John Davis Pirate, explorer of new lands Country: Great Britain

1. Biography of John Davis
2. Discoveries and Exploration
3. Contributions and Inventions
4. The Attack on "Infanta" and Romantic Interlude

Biography of John Davis

John Davis, a pirate and explorer of new lands, was the only son and heir of an English lord. However, after completing the Liverpool Navigation School, at the age of twenty-one, he chose the fate of a pirate and set sail on one of his father's ships in search of adventure.

Discoveries and Exploration

Driven by a passion for discovery and exploration, Davis never missed an opportunity to plunder Spanish or French ships. He embarked on a series of voyages that placed him among the renowned seafarers and pirates of his time. In 1585, he had the honor of being the second discoverer of Greenland (after the Vikings). In his second voyage in 1586, he explored Cumberland Bay in Baffin Island, thoroughly surveyed the North American coast, and accurately determined the location of Hudson Strait. During his third voyage in 1587, he once again explored Greenland, advancing northward to 72°12' N. His precise maps laid the foundation for subsequent explorers, such as Hudson and Baffin. His observations also contributed to the development of English whaling.

Contributions and Inventions

Davis was also an inventor of several navigational instruments, including the Davis quadrant. He authored books on navigation. In the book "Pirates of America," Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin described John Davis: "He cruised for a long time in Pokattoro Bay, hoping to encounter a ship that sailed from Cartagena to Nicaragua. But he was unsuccessful and decided, along with his crew, to travel to the river of Nicaragua, leaving the ship near its mouth and paddling upstream in canoes. They planned to enter the city at night and plunder the houses of the wealthiest merchants. His ship had ninety men and three canoes. The pirates left about ten men on the ship, while the rest got into the canoes. When night fell, they entered the river and hid among the trees (they also concealed their ship to avoid detection by the Indians fishing at the river mouth). On the third day, around midnight, they reached the city. The guards mistook them for fishermen who worked in the lagoon since some of them spoke Spanish well. In fact, one of them was an Indian from those parts who had fled because the Spaniards wanted to enslave him. The Indian jumped ashore and killed a guard. After that, the pirates infiltrated the houses of three or four prominent citizens and took all the money they could find. They also looted the church. However, one of the church servants managed to break free from the pirates' grasp and alerted the entire town. The townspeople and soldiers woke up, but the pirates managed to escape with their loot and some prisoners they intended to use as hostages in case of pursuit. Soon, they reached the shore, hastily boarded their ship, and set sail into the open sea. Instead of ransom, the prisoners were ordered to gather enough meat for the pirates to reach Jamaica. When the pirates were still at the river mouth, about five hundred armed Spaniards came ashore. The pirates fired their cannons at them. Thus, the Spaniards could only mourn the sight of their goods sailing away and curse the moment when the pirates landed. It was incomprehensible to them how the pirates dared to approach a city guarded by an eight-hundred-strong garrison and located at least forty miles from the coast. Moreover, the pirates managed to plunder the town in such a short time!"

The Attack on "Infanta" and Romantic Interlude

At the exit of the Magellan Strait into the Atlantic, on March 21, 1592, a small pirate ship called "Black Death," under the command of Davis, previously part of Cavendish's squadron, attacked the galleon "Infanta," which was carrying gold from Peru to Spain. This event, which had consequences for the history of geographical discoveries, had a romantic backstory. Shortly before this, the pirates captured a French ship in the Caribbean Sea, and Captain Davis took the young traveler Countess Teresa de Bourg as prisoner. Forty-two-year-old Davis proposed to the countess. Teresa de Bourg craved adventure but also had practical concerns. Knowing that a pirate's wife would lose her inheritance, both her own and her husband's, she wanted to secure her future. Davis promised to arrange everything, and then "Infanta" appeared. Hooks were thrown onto the galleon's side when Davis noticed three Spanish warships escorting it. With difficulty, Davis managed to detach the hooks and raced full sail into the open sea. On the third day of pursuit, they found themselves near a rocky ridge that was impossible to bypass, with the Spanish still on their tail. Fortunately for the pirates, a sudden fog descended, and the wind died down. The crew of the "Black Death" lowered their longboats and towed the ship towards the shore. They hid it behind the rocks, leaving planks, spare masts, scraps of sails, and a broken longboat on the open rocks. The Spaniards assumed the pirates had perished and turned back. Thus, John Davis inadvertently discovered the Falkland Islands. To this day, descendants of John and Teresa live on these islands.