What did Englishmen in the sixteenth century know about the Arctic, and how did they arrive at that knowledge? The century saw many proposals, projects and theories about the Arctic, but relatively few English voyages. The interest of the Arctic, at the time, lay chiefly in the possibility that it might afford alternate routes to the Indies, by the east, west or by a route directly over the pole: any such route would have been shorter, closer to hand, and unclaimed by rival powers, carrying as a bonus the glory of first discovery. The bulk of English experience above the Arctic Circle in the period came through annual trading voyages to Muscovy via the White Sea, a route inaugurated by the otherwise disastrous Northeast Passage search led by Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor in 1553. Voyages of exploration were far scarcer: Stephen Borough in 1566 and 1567, Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman in 1580, Sir Martin Frobisher in 1576–78 and John Davis in 1585–87 make up the very short list.

This essay has two focal points. The first is the body of theoretical ‘knowledge’ about the Arctic and the pole available to late-sixteenth-century planners and voyagers. The second is a case study: accounts of John Davis's three Arctic voyages published in the second edition of Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations (1598–1600).