DAVIS, JOHN, a famous navigator in the sixteenth century, was born at Sandridge, near Dartmouth, in Devonshire, and distinguished himself by making three voyages to the northern parts of America, in order to discover a north-west passage to the East Indies, in which he discovered the straits which still bear his name. He afterwards performed five voyages to the East Indies, in the last of which he was slain in a desperate encounter with some Japanese, near the coast of Malacca, on the 27th of December 1605. He wrote an account of his second voyage for the discovery of the north-west passage, a voyage to the East Indies, and several other tracts.
DAVIS'S ISLAND, one of the Philippines, about forty miles in circumference, and situated about the 124th degree of east longitude, close to the island of Bool. It is also the name of one of those numerous islands which form the Mergui Archipelago at the southern extremity of the Bay of Bengal. It is about ten miles in circumference, and belongs to the Burmans, though it is not inhabited.