Davis Facts Country England Occupation Mapmaker, explorer, scientist, writer Arctic Regions Explored Northwest Passage, Greenland, Falkland Islands # of Arctic expeditions 3 Most famous expedition Search for Northwest Passage (1585) Other Significant Events Invented the double quadrant, a navigational instrument Did you know? Returning from an expedition to Greenland in 1587, two of Davis' ships were attacked by native people. Two men were killed and others wounded. Davis is noted for drawing detailed maps of long stretches of the coast of Greenland, Baffin Island and Labrador, and recording observations of the ice, relief, rock formations, temperature, vegetation and animal life of these areas. On 27 December 1605, off the coast of Malaysia, Davis was assassinated by one of the Japanese pirates whose ship he had just captured.

John Davis
(1550 - 1605)

John Davis was a British scientist, cartographer, and writer on seamanship who made extensive explorations in the Arctic, exploring Davis Strait and discovering the Falkland Islands. Even though his three attempts to find a "Northwest Passage" were unsuccessful, he greatly contributed to Europe's knowledge of the Arctic. His findings played an important role in the continuing exploration of the Canadian Arctic. He was also the first person to draw attention to the sealing and whaling possibilities in Davis Strait and to show that the Newfoundland cod fisheries extended far northwards along the Labrador Coast. His famous "Traverse Book" from his final voyage has since become the model for ships' log-books.

Early on, Davis was in touch with the explorers and scientists of his time. At the age of 30 his knowledge of navigation and scientific cartography was already well recognized. Like many of his contemporaries, he was convinced of the existence of a Northwest Passage that led to Asia without crossing Portuguese and Spanish territories, and his great ambition was to discover it. Through his friends, he met the Queen's secretary, who convinced the sponsors of Martin Frobisher's exploration, a few years earlier, to finance his expedition.

On June 7, 1585 with two ships, Davis left Dartmouth, England and followed the same route as Martin Frobisher, passing south of Greenland, where he met some of the Inuit of that country. Heading up the west coast of Greenland, he then crossed to Exeter Bay, on the coast of Baffin Island. While exploring some of the islands at the head of Cumberland Sound's north shore he encountered tidal currents which led him to the conclusion that somewhere up one of the channels lay the Northwest Passage.

On his second voyage Davis reached Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. He then crossed the western side of Davis Strait and landed near Cape Mercy, which he didn't recognize from his previous voyage. Davis then continued south along the Labrador coast before returning home. The following year, Davis undertook another voyage in the same area. Two of the four ships of the expedition were sent to explore the east coast of Greenland. Davis sailed the other two into Davis Strait up the east coast of Greenland to 67º north latitude. A barrier of ice forced them to head southwest to Baffin Island and then south as far as the estuary of Hamilton Inlet where they were attacked by a band of Inuit warriors. Despite casualties, however, they took time before returning home to fish for cod as a means to partially cover the expedition's costs.