James Davis (mariner)

James Davis (c. 1575 in England – 16 February 1623(?), at James City, Virginia) was an English ship captain and author. He was part of the expedition of the Virginia Company of Plymouth which established the short-lived Popham Colony, also called "Northern Virginia."

Davis was master of the ship Mary & John which sailed to the New World to the coast of Maine. He is believed to be the author of an account of this voyage entitled, The Relation of a Voyage into New England begun from the Lizard, ye first of June, 1607. He was the commander of the fort built on the Kennebec River, August 19, 1607, by the Sagadahoc New England Colony (the colony was made up of knights and gentlemen from Bristol).

The short-lived colony built its fort and log buildings near present-day Phippsburg, Maine in August 1607. The Virginia, a pinnace was also constructed to demonstrate shipbuilding potential of the new colony. When the Popham Colony closed in 1608 due to the severity of the winter, the Virginia was one of the vessels to carry the surviving colonists back to England, probably sailed by Davis.

Records suggest that Davis and Virginia made at least one other Atlantic crossing, from England to the more successful Jamestown Settlement, a project of the Virginia Company of London. Virginia was apparently one of the two pinnaces in tow behind one of the larger ships of the Third Supply mission to Jamestown, which left Plymouth in 1609. They encountered a 3-day storm thought to have been a hurricane, resulting in the shipwreck of the flagship of the fleet, the Sea Venture on Bermuda).

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