232 BAFFIN BAY 



twenty tons, his two other vessels being the Sunshine 

 as before, and the Elizabeth. These he left to fish for 

 cod in the straits while he went northward from Gilbert 

 Sound in his little " clinker," which he had probably 

 chosen as being handy for ice navigation. Running 

 along the land, to which he gave the name of London 

 Coast, he reached 72 12' the highest north up to then 

 attained where he named the loftiest of the headlands 

 Sanderson's Hope, whose lofty crest piercing through 

 the driving clouds near Upernivik has become perhaps 

 the best-known landmark in the northern seas. Here 

 the wind suddenly shifting to the northward made 

 further progress impossible, and he had to shape his 

 course westerly, and then, owing to ice, which he in 

 vain endeavoured to get round to the north, he had to 

 turn southwards. Amid much fog, and with the ice 

 always present, he came down the coast of Baffin Land, 

 giving a name here and there on the way, until on the 

 31st of July he passed "a very great gulfe, the water 

 whirling and roring, as it were the meetings of tides," 

 which was probably the entrance to Hudson Strait. 

 Next day he was off' the Labrador coast and named 

 Cape Chidley after his friend who died in the Straits of 

 Magellan, and on the 15th of August he laid his course 

 for England. 



Of this voyage Hakluyt prints the Traverse Book, 

 one of the earliest known. In it the full detail is given 

 for every day, arranged in nine columns, one each for 

 the month, the day, the hour, the courses, the leagues, 

 the elevation of the pole in degrees and minutes, the 

 wind, and a remarks column headed " The Discourse " 

 for Davis was an exact and systematic man remark- 



