Despite the assertions of master Prince, I _question_ if captain Davis married a daughter of sir John Fulford; I am _sure_ he was not the first pilot who conducted the Hollanders to the East-Indies; I am sure the journal of the voyage is not printed in Hakluyt; I am sure the narrative of his voyage with sir Edward Michelborne is neither dedicated to the earl of Essex nor printed in Hakluyt; I am sure he did not write the _Rutter, or brief directions for sailing into the East-Indies_; I am sure he wrote two works of which Prince says nothing; I am sure he did not make _five_ voyages to the East-Indies; and I am sure, to omit other oversights, that he did not "return home safe again." To the latter point I shall now confine myself. In 1604 king James, regardless of the charter held by the East-India company, granted a license to sir Edward Michelborne, one of his gentlemen-pensioners, to discover and trade with the "countries and domynions of Cathaia, China, Japan," &c. This license, preserved in the Rolls-chapel, is dated the twenty-fifth of June. On the fifth of December sir Edward set sail from Cowes with the Tiger, a ship of 240 tons, and a pinnace--captain Davis being, as I conceive, the _second_ in command. In December 1605, being near the island of Bintang, they fell in with a junk of 70 tons, carrying ninety Japanese, most of them {451} "in too gallant a habit for saylers:" in fact, they were pirates! The unfortunate result shall now be stated in the words of the _pirate_ Michelborne: