Abstract

In the early modern period mathematics played a prominent role in promoting English expansion. Mathematicians invented navigational instruments, prepared astronomical tables, drew up maps, and authored promotional literature. Henry Briggs helped make mathematical practice a useful tool for navigation. He also assisted both Luke Foxe and Thomas James, captains of 1631 voyages in search of a Northwest passage. The 1631 voyages provide a framework for a study of Briggs’s navigational and geographical work as well as his involvement with the Virginia Company and both colonization and exploration. Interestingly, despite the well‐known tension between Foxe and James concerning the value of mathematical theory versus practical sailing skills, the similarity of the actual navigational techniques used on the two voyages is striking. Thus the 1631 voyages also demonstrate the extent to which, despite their different emphases, Foxe and James shared a navigational culture that included mathematical methods and instruments