He reached Greenland, and then Labrador, and, in a subsequent voyage next year, discovered the strait named after him.

His project was taken up by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on whom, with his brother Adrian, Elizabeth conferred the privilege of making the passage to China and the Moluccas by the north-westward, north-eastward, or northward route.

At the same time a patent was granted him for discovering any lands unsettled by Christian princes.
A settlement was made in St.John's, Newfoundland, but on the return voyage, near the Azores, Sir Humphrey's "frigate" (a small boat of ten men), disappeared, after he had been heard to call out, "Courage, my lads; we are as near heaven by sea as by land!" This happened in 1583.
Two years after, another expedition was sent out by the merchants of London, under John Davis, who, on this and two subsequent voyages, discovered several passages trending westward, which warranted the hope of finding a northwest passage.

Beside the strait named after him, it is probable that on his third voyage, in 1587, he passed through the passage now named after Hudson.

His discoveries were not followed up for some twenty years, when Henry Hudson was despatched in 1607 with a crew of ten men and a boy.