Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 3 (of 8): English Explorations and Settlements in North America 1497-1689
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 3 (of 8): English Explorations and Settlements in North America 1497-1689
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
On his third voyage he sailed from Dartmouth, on the 19th of May,
1587, with three vessels,—the “Elizabeth,” the “Sunshine,” and a
smaller vessel, the “Helen,”—and arrived at the same port, on his
return, on the 15th of September. His course was in the track which
he had previously followed; but he added little to the knowledge he
had already gained, and having been inadequately provided for a long
voyage, was obliged to sail for home when he thought “the passage is
most probable, the execution easie.”[195]
[Illustration: FROM MOLINEAUX’S MAP, 1600.
[It is claimed that Davis, who was in England, June, 1600, to February,
1601, probably furnished the plot, and there is manifest an endeavor
in it to reconcile the old Zeno map. Davis’s discoveries are correctly
placed, but Frobisher’s are on the wrong side of the Straits. It needs
the following key:—
1. A furious overfall.
2. Warwick’s forelande.
3. E. Cumberland Inlet.
4. Estotiland.
5. M. Rawghley.
6. Saunderson’s towe.
7. C. Bedford.
8. Fretum Davis.
9. Desolation.
10. Warwick’s Forlande (_repeated_).
11. Meta incognita.
12. Mr. Forbusher’s straights.
13. Reg. E. Foreland.
14. Freyland.
15. Gronlande.
See Editorial Note F, at the end of Dr. De Costa’s chapter.—Ed.]]
[Illustration]
It is a matter for surprise, in view of the sanguine expectations of
Davis, that an interval of nearly fifteen years elapsed between his
return from his third voyage and the sailing of the next expedition.
This was sent out at the cost of the East India Company, and consisted
of two small vessels,—the “Discovery,” under the command of Captain
George Waymouth, and the “Godspeed,” under John Drew. Waymouth sailed
from the Thames on the 2d of May, 1602, under a contract which provided
that he should sail directly toward the coast of Greenland and the sea
described as Fretum Davis, and that thence he should proceed by those
seas, “or as he shall find the passadge best to lye towards the parts
or kingdom of Cataya or China, or the backe side of America, w^{th}out
geveng ouer the proceedinge on his course soe longe as he shall finde
those seas or any ṗte thereof navigable, and any possibilitie to
make way or passadge through them.”[196] In spite of these specific
directions, the voyage was not productive of any important results,
though it is probable that he sighted land to the north of Hudson’s
Strait; and Luke Fox appears to have been right when he says that
Waymouth “neither discovered nor named any thing more than Davis, nor
had any sight of Groenland, nor was so farre north; nor can I conceive
he hath added anything more to this designe. Yet these two, Davis and
he, did (I conceive), light Hudson into his straights.”[197] Waymouth
himself ascribed his failure to a mutiny which occurred in the latter
part of July, and which compelled him to return to Dartmouth, where he
arrived on the 5th of August. An inquiry into the causes of the failure
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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