John King Davis was born in London in 1884. He was educated at London and Burford Grammar School in Oxfordshire and at the age of sixteen he signed on as an apprentice in the Liverpool sailing ship Celtic Chief . Davis joined the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 (leader Ernest Henry Shackleton), as chief officer of Nimrod and received his first command when he succeeded Frederick Pryce Evans as captain on the return voyage. He was then invited to serve as second in command on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 (leader Douglas Mawson), and was captain of the expedition ship Aurora . On this expedition he made three summer voyages of relief and exploration as well as oceanographic cruises between Tasmania and East Antarctica. After becoming involved in the First World War, Davis led the British Relief Expedition, 1917, organized to rescue the survivors of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Ross Sea Party], 1914-1917 (Captains Mackintosh and Stenhouse).
In 1920, he became the Director of Navigation for the Commonwealth of Australia and held this post until 1949. His distinguished career also included a period from 1929 to 1930 as captain of Discovery and second in command during the first summer of the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, 1929-1931. He died in Australia on 7 May 1967.
Published works, High latitude Melbourne University Press (1962) SPRI Library Shelf 92[Davis, J.K.]
From the guide to the John King Davis collection, 1905-1951, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
