | |
.jpg) 17th century painting of Davis
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| Born | 1550? Sandridge, Devon, England |
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| Died | 29 December 1605 Bintan, Sumatra |
| Cause of death | Murder |
| Nationality | English |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Occupation | Explorer, navigator |
| Known for | Davis Strait, discovered the Falkland Islands, invented the backstaff |
| Spouse(s) | Faith Fulford |
John Davis (1550? - 29 December 1605), was one of the chief English navigators and explorers under Elizabeth I, especially in Polar regions.
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[edit] Early life
Davis (Davys) was born at Sandridge near Dartmouth around 1550. From a boy he was a sailor, and early went on voyages with Adrian Gilbert; both the Gilbert and Raleigh families were Devonians of his own neighbourhood, and through life he seems to have profited by their friendship.
[edit] Baffin Island
In January 1583[1] he appears to have broached his design of a Northwest Passage to Francis Walsingham and John Dee; various consultations followed; and in 1585 he started on his first north-western expedition. On this he began by encountering the ice-bound east shore of Greenland, which he followed south to Cape Farewell; then he turned north once more and coasted the west Greenland littoral some way, until, finding the sea free from ice, he shaped a course for China going north-west. In 66° N, however, he encountered Baffin Island, and though he pushed some way up Cumberland Sound, and professed to recognize in this the hoped strait, he now turned back (end of August).
He tried again in 1586 and 1587; in the last voyage he pushed through the straits still named after him into Baffin Bay, coasting west Greenland to 73° N, almost to Upernavik, and thence making a last effort to find a passage westward along the north of America. Many points in Arctic latitudes (Cumberland Sound, Cape Walsingham, Exeter Sound, etc) retain names given them by Davis, who ranks with William Baffin and Henry Hudson as the greatest of early Arctic explorers and, like Martin Frobisher, narrowly missed the discovery of Hudson Bay via Hudson Strait (the Furious Overfall of Davis).
[edit] Command of the Black Dog
In 1588 he seems to have commanded Black Dog against the Spanish Armada;[1] in 1589 he joined the Earl of Cumberland off the Azores; and in 1591 he accompanied Thomas Cavendish on his last voyage, with the special purpose, as he tells us, of searching that north-west discovery upon the back parts of America. After the rest of Cavendish's expedition returned unsuccessful, he continued to attempt on his own account the passage of the Strait of Magellan; though defeated here by foul weather, he discovered the Falkland Islands in August 1592 aboard the vessel Desire. His crew was forced to kill around 125,000 penguins for food while on the Falkland Islands. They stored the penguin meat as well as they could and sailed for home, but the meat spoiled once they reached the tropics. This made the passage home disastrous, and he brought back only fourteen of his seventy-six men.
[edit] Later expeditions
In 1596-1597 Davis seems to have sailed with Raleigh (as master of Sir Walter's own ship) to Cádiz and the Azores; and in 1598-1600 he accompanied a Dutch expedition to the East Indies as pilot, sailing from Flushing, returning to Middleburg, and narrowly escaping destruction from treachery at Achin in Sumatra.
[edit] Books
After his return in 1593 he published a valuable treatise on practical navigation in The Seaman's Secrets (1594), and a more theoretical work in The World's Hydrographical Description (1595).
[edit] Inventions
His invention of the backstaff and double quadrant (called the Davis Quadrant after him) remained popular among English seamen until long after Hadley's reflecting quadrant had been introduced.[2]
[edit] Death
In 1601-1603 he accompanied Sir James Lancaster as first pilot on his voyage in the service of the British East India Company; and in December 1604 he sailed again for the same destination as pilot to Sir Edward Michelborne (or Michelbourn). On this journey he was killed by Japanese pirates off Bintan near Sumatra.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "John Davis at the Encyclopaedia Britannica". http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/152794/John-Davis. Retrieved on 09-06-2009.
- ^ "John Davis: Master Navigator". Collections Canada. 2004-03-19. http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/206/301/lac-bac/explorers/www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/explorers/h24-1350-e.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-09.
[edit] External links
- The Seaman's Secrets text of Davis' publication with illustrations.
- Biography:Clements R. Markhan. A Life of John Davis : The Navigator, 1550-1605, Discoverer of Davis Straits. New York : Dodd, Mead, 1889.
