JOHN DAVIS
A substantial yeoman in the days of the great Queen possessed a small
freehold called Sandridge on the banks of the Dart, in the parish of
Stoke Gabriel. This yeoman had two sons, John Davis the future Arctic
navigator, and his brother Edward, the former born in 1550. The Dart,
in this part of its course, widens out, and has all the appearance of
a lake surrounded by wooded hills, the leafy boughs touching the water
at high tide. The view is closed in by the richly wooded heights of
Greenway Court, which was the home of Humphrey and Adrian Gilbert and
their half brother Walter Raleigh. All these boys were fast friends.
The Gilbert and Davis boys often met, and made excursions together.
Young Davis also had other friends. A mile beyond the neighbouring
village of Dittisham was the manor house of Bozomzele, where dwelt Sir
John Fulford, his wife, Lady Dorothy, daughter of the Earl of Bath, and
several children about the same age as young Davis. Here he was always
welcome, and one of his Bozomzele playfellows, Faith Fulford, later
became his wife.
John Davis was not in the same social position as his life-long friends
Adrian Gilbert and Walter Raleigh or the Fulfords, but he certainly
received a classical education, probably at Totnes grammar school. He
went to sea at an early age and was away from home for about 14 years.
He returned, at the age of 28, an experienced seaman, skilled in the
scientific branch of his profession, and recognised as a captain of
known valour and conduct, in whom merchants were willing to repose
trust and confidence. He had succeeded to the property at Sandridge,
and on September 29th, 1582, he married Faith Fulford.
Young Davis, master of his friend Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s _Discourse on
a North-west Passage to Cathay_, was deeply interested in an enterprise
which would so greatly benefit his country, and was filled with a
desire to undertake the leading of such an expedition. His friend
Adrian Gilbert--at this time a neighbour, having rented the manor house
of Stoke Gabriel--was equally enthusiastic. The two friends rode up to
London together, and Gilbert introduced Davis to Dr Dee, the famous
alchemist and mathematician at Mortlake, and to the great statesman Sir
Francis Walsingham. The four experts examined all available sources
of information, and consulted together. The great difficulty was to
ascertain the position of Sir Martin Frobisher’s discoveries, which
could not be reconciled with the Zeno map. Still, the main object of
finding a passage was most important, and a successful appeal was made
to the merchants of London. Sir Walter Raleigh entered into the plans
of the friend of his boyhood with characteristic ardour, and he induced
the Queen to grant a charter for the discovery to John Davis, Adrian
Gilbert, and himself. Raleigh recommended his associates to the good
offices of Master William Sanderson, a wealthy merchant and one of the
most enlightened adventurers of his time, who resolved to give liberal
support to the expedition. He superintended the preparations, and his
relative, John Janes, went out as supercargo. In the spring of 1585
Davis was busily engaged in fitting out at Dartmouth. He had two small
vessels, the _Sunshine_ of London of 50 tons, and the _Moonshine_,
built at Dartmouth, of only 35 tons. Davis and Janes were in the
_Sunshine_ with the master, William Eston, a master’s mate, gunner,
boatswain, carpenter, eleven seamen, four musicians to please the
natives, and a boy. The _Moonshine_ was commanded by William Bruton,
with John Ellis as master.
On the 7th June, 1585, the two ships left Dartmouth harbour. With
Eston the master, Davis made a careful survey of the provisions and a
calculation of the time they would last. They consisted of salt meat
and cod, biscuit and peas, butter and cheese, with beer. The clothing
was entirely woollen. As contrary winds detained the ships for several
days at the Scilly Islands, Davis employed his time in visiting every
island of the group, plotting and describing every isle and rock, and
making a regular survey for the use of navigators.
A fair wind at last sprang up and took them northward over the
Atlantic, where one or two porpoises were harpooned, and a number of
whales seen. It was on the 20th July, 1588, that Greenland, the country
of the old Norse colony, was sighted, and Davis named it the “Land
of Desolation”: for “the irksome noise of the ice and the loathsome
view of the shore bred strange conceits among us.” This was on the
east side. Davis considered that he was well to the westward of the
Frieslanda of Zeno, and in the channel between Labrador and Greenland
as shown on Mercator’s map, so, after rounding the southern point, he
steered north and on the 29th sighted land in 64° 15′ N. The wind being
strong from the north he anchored in a fjord, which was named Gilbert
Sound. It is the Godthaab of the Danes[49].
On the Greenland coast the numerous small granite islands scattered in
great numbers at the entrances of the deep fjords, are well clothed
with moss, grasses, and wild flowers in the summer, and embosomed in
a deep blue sea on which bergs and pack-ice float here and there, and
become distorted on the horizon by refraction. Nowhere does nature
present a more lovely scene.
Davis, with Janes and Eston, landed on a small island and had his first
interview with the Eskimos. He was followed by the captain of the
_Moonshine_ with the four musicians, and a good understanding was soon
established. Next day many kayaks were darting round the ships, and
there was perfect confidence. Five kayaks and some native clothing were
purchased. On the 1st of August Gilbert Sound was left and, shaping a
W.N.W. course, the opposite shore was sighted in 66° 40′ N., anchorage
being found in a bay which Davis called after his old school--Totnes
Road. He then discovered and examined the entrance to Cumberland Gulf.
He was very observant of the fauna and flora, the bears, five of
which were killed, the seals, and the numerous birds, and he described
_Ranunculus glacialis_ and _Papaver alpinum_. The men had complained of
the insufficiency of the food in such a climate, and a new dietary was
framed. Every mess of five men was to receive 4 lb. of biscuit daily,
12 quarts of beer, 6 stock-fish, and an extra gill of peas on salt meat
days.
From various indications, Davis was inclined to believe that Cumberland
Gulf was a strait, but a northwesterly gale had driven the ships from
the land, and on August 26th he determined to begin the homeward
voyage. He considered that his discoveries had materially increased
the amount of knowledge which must be collected before the passage was
likely to be found.
Davis was warmly welcomed by his steadfast friend Adrian Gilbert, and
he addressed a hopeful letter to Sir Francis Walsingham. He then went
up to London, and gave a personal account to the Secretary of State and
to Master Sanderson.
For the second expedition, which was immediately decided upon, the
merchants of Devonshire subscribed liberally. The little fleet was
composed of four ships, the _Mermaid_ of 120 tons, the _Sunshine_,
the _Moonshine_, and the _North Star_, a pinnace of 10 tons. Davis
himself was in the _Mermaid_ with his friend Janes, and Henry Morgan,
a servant of Master Sanderson, joined the expedition as purser.
Davis had resolved to divide his fleet. The _Sunshine_ under Captain
Pope, with the pinnace, was to seek for a passage on the east side
of Greenland as far as 80° N., and they parted company on the 7th of
June. The _Mermaid_ and _Moonshine_ sighted the southern extremity
of Greenland on the 15th, but Davis was unable to land owing to the
pack-ice extending for several leagues off the shore. He therefore gave
it the name of Cape Farewell, and once more entered the strait which
will bear his name for all time. Encountering very severe weather it
was not until the 29th that anchorage was found near Gilbert Sound,
where the Eskimos received their old friends with joyous welcome. Davis
put together a small pinnace which had been brought out in pieces, and
explored some of the fjords and inlets, also making long excursions
inland to observe the character and products of Greenland. Athletic
sports and football matches were then organised. In long jumping the
English beat the natives, but in wrestling matches the strangers found
their match. A vocabulary was collected of the Eskimo language, and
Davis wrote a very graphic account of these interesting people.
[Illustration: The Voyages of John Davis.]
The season was very unfavourable, there was much heavy pack, the ships
were nearly beset after leaving Gilbert Sound, and the crews became
despondent. Davis therefore made for the land again and reached it
in 66° 30′ N., at a place now known as Old Sukkertoppen. Here it was
resolved that the _Mermaid_ should return home, while Davis in the
_Moonshine_ continued the work of discovery with volunteers. On the
15th of August he crossed the strait, encountering much foul weather,
in spite of which the gallant explorer surveyed the west coast of Davis
Strait from the 67th to the 57th parallel. He found such enormous
quantities of birds breeding on the cliffs that he was led to suppose
that there must be a similar abundance of fish in the sea. He therefore
hove the ship to, and in a short time the men caught a hundred cod.
“The hook was no sooner over the side than presently a fish was
taken.” After examining the coast of Labrador, and the north coast
of Newfoundland, where there was a serious encounter with the Micmac
Indians, Davis shaped his course for England on the 11th September,
finally arriving at Dartmouth in October, 1586. Meanwhile the
_Sunshine_ and pinnace had reached Iceland, whence there was an attempt
to approach the east coast of Greenland, but the ice was too closely
packed, and Captain Pope sailed round Cape Farewell to Gilbert Sound,
returning to England on the 6th October. The account of this voyage was
written by Henry Morgan.
Davis had lost faith in Cumberland Gulf as a strait, but he had
discovered another great opening to the south which he thought might
be one, not knowing that Frobisher had already discovered and sailed
up it for six days. He also had good grounds for the belief that
these tentative expeditions could be made to pay their expenses by
bringing home cargoes of fish. He therefore resolved to continue the
enterprise although the west country merchants had lost heart. For a
short time he enjoyed the pleasures of home at Sandridge, discussing
the prospects with his neighbour and life-long friend Adrian Gilbert.
The two friends rode up to London together, were encouraged by the Lord
Treasurer and Sir Francis Walsingham, and obtained the necessary funds
from Master Sanderson and other patriotic merchants. The new Arctic
fleet consisted of the _Elizabeth_ of Dartmouth, the _Sunshine_, the
_Ellen_, a clinker-built pinnace, and another small pinnace taken out
in pieces. The _Moonshine_ was worn out. Davis had resolved to try and
make the expedition pay its expenses by fishing. He was a most popular
commander, and men who had once served with him always wanted to serve
again. John Janes, the nephew of Master Sanderson, again accompanied
him, and he appointed a native of his own parish of Stoke Gabriel,
named John Churchward, as pilot of the _Ellen_.
At midnight on the 19th May the three little vessels _Sunshine_,
_Elizabeth_, and _Ellen_ sailed out of Dartmouth harbour before a fresh
gale from the north-east. The _Sunshine_ sprang a leak which could
only be kept under by 500 strokes of the pump during each watch, and
the _Ellen_ was such a bad sailer that she had to be towed. On the 16th
June, in spite of these drawbacks, the three vessels came to anchor in
Gilbert Sound. Davis was so anxious that the expedition should pay its
expenses that he determined to despatch both the _Sunshine_ and the
_Elizabeth_ to the fishery, and to continue his voyage of discovery
in the little pinnace _Ellen_ of barely 20 tons. Then John Churchward
reported that the _Ellen_ had sprung a leak and that it required 300
strokes of the pump every watch to keep her clear of water. In this
wretched little craft the explorers were to hazard their lives. All
felt the crisis to be serious. Some hesitated. John Davis considered
the matter, and his decision was worthy of him. He told his people that
it would be better to end their lives with credit than to return with
infamy and disgrace. The crew accepted his words as final and resolved
to live and die together.
At midnight therefore on the 21st June all sailed from Gilbert Sound,
the two barks for the fishing voyage, and Davis in the pinnace to
continue the work of discovery. Proceeding northward along the west
coast of Greenland, to which he gave the name of the London Coast,
Davis took an observation on the 30th which showed the pinnace to be in
72° 12′ N. A lofty perpendicular cliff, in reality one of several small
islands off the coast, was named after the friend and chief promoter of
the expedition “Sanderson his Hope,” for here it was that there seemed
to be the chiefest hope of a passage. Sanderson his Hope rises to the
height of 850 feet above the sea, perpendicular save for narrow ledges
on which myriads of looms and kittiwakes rear their young.
Davis was now obliged to alter course to the west owing to a strong
northerly wind, and ran for 40 leagues in that direction without
sighting land. Throughout the voyage he paid close attention to the
phenomena of terrestrial magnetism, and did his best to increase the
data for studying the properties of the magnet during all his voyages.
The observations for variation at London have been continuous since
1580, and Davis had studied the work of another Arctic navigator,
William Burrough, whose _Discourse of the Compass and Magnetic Needle_
appeared in 1581, followed in 1585 by Robert Norman’s _New Attractive_.
While engaged in these observations, Davis found the progress of the
little _Ellen_ suddenly checked by broad floes stretching across
her path. This was the famous “middle pack” drifting towards the
Atlantic, sometimes extending for 200 miles, with an average thickness
of eight feet. A lane of water was followed for some distance but it
proved deceptive, and the _Ellen_ was lucky in being able to escape
from it without being beset. Davis then coasted along the southern
edge of the pack and succeeded in reaching the western side of the
Strait. By midnight of the 19th July the _Ellen_ was off the entrance
of Cumberland Gulf. Sailing along the coast they sighted Frobisher
Strait and “Meta Incognita” without knowing that they were Frobisher’s
discoveries, for the map-makers had placed them on the other side,
in Greenland. The _Ellen_ also crossed the entrance of the great
strait which Frobisher had discovered, and Davis named the point on
the south side Cape Chidley, after an old friend in Devonshire. The
confused current which Frobisher likened to the waterfall then existent
at London Bridge, appears to have been called by Davis “the furious
overfall” as shown on the Molyneux globe and the “new map” of 1599.
Davis in his log and Janes in his narrative describe it as “a mighty
overfall, with divers circular motions like whirlpools in such sort as
forcible streams pass through the arches of bridges.” The rendezvous
of the fishing vessels was in 54° N. on the coast of Labrador, where
the _Ellen_ waited until the 15th August, and then shaped a course for
England, arriving at Dartmouth on the 15th September, 1587. The logs
of the _Sunshine_ and _Elizabeth_ have not been preserved, but we may
hope that their cargoes remunerated Master Sanderson and the other
subscribers, and paid the expenses of the expedition[50].
The discoveries of Davis were most important. He converted the Arctic
regions from a confused myth into a defined area. He not only described
and mapped the extensive tracts explored by himself, but he clearly
pointed out the work cut out for his successors. He lighted Hudson into
his strait, as Luke Fox truly said. He lighted Baffin into his bay. He
lighted Hans Egede to the scene of his Greenland labours. He did more.
His true-hearted devotion to the cause of Arctic discovery, his patient
scientific research, his loyalty to his employers, his dauntless
courage and enthusiasm, his care for the welfare of his men, form an
example which has been a beacon light to the best Arctic explorers for
all time.
When Davis returned from his last Arctic voyage, England was
threatened by the Spanish Armada and there could be no thought but
for her defence. Our Arctic navigator was also an expert pilot of the
Channel, and had constructed a chart with soundings, mainly from his
own surveys. His ability and zeal were well known, but he could only
obtain the command of a small vessel of 20 tons called the _Black Dog_
to act as tender to the Lord Admiral. She served throughout the war.
Davis afterwards commanded the _Drake_ to unite with the squadron of
the Earl of Cumberland and prey upon Spanish commerce, joining him
between Flores and Fayal in the Azores. These war services had the
satisfactory result of enriching Davis with prize money and enabling
him to undertake an expedition having geographical discovery for its
main object.
The admirable character of the subsequent services of John Davis was
due in great measure to the influence of his Arctic training and
experience, but the plan of the present work makes it impossible to
recount those services in detail. In joining the second expedition of
Cavendish to the South Sea, the object of Davis was to discover the
passage thither by the north, entering on the west side. In an evil
hour Davis consented to unite forces with Cavendish, and commanded the
_Desire_ of 120 tons, contributing a large sum to the expedition. The
terrible story of the dangers and sufferings in the Straits of Magellan
and how through them all Davis diligently surveyed and prepared
sailing directions, and the disastrous voyage home, are all graphically
described by his friend Janes. This failure of the venture on which all
the hopes of Davis had been set was heart-breaking. All his money was
lost. To add to his affliction he returned to Sandridge only to find
that his wife had deserted him, and that his three little boys were
motherless.
Davis’s energy was in no way weakened by his sorrows and misfortunes.
For two years he lived in retirement at Sandridge, busily engaged on
his two works, _The Seaman’s Secrets_ and the _World’s Hydrographical
Description_. The first was dedicated to his old Admiral, Lord
Howard of Effingham, on the 20th August, 1594. It was a book of
instruction intended for sailors, a work on practical navigation,
treating exclusively on “those things that are needfully required
in a sufficient seaman.” “I distrust not,” he wrote, “but that all
honest-minded seamen and pilots of reputation will gratefully accept
this book, only in regard of my friendly good-will towards them, for it
is not only in respect of my pains, but of my love that I would receive
favourable courtesy[51].” But Davis’s work was by no means limited
to promoting the safety of English ships by his surveys and charts,
and greatly assisting their navigation by the publication of his
_Seaman’s Secrets_. He did much towards the improvement of instruments
for observing for latitude. The Davis quadrant was the forerunner of
the plan of taking angles by reflection and was a great improvement
on the cross-staff. It came into general use, and held its own until
the invention of Hadley’s quadrant in 1731. There was even one in use
on board the _Royal George_ when she sank at Spithead[52]. Davis’s
other work, _The World’s Hydrographical Description_ is a learned
disquisition on the discovery of a north-west passage to Cathay, and on
the advantages to be derived from Arctic exploration.
Davis’s career as a seaman and explorer did not terminate until many
years later when, on December 27th, 1605, he was murdered by Japanese
pirates off the coast of Malacca. As chief pilot of the first Dutch
expedition to the East Indies in 1598, and again in the service of
the East India Company under Sir James Lancaster, he did good work in
eastern waters. But his Arctic explorations were over. As a consummate
pilot, a scientific seaman, and a great discoverer he takes rank among
the foremost sea worthies of the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth[53].