John Edward Davis (Royal Navy officer)

John Edward Davis (1815-1877) was a Royal Navy officer, hydrographic surveyor and artist, noted for his illustrations of the Antarctic voyage of James Clark Ross (1839-1843) and for his expertise in deep-sea sounding.

In September Terror, along with HMS Erebus, sailed for the Antarctic on what would be a four year voyage of discovery led by James Clark Ross.

Davis was responsible for surveying operations and preparing charts, and also made numerous illustrations of events on the voyage.

This was successful in finding a suitable route for a transatlantic cable, avoiding the precipitous slopes that mark much of the edge of the continental shelf.

He then became a naval assistant to the Admiralty, responsible for supervision of deep-sea sounding equipment and for maintaining the catalogue of official documents.