Captain John Davis (born 1784 in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England) was an American sailor and seal hunter from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, United States. It is thought that he may have been the first person to set foot on

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, on 7 February 1821, shortly after the first sightings of the new continent, all in 1820, by

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen or Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von Bellingshausen ( – ) was a Russian cartographer, explorer, and naval officer of Baltic German descent, who attained the rank of admiral. He participated in the first Russi ...

and Mikhail Lazarev on (28 January),

Edward Bransfield Edward Bransfield ( – 31 October 1852) was a Royal Navy officer who served as a master on several ships, after being impressed into service in Ireland at the age of 18. He is noted for his participation in several explorations of parts of ...

on (30 January), and

Nathaniel Palmer Nathaniel Brown Palmer (August 8, 1799 – June 21, 1877) was an American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, ship designer, and a whale hunter. He gave his name to Palmer Land, Antarctica, which he explored in 1820 on his sloop ''Hero''. ...

in (November).

Antarctic claim

Some of Davis' crew from the American sealing ship ''Cecilia'' may have landed at Hughes Bay (64°01'S), near the northernmost tip of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

, for less than an hour while looking for seals. The ship's logbook entry reads: These men made the earliest recorded claim of having set foot on the newly discovered continent of Antarctica. The first undisputed landing on Antarctica did not occur for another 74 years, on 24 January 1895, when a group of men from the Norwegian ship ''Antarctic'' went ashore to collect geological specimens at Cape Adare. The group included the Norwegians Henrik Johan Bull and Carsten Borchgrevink and the New Zealander Alexander von Tunzelmann.

Legacy

The strip of coast on the Antarctic Peninsula where the men are alleged to have gone ashore is now called the

Davis Coast Davis Coast () is that portion of the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between Cape Kjellman and Cape Sterneck. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, John 1784 births 19th-century American explorers American hunters British hunters English explorers American explorers of Antarctica People from Connecticut People from Surrey Sealers Year of death unknown Davis Coast English emigrants to the United States

Antarctic claim

Legacy

See also

References