1 02 A rctic and A nt arctic Exploration [part i 
diligently surveyed and prepared sailing directions, and 
the disastrous voyage home, are all graphically described 
by his friend Janes. This failure of the venture on which 
all the hopes of Davis had been set was heart-breaking. 
All his money was lost. To add to his affliction he 
returned to Sandridge only to find that his wife had 
deserted him, and that his three little boys were mother- 
less. 
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 Hydrographioal Descrip- 
tion. The first was dedicated to liis 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 1 ." 
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 2 . 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 
1 An account of the contents of The Seaman's Secrets is given in the 
present writer's life of Davis, and it is printed in extenso in Admiral Sir 
Albert Markham's Voyages of John Davis. 
2 This is now in the Museum at Greenwich. 
