John Davis | |
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.png) 1624 miniature portrait from the title page ofSamuel Purchas's collection of travel storiesPurchas his Pilgrimes | |
| Born | Unknown date,c. 1550 Sandridge, Stoke Gabriel, England |
| Died | 29 December 1605(1605-12-29) (aged 54–55) |
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John Davis (c. 1550 – 29 December 1605) was an explorer, navigator andprivateer. He led several voyages in search of theNorthwest Passage and served as pilot and captain on both Dutch and English voyages to theEast Indies. He discovered theFalkland Islands in August 1592.
Davis was born in the parish ofStoke Gabriel inDevon circa 1550, and spent his childhood in Sandridge Barton nearby. It has been suggested[by whom?] that he learned much of his seamanship as a child while playing boats along the river Dart, and went to sea at an early age. His childhood neighbours included Adrian Gilbert andHumphrey Gilbert and their half-brotherWalter Raleigh.[1] From early on, he also became friends withJohn Dee.[2]
He began pitching a voyage in search of theNorthwest Passage to the queen's secretaryFrancis Walsingham in 1583.[4] Two years later, in 1585, the secretary relented and funded the expedition, which tracedFrobisher's route toGreenland's east coast, aroundCape Farewell, and west towardsBaffin Island.[2] In 1586 he returned to the Arctic with four ships, two of which were sent to Greenland's iceberg-calving eastern shore; the other two penetratedthe strait which came to bear his name as far as67°N before being blocked by theArctic ice cap.Sunshine attempted (and failed) to circumnavigate the island from the east.[5] The initially amiable approach Davis adopted to theInuit – bringing musicians and having the crew dance and play with them[4] – changed after they stole one of his anchors.[6] Inuit also attacked his ships inHamilton Inlet (Labrador).[2] A third expedition in 1587 reached72°12'N andDisko Island before unfavorable winds forced it back. On his return, Davis chartedDavis Inlet on the coast ofLabrador. The log of this trip remained a textbook model for later captains for centuries.[2]
In 1588 he seems to have commandedBlack Dog against theSpanish Armada.[4] In 1589 he joined theEarl of Cumberland as part of theAzores Voyage of 1589. In 1591 he accompaniedThomas Cavendish on Cavendish's last voyage, which sought to discover theNorthwest Passage "upon the back parts of America" (i.e., from the western entrance). After the rest of Cavendish's expedition returned unsuccessful, Davis continued to attempt on his own account the passage of theStrait of Magellan; though defeated by foul weather, he apparently discovered theFalkland Islands in August 1592 aboardDesire.[7] His crew was forced to kill hundreds of penguins for food on the islands, but the stored meat spoiled in the tropics and only fourteen of his 76 men made it home alive.
From 1596 to 1597 Davis seems to have sailed withSir Walter Raleigh toCádiz and the Azores as master of Raleigh's ship; from 1598 to 1600 he accompanied aDutch expedition to theEast Indies as pilot, sailing from flushing and returning to Middleburg, while carefully charting and recording geographical details. He narrowly escaped destruction from treachery atAchin onSumatra.[7]
From 1601 to 1603 he accompanied SirJames Lancaster as Pilot-Major on the first voyage of the EnglishEast India Company. For his part Davis was to receive £500 (around £1.5 million at 2015 values[8]) if the voyage doubled its original investment, £1,000 if three times, £1,500 if four times and £2,000 if five times.[9]
Before departure, Davis had told London merchants that pepper could be obtained inAceh at a price of fourreals of eight perhundredweight - whereas it actually cost 20. When the voyage returned, Lancaster complained that Davis had been wrong about both the price and availability of pepper.[10] Unhappy at being made a scapegoat for the situation, on 5 December 1604 Davis sailed again for the East Indies as pilot to SirEdward Michelborne, an "interloper" who had been granted a charter byJames I[11] despite the supposed East India Company monopoly on trade with the East.[12] On this journey he was killed offBintan Island nearSingapore by one of his captive"Japanese" pirates whose disabled vessel he had just seized. The pirates had taken the English in through several days of friendly discourse prior to the surprise attack in which the subject was 'dragged back, hacked and slashed, and thrust out again'. He died almost immediately after the attack.
In the centuries after his death, the importance of Dutchwhalers actually led the settlements alongGreenland's western coast to be called "Straat Davis" after their name for the Strait, while the name "Greenland" was used to refer to the eastern shore, erroneously presumed to be the site of theNorseEastern Settlement.[13]
John Davis is recognised also for his valuable contribution to proto-ethnography of Inuit.[6]
Davis's explorations in the Arctic were published byRichard Hakluyt and appeared on his world map. Davis himself published a valuable treatise on practical navigation calledThe Seaman's Secrets[14] in 1594 and a more theoretical work calledThe World's Hydrographical Description in 1595.[7][15] The account of Davis's last voyage was written by Michelborne on his return to England in 1606.
His invention of thebackstaff and double quadrant (called theDavis quadrant after him) remained popular among English seamen until long afterHadley's reflecting quadrant had been introduced.[7][2]
On 29 September 1582, Davis married Mistress Faith Fulford, daughter of Sir John Fulford (the High Sheriff of Devon) and Lady Dorothy Bourchier who was daughter ofJohn Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath.[16][17] They had four sons and a daughter.[18] On his return from the 1592 voyage, Davis discovered his wife had taken up with a "sleek paramour";[19] conspiring with this man, a counterfeiter, Faith "brought false and unavailing charges" against Davis.[20]
Davis was also involved a plot to entrapThomas Aufield, a Catholic priest. Likely acting as anagent provocateur at the direction of his patron,Francis Walsingham, Davis claimed to be a Catholic convert and offered to hand over a number of English ships to the Pope or to Spain to aid the Catholic cause. He met Aufield in Rouen to discuss the proposal. Negotiations failed and he returned to England where Aufield was arrested for circulating Catholic texts. Aufield was tortured and found guilty distributing a book in which found fault with the queen's religion. He was hanged on 6 July 1585 at Tyburn.[21]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Beazley, Charles Raymond (1911). "Davis, John". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 868–869.
