Frobisher, narrowly missed the discovery of Hudson’s Bay via Hudson’s Straits (the “Furious Overfall” of Davis). In 1588 he seems to have commanded the “Black Dog” against the Spanish Armada; in 1589 he joined the earl of Cumberland off the Azores; and in 1591 he accompanied Thomas Cavendish on his last voyage, with the special purpose, as he tells us, of searching “that north-west discovery upon the back parts of America.” After the rest of Cavendish’s expedition returned unsuccessful, he continued to attempt on his own account the passage of the Strait of Magellan; though defeated here by foul weather, he discovered the Falkland Islands. The passage home was extremely disastrous, and he brought back only fourteen of his seventy-six men. After his return in 1593 he published a valuable treatise on practical navigation in The Seaman’s Secrets (1594), and a more theoretical work in The World’s Hydrographical Description (1595). His invention of back-staff and double quadrant (called a “Davis Quadrant” after him) held the field among English seamen till long after Hadley’s reflecting quadrant had been introduced. In 1596–1597 Davis seems to have sailed with Raleigh (as master of Sir Walter’s own ship) to Cadiz and the Azores; and in 1598–1600 he accompanied a Dutch expedition to the East Indies as pilot, sailing from Flushing, returning to Middleburg, and narrowly escaping destruction from treachery at Achin in Sumatra. In 1601–1603 he accompanied Sir James Lancaster as first pilot on his voyage in the service of the East India Company; and in December 1604 he sailed again for the same destination as pilot to Sir Edward Michelborne (or Michelbourn). On this journey he was killed by Japanese pirates off Bintang near Sumatra.
A Traverse Book made by John Davis in 1587, an Account of his Second Voyage in 1586, and a Report of Master John Davis of his three voyages made for the Discovery of the North West Passage were printed in Hakluyt’s collection. Davis himself published The Seaman’s Secrets, divided into two Parts (London, 1594), The World’s Hydrographical Description . . . whereby appears that there is a short and speedy Passage into the South Seas, to China, Molucca, Philippina, and India, by Northerly Navigation (London, 1595). Various references to Davis are in the Calendars of State Papers, Domestic (1591–1594), and East Indies (1513–1616). See also Voyages and Works of John Davis, edited by A. H. Markham (London, Hakluyt Society, 1880), and the article “John Davys” by Sir J. K. Laughton in the Dictionary of National Biography. (C. R. B.)
DAVIS, THOMAS OSBORNE (1814–1845), Irish poet and
journalist, was born at Mallow, Co. Cork, on the 14th of October
1814. His father, James Thomas Davis, a surgeon in the royal
artillery, who died in the month of his son’s birth, belonged to
an English family of Welsh extraction, and his mother, Mary
Atkins, belonged to a Protestant Anglo-Irish family. Davis
graduated B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1836, and was called
to the bar two years later. Brought up in an English and Tory
circle, he was led to adopt nationalist views by the study of Irish
history, a complicated subject in which text-books and the
ordinary guides to knowledge were then lacking. In 1840 he
made a speech appealing to Irish sentiment before the college
historical society, which had been reorganized in 1839. With a
view to indoctrinating the Irish people with the idea of nationality
he joined John Blake Dillon in editing the Dublin Morning Register. The proprietor very soon dismissed him, and Davis
saw that his propaganda would be ineffective if he continued to
stand outside the national organization. He therefore announced
himself a follower of Daniel O’Connell, and became an energetic
worker (1841) on the committee of the repeal association. He
helped Dillon and Charles Gavan Duffy to found the weekly
newspaper, The Nation, the first number of which appeared on
the 15th of October 1842. The paper was chiefly written by these
three promoters, and its concentrated purpose and vigorous
writing soon attracted attention. Davis, who had never written
verse, was induced to attempt it for the new undertaking. The
“Lament of Owen Roe O’Neill” was printed in the sixth
number, and was followed by a series of lyrics that take a high
place in Irish national poetry—“The Battle of Fontenoy,”
“The Geraldines,” “Máire Bhán a Stoír” and many others.
Davis contemplated a history of Ireland, an edition of the
speeches of Irish orators, one volume of which appeared, and
a life of Wolfe Tone. These projects remained incomplete, but
Davis’s determination and continuous zeal made their mark on
his party. Differences arose between O’Connell and the young
writers of The Nation, and as time went on became more
pronounced. Davis was accused of being anti-Catholic, and
was systematically attacked by O’Connell’s followers. But he
differed, said Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, from earlier and later
Irish tribunes, “by a perfectly genuine desire to remain unknown,
and reap neither recognition nor reward for his work.”
His early death from scarlet fever (September 15th, 1845) deprived
“Young Ireland” of its most striking personality.
His Poems and his Literary and Historical Essays were collected in 1846. There is an edition of his prose writings (1889) in the Camelot Classics. See the monograph on Thomas Davis by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (1890, abridged ed. 1896), and the same writer’s Young Ireland (revised edition, 1896).
DAVISON, WILLIAM (c. 1541–1608), secretary to Queen Elizabeth, was of Scottish descent, and in 1566 acted as secretary
to Henry Killigrew (d. 1603), when he was sent into Scotland by
Elizabeth on a mission to Mary, queen of Scots. Remaining in
that country for about ten years, Davison then went twice to the
Netherlands on diplomatic business, returning to England in
1586 to defend the hasty conduct of his friend, Robert Dudley,
earl of Leicester. In the same year he became member of parliament
for Knaresborough, a privy councillor, and assistant to
Elizabeth’s secretary, Thomas Walsingham; but he soon appears
to have acted rather as the colleague than the subordinate of
Walsingham. He was a member of the commission appointed
to try Mary, queen of Scots, although he took no part in its
proceedings. When sentence was passed upon Mary the warrant
for her execution was entrusted to Davison, who, after some
delay, obtained the queen’s signature. On this occasion, and
also in subsequent interviews with her secretary, Elizabeth
suggested that Mary should be executed in some more secret
fashion, and her conversation afforded ample proof that she
disliked to take upon herself any responsibility for the death of
her rival. Meanwhile, the privy council having been summoned
by Lord Burghley, it was decided to carry out the sentence at
once, and Mary was beheaded on the 8th of February 1587.
When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was
extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against
Davison, who, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not
to part with the warrant. The secretary was arrested and
thrown into prison, but, although he defended himself vigorously,
he did not say anything about the queen’s wish to get rid of
Mary by assassination. Charged before the Star Chamber with
misprision and contempt, he was acquitted of evil intention, but
was sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000 marks, and to imprisonment
during the queen’s pleasure; but owing to the exertions
of several influential men he was released in 1589. The queen,
however, refused to employ him again in her service, and he
retired to Stepney, where he died in December 1608. Davison
appears to have been an industrious and outspoken man, and was
undoubtedly made the scapegoat for the queen’s pusillanimous
conduct. By his wife, Catherine Spelman, he had a family of four
sons and two daughters. Two of his sons, Francis and Walter,
obtained some celebrity as poets.
Many state papers written by him, and many of his letters, are extant in various collections of manuscripts. See Sir N. H. Nicolas, Life of W. Davison (London, 1823); J. A. Froude, History of England (London, 1881 fol.); Calendar of State Papers 1580–1609; and Correspondence of Leicester during his Government of the Low Countries, edited by J. Bruce (London, 1844).
DAVIS STRAIT, the broad strait which separates Greenland from North America, and connects Baffin Bay with the open Atlantic. At its narrowest point, which occurs just where the Arctic Circle crosses it, it is nearly 200 m. wide. This part is also the shallowest, a sounding of 112 fathoms being found in the centre, whereas the depth increases rapidly both to north and to south. Along the western shore (Baffin Land) a cold current passes southward; but along the east there is a warm northward stream, and there are a few Danish settlements on the Greenland coast. The strait takes its name from the explorer John Davis.
