 Davis did not go on to higher education but instead went to sea as a ship's boy aged 15 on the vessel "Satellite", a 245-ton three masted schooner owned by R & George Allix of Havre des Pas, Jersey but registered in Guernsey.On his first voyage, the ship grounded in heavy weather on the Haisborough Sands just off the coast of Norfolk.In an attempt to save the ship's papers and valuables Thomas Davis was put into the ship's skiff but the painter broke and he was carried away from the vessel.