William Baffin

William Baffin
Born	c. 1584 London
Died	23 January 1622 Qeshm, Ormus
Nationality	English
Occupation	Navigator, explorer

William Baffin (c. 1584 – 23 January 1622) was an English navigator and explorer. He is primarily known for his attempt to discover a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, during the course of which he discovered Baffin Bay in Present-day Canada. He was also responsible for exceptional surveys of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf on behalf of the East India Company.

Nothing is known about Baffin's early life (an estimated year of birth, 1584, originated in Encyclopædia Britannica in the 19th century, but without known documentary support). It has been conjectured that he was born to a humble station in London and gradually raised himself through his diligence and perseverance. In printing his journals, Samuel Purchas wrote of him as a "learned-unlearned Mariner and Mathematician... wanting art of words" who "really employed himself to those industries, whereof here you see so evident fruits."

His earliest mention occurs in 1612, when he was chief pilot on Captain James Hall's 4th expedition to Greenland.Hall's three earlier explorations had been underwritten by Christian IV, a king of Denmark anxious to reëstablish contact with the Norse settlements there. It was still unknown that they had been overrun by the Inuit centuries before, but after the third failed expedition, Christian abandoned the project. Hall then successfully interested four English merchants—Thomas Smythe, James Lancaster, William Cockayne, and Richard Ball—in permitting him to continue his work. Baffin and Hall sailed from the Humber aboard the Patience on 22 April, accompanied by the Heart's Ease. During this voyage, Captain Hall was killed by the Inuit on the west coast of Greenland but Baffin successfully returned to Hull on 11 September under the new captain Andrew Barker.

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