John Knight (Explorer)

John Knight (missing June 26, 1606 off the coast of the Labrador Peninsula ) was an English navigator .

Expeditions

In 1605 Knight was the captain of a ship on the first of three Danish expeditions to Greenland under Christian IV under John Cunningham . He then returned to England and the following year was appointed head of an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage commissioned by the British East India Company and the Russian Muscovy Trading Company . Before that, George Weymouth had already undertaken a journey off the coast of Labrador in 1602 and was able to penetrate deep into the Hudson Strait ; Knight should continue exploring the area.

On April 18, the expedition set sail from England on board the Hopewell (40 tons ). They crossed the Atlantic without any particular difficulties, but off Greenland they already encountered thick pack ice. On June 14, the ship got caught in a severe storm at 57 ° 25'N off the coast of the Labrador Peninsula . Five days later, Knight was able to rescue the damaged ship at 46 ° 48'N (presumably near the present-day town of Nain ) in a small bay and had it tied to the shore with ropes. Unfortunately, another storm came up, pushing pack ice into the bay, completely destroying the oar and the ropes. To prevent further damage, Knight had the Hopewell , in which a considerable amount of water had now entered, aground in the bay. After the storm had subsided, Knight went with his brother Gabriel and three members of the crew on June 26 with a dinghy in search of a more protected bay in order to be able to repair the ship there. Knight, Gabriel, and a sailor disembarked on a larger island after about a mile , while the other two crew members stayed on the boat. When the group hadn't reappeared by 11 p.m. at Knight, the two returned to the ship alone. Two nights later, the eight remaining men of the expedition were attacked by a tribe of Indians , but they were able to drive them away. After the crew had made makeshift repairs to the ship, they made the return trip and reached Dartmouth on September 24th.

Upon their return, the crew's account of Knight's disappearance was questioned and instead they were suspected of mutiny . This is now considered unlikely as Knight's log contains no reports of any inconsistencies with the crew, and Knight could have been of great help in repairing the ship.

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• Gillian T. Cell: Knight, John. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, accessed March 7, 2013 . 
• William J. Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2003, pp. 257f., ISBN 978-1576074220 .