Explorers of Canada, Part IV: John Davis

Ah the wonderful John Davis. For the first time, two Explorer of Canada episodes back-to-back. Now if you'd asked me earlier who the heck John Davis was, I wouldn't know. If you said something about the arctic, I'd have mentioned the Davis Straight but thats about all I know.

Johnny was born sometime around 1550 in Devon, near Dartmouth, England. Being in Dartmouth, he learned the sailing trade and became one of the most able seaman in Elizabethan England. He knew other seamen families, especially that of the Raleighs (Sir Walter Raleigh) and the Gilberts (Sir Humphrey Gilbert). Those are by the way two seamen whom I haven't talked about although maybe I should have.

Now while the Spanish and the Portuguese were interested in settling the lands of America, the English were more interested in reaching China, by going to the north, around the American Continent. So, like Frobisher, Davis went to search for the Northwest Passage. So, in 1583 he became obsessed with the idea that it was possible, dispite previous failures, that there was a Northwest Passage. In 1585 he convinced the English authorities to let him go, and he set off that year for America.

He did three voyages, the first in 1585, then another in 1586 and the last in 1587. He searched for the passage west of Greenland. He is believed to have arrived at Baffin's Bay (still unnamed at the time) but missed discovering Hudson's Bay by very little. He made charts of the area and today some islands and waterways still carry the names he has assigned. Exeter Sound, Cape Walsingham, Cumberland Sound and obviously the Strait of Davis.

Because of his voyages in the arctic, he brought attention to whaling and sealing possibilities in the North and showed that the Atlantic Cod was found as far north as the shores of Labrador. His book, of his third voyage: "Traverse Book" has since become the model for vessel logs.

On his return, he commanded the Black Dog during the battle on the Spanish Armada, in 1588. The next year he fought for the Earl of Cumberland. But his explorations and navigations didn't end there. In 1591, he sailed on Thomas Cavendish's trip around the world as a pilot and navigator.

They didn't make it past the Straits of Megallan and returned towards England. It was on his way back home that Davis made his greatest discovery: the Falkland Islands.

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