338 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



In the following year Davis undertook a second voyage to the north-west, 

 for which the " Sunshine " and " Moonshine " were again engaged, with two 

 other vessels. On June 29, 1586, he landed on the coast of Greenland, in lati- 

 tude 64°, and soon after steered to the west. The enormous ice-floes which, as 

 is well known, come drifting from Baflin's Bay until the season is far advanced, 

 opposed his progress. For some days he coasted these floating islands, when a 

 fog came on, during which ropes, sails, and cordage were alike fast frozen, and 

 the seamen, hopeless of accomplishing the passage, warned their commander 

 that " by his over-boldness he might cause their widows and fatherless children 

 to give him bitter curses." 



Touched by this appeal, Davis ordered two of his ships to return home, and 

 pushing on in the " Moonshine " with the boldest of his followers, he reached 

 the American shore, which he coasted from 67° to 57° of latitude. Off the 

 coast of Labrador two of his sailors were killed by the natives, and September 

 being ushered in by violent gales, he gave up further attempts for the year, and 

 returned to England. 



On June 16, 1587, we once more find him on the coast of Greenland, in his 

 old tried bark the " Sunshine," in company with the " Elizabeth " and a pin- 

 nace. The supplies for this third voyage being furnished under the express 

 condition that the expenses should be lightened as much as possible by fishing 

 at all suitable times, the two larger ships were stationed for the purpose near 

 the part of the coast which they had formerly visited, while Davis steered for- 

 ward in the small and ill-conditioned vessel which alone remained at his dispo- 

 sal. He first sailed along the Greenland coast as far as 72° lat., where, having 

 fairly entered Baflin's Bay, he named the point at which he touched Sander- 

 son's Hope, in honor of his chief patron, and then steered to the west, until he 

 once more fell in with the ice-barrier which had prevented his progress the 

 year before. Time and perseverance, however, overcame all obstacles, and by 

 July 19 he had crossed to the opposite side of the strait which bears his name. 

 He then sailed for two days up Cumberland Strait — which, it will be remem- 

 bered, he discovered on his first expedition — but believing this passage to be 

 an inclosed gulf, he returned, and again passing the entrance to Hudson's Bay 

 without an effort to investigate it, repaired to the rendezvous appointed for the 

 two whaling-vessels to meet him on their way to England. But who can 

 paint his astonishment and consternation when he found that his companions 

 had sailed away, leaving him to find his way home in his miserable pinnace, 

 which, however, landed him safely on his native shores ? This was the last of 

 the Arctic voyages of that great navigator, for the spirit of the nation was 

 chilled by his three successive disappointments ; and all the zeal with which he 

 pleaded for a fourth expedition proved fruitless. 



He subsequently made five voyages to the East Indies, and was killed on 

 December 27, 1605, on the coast of Malacca, in a fight with the Malays. 



Seven years after Davis's last Arctic voyage the Dutch made their first ap- 

 pearance on the scene of northern discovery. This persevering people had just 

 then succeeded in casting off the Spanish yoke, and was now striving to gain, 

 by the development of his maritime trade, a position among the neighboring 



