Davis’s energy was in no way weakened by his sorrows and misfortunes. For two years he lived in retirement at Sandridge, busily engaged on his two works, _The Seaman’s Secrets_ and the _World’s Hydrographical Description_. The first was dedicated to his old Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, on the 20th August, 1594. It was a book of instruction intended for sailors, a work on practical navigation, treating exclusively on “those things that are needfully required in a sufficient seaman.” “I distrust not,” he wrote, “but that all honest-minded seamen and pilots of reputation will gratefully accept this book, only in regard of my friendly good-will towards them, for it is not only in respect of my pains, but of my love that I would receive favourable courtesy[51].” But Davis’s work was by no means limited to promoting the safety of English ships by his surveys and charts, and greatly assisting their navigation by the publication of his _Seaman’s Secrets_. He did much towards the improvement of instruments for observing for latitude. The Davis quadrant was the forerunner of the plan of taking angles by reflection and was a great improvement on the cross-staff. It came into general use, and held its own until the invention of Hadley’s quadrant in 1731. There was even one in use on board the _Royal George_ when she sank at Spithead[52]. Davis’s other work, _The World’s Hydrographical Description_ is a learned disquisition on the discovery of a north-west passage to Cathay, and on the advantages to be derived from Arctic exploration. Davis’s career as a seaman and explorer did not terminate until many years later when, on December 27th, 1605, he was murdered by Japanese pirates off the coast of Malacca. As chief pilot of the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies in 1598, and again in the service of the East India Company under Sir James Lancaster, he did good work in eastern waters. But his Arctic explorations were over. As a consummate pilot, a scientific seaman, and a great discoverer he takes rank among the foremost sea worthies of the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth[53]. CHAPTER XII THE MERCHANT ADVENTURERS AND RICHARD HAKLUYT The merchant adventurers who supplied the funds for Arctic expeditions, often at considerable sacrifice, and generally from patriotic motives, deserve niches in the temple of fame as much as the actual explorers. One could not have existed without the other.