John Davis of Devon was the great scientific navigator and explorer of the Elizabethan age. On three voyages in search of the North West Passage (1585-86-87) he explored the coasts of Greenland, Baffin Island and Labrador, the first European known to have visited these shores since the Norsemen in the 13th century. Attempting a southern circumnavigation of the globe in 1591, Davis discovered the Falkland Islands. His contributions to the art of navigation include the prototype of the ship's daily log and the Davis quadrant, the standard instrument for determining latitude until the mid 18th century.