THIRD EXPEDITION OF DAVIS. 
35 
when it is taken into consideration, that liis vessel was not larger 
than a common fishing smack, her burthen being only 35 tons; 
our surprise is not the more excited at the hardihood of Davis, 
in undertaking so perilous a voyage, in a vessel so totally 
inadequate for the purpose, than it is at the folly and parsimony 
of the Bristol merchants, who could select such a vessel for a 
voyage of discovery, from which her chance of return was far 
beyond probability. 
The preceding voyages of Davis may be considered as decided 
failures as far as concerns his avowed aim, and it may be fur¬ 
ther affirmed, that no great essential advantage accrued from 
either, whether we regard them in a commercial or a geographi¬ 
cal character. The countries which he visited, had been disco¬ 
vered long before by Frobisher, and other navigators, and al¬ 
though he unreservedly promulgated his opinion of the existence 
of a north west passage, yet he did not give a single datum, on 
which the validity of that opinion was founded, on the contrary, 
with the knowledge which we possess at the present day, of the 
geographical situation of the Arctic Regions, and of the coun¬ 
tries adjacent to them, we are entitled to draw the inference, 
that the reports circulated by Davis, of the existence of a north 
west passage, were wholly built on fiction and conjecture, and 
not supported by any deductions drawn from his own personal 
knowledge of the geography of the countries situated between 
the 65° and 75° of north latitude. It is true, that he had im¬ 
proved his nautical experience, and, therefore, had become 
more capable of conducting any expedition which might be after¬ 
wards despatched for the discovery of the geographical situation 
of the countries within the Arctic Circle. His previous failures 
had not in the least dispirited him, nor depressed his hopes c? 
ultimate success, and, accordingly, we find that he succeeded in 
inducing the merchants to fit out another expedition, and on 
the 19th May, 1587, he sailed again from Dartmouth with two 
vessels of greater tonnage, and better equipped for the attain' 
ment of hfs object. He arrived in the middle of June on the 
west coast of Greenland, along which he coasted, till he reached 
the latitude of 72° 12'. By currents and contrary winds, he was 
