Davis was born in Walpole MA about 1817, son of Saline [sp?] and Betsey Blake. No reference was found to complete the “A” for his middle name. He married Sarah in 1865 in Fall River MA where they both resided, and he died there on April 24, 1892. Sarah was 17 years younger when they married. The death records show him as a sea captain; Fall River census records for 1860 and 1879 record him as a master mariner.
AOWV records Davis as master of one voyage on one ship with a home port of New London, but see below for corrections to this information.
PACIFIC (AS2779): (schooner, 96 tons, length 70’, built Stonington CT in 1832, condemned in Cape Town in 1844). Sailed on July 27, 1835 and returned on August 24, 1837. AV16642. AOWV lists as master “Blake, Davis Active”, master number AM0477. However, the crew list for that voyage records Edward R. Bliven as master. Connecticut ship registrations for PACIFIC meeting the description above show a registration dated August 5, 1834, surrendered June 23, 1838, master Jonas Horn. Starbuck does not record the 1835 voyage but shows two later voyages of PACIFIC under two different masters. Decker does not list the 1835 voyage. Colby does not show Davis on his list of\ New London whaling masters.
Davis was master of one voyage on each of two ships with home ports in Massachusetts: THOMAS WINSLOW (AS0661), home port Westport MA, for its 1853-1855 voyage and ACTIVE (AS0025), home port New Bedford, for its 1860-1865 voyage.
AOWV uses the name “Blake, Davis Active” for the master of these three recorded voyages. However, the crew lists for ACTIVE and THOMAS WINSLOW show “Davis A. Blake” as master of those voyages. Starbuck shows the master of ACTIVE as “Davis Blake” and of THOMAS WINSLOW as “Davis A. Blake”. The author was advised that AOWV will be changed to show Davis’s name as “Davis A. Blake” and that “________ Bliven” will be shown as master of PACIFIC’s 1835 voyage. Those changes are reflected in this report. On this basis, Davis was not a master of ship with a home port in New London.
Sources include: Online databases: (Ancestry.com, Family Search, Genealogybank, American Offshore Whaling Voyages [“AOWV”]); Lund et al, American Offshore Whaling Voyages 1667-1927; Dennis Wood Abstracts (Abstracts of Whaling Voyages); Connecticut Ship Database; Connecticut Ship Registrations at Mystic Seaport Museum. Other sources: Starbuck (History of the American Whale Fishery); Lund et al, American Offshore Whaling Voyages 1667-1927; Colby (For Oil and Buggy Whips); Decker (Whaling Industry of New London); Peterson (Mystic Built). Email communication from Judith Lund of AOWV to the author, 10/23/2023. Number references are to AOWV.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
October 2023, revised March 2025