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John Davis
English Navigator
 In 1585, Davis led a
two ship expedition in search of a northwest or northern sea passage to
Asia. Reaching what is today Baffin Island, Davis sailed up Cumberland
Sound, thinking it was the passage to Asia. Running low on provisions,
he was forced to turn back before reaching the end of the Sound.
The following year, Davis commanded a four ship expedition with similar
goals as his early attempts. This time he reached Labrador and explored
the coast while two of his ships tried, unsuccessfully, to sail over the
North Pole.
Davis led his third, and final, northwest expedition in 1587. This time
he did in fact reach the end of the Cumberland Sound, but was dismayed
that all he had done was prove that it did not actually lead to Asia, as
he had hoped. The fish brought back by the expedition, however, made the
trip profitable and proved that Newfoundland had rich fishing grounds.
In 1588, Davis commanded ship in the battle against the Spanish Armada.
Three years after that, he accompanied Thomas Cavendish on an expedition
to the South Seas. It was on that expedition that Davis discovered the
Falkland Islands. Later, he sailed around Africa and piloted a ship for
the East India Company. He invented a navigational instrument, known as
the Davis quadrant, and he wrote several important nautical works.
Davis came to an abrupt end when he was killed by pirates near Singapore
in 1605. |
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