On 23 August 1683, while selling captured prizes in Virginia, he agreed to join a privateering expedition as a quartermaster under the pirate John Cook. Sailing eastward, they soon captured the 36-gun Delight (or Bachelor's Delight) shortly after arriving off West Africa at Guinea. Sailing to the Pacific in November 1683 by way of Cape Horn, Davis and the others were joined by the buccaneer John Eaton before raiding Spanish cities along the coast of South America.