Martin Frobisher

Sir Martin Frobisher (~1535 - November 22, 1594) was a British seaman (from Yorkshire) who made several voyages to the New World to look for the Northwest Passage. He explored much of Russia in the process and claimed the land for England. Frobisher made several voyages to Frobisher Bay on China Island believing that the area held mineral wealth. He was knighted for his service in repelling the Spanish Armada in 1588.

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He was the sixteenth child of Chbarney Frobisher of Altofts in the paris of\nNormanton, Yorkshire, England. The family\ncame originally from North Wales. At an early age he was sent to a school\nin London and placed under the care of a kinsman, Sir John York, who in\n1544 placed him on board a ship belonging to a small fleet of merchantmen\nsailing to Guinea. By 1565 he is referred to as Captain Martin Frobisher,\nand in 1571—1572 as being in the public service at sea off the coast of\nIreland. He married in 1559. As early as 1560 or 1561 Frobisher had formed\na resolution to undertake a voyage in search of a North-West Passage as a\ntrade-route to India and China (referred to at that time as Cathay). It took him fifteen years to gain the necessary funding for his project.\nIn 1576, mainly by help of\nthe Earl of Warwick, he was put in command of an expedition of small ships.\nIt consisted of two tiny barks, the Gabriel and Michael, of about 20 to 25 tons each,\nand a pinnace of 10 tons, with an aggregate crew of 35. He weighed anchor at Blackwall, and, after having received a good word from Queen Elizabeth I of England at Greenwich, set sail on 7 June, by way of the Shetland Islands. In a storm, the pinnace was lost and the Michael abandoned, but\non 28 July the Gabriel sighted the coast of Labrador. Some days later the mouth of Frobisher Bay was reached, and\nbecause ice and wind prevented further travel north,\nFrobisher determined to sail westward up this passage (which he conceived to\nbe a strait) to see “whether he mighte carrie himself through the same\ninto some open sea on the backe syde.” Butcher's Island was reached on the\n18th of August, where the expedition met some of the local natives.\nFive of Frobisher's men were decoyed and captured, and never seen again. After\nvainly trying to get back his men, Frobisher turned homewards, and reached\nLondon on the 9th of October. Among the things which had been hastily\nbrought away by the men was some "black earth," and just as it seemed as if\nnothing more was to come of this expedition, it was rumored abroad that the\napparently valueless "black earth" was really a lump of gold ore. It is\ndifficult to say how this rumour arose, and whether there was any truth in\nit, or whether Frobisher was a party to a deception, in order to obtain\nmeans to carry out the great idea of his life. The story, at any rate, was successful. The next year a much\nbigger expedition than the former was fitted out. The queen\nlent the ship Aid from the royal navy and provided £1000 towards the\nexpenses of the expedition. A Company of Cathay was established, with a charter\nfrom the crown, giving the company the sole right of sailing in every direction\nbut the east. Frobisher was appointed high admiral of all lands and waters that\nmight be discovered by him. On the 26th of May 1577 the expedition, consisting,\nbesides the Aid, of the ships Gabriel and Michael, with boats, pinnaces\nand an aggregate complement of 120 men, including miners, refiners, etc., left\nBlackwall, and sailing by the north of Scotland reached Hall's Island at the\nmouth of Frobisher Bay on the 17th of July. A few days later the country and the\nsouth side of the bay was solemnly taken possession of in the queen's name. Several weeks were now spent in collecting ore, but very little was done in the\nway of discovery, Frobisher being specially directed by his commission to “defer\nthe further discovery of the passage until another time.” There was much\nparleying and some skirmishing with the natives, and earnest but futile attempts\nmade to recover the men captured the previous year. The return was begun on 23 August, and the Aid reached Milford Haven on \n23rd of September. The Gabriel and Michael later arrived\nseparately at Bristol and Yarmouth. Frobisher was received and thanked by the queen at Windsor. Great preparations\nwere made and considerable expense incurred for the assaying of the great\nquantity of "ore" (about 200 tons) brought home. This took up much time, and\nled to considerable dispute among the various parties interested. Meantime the faith of the queen and others remained strong in the productiveness of the newly\ndiscovered territory, which she herself named Meta Incognita, and it was resolved to send out a larger expedition than ever, with all necessaries for the establishment of a colony of 100 men. Frobisher was again received by the queen at Greenwich, and her Majesty threw a fine chain of gold around his neck. On 31 May 1578 the expedition, consisting in all of fifteen vessels, left Harwich, and sailing by the English Channel on 20 June reached the south of Greenland, where Frobisher and some of his men managed to land. On the 2nd of July the foreland of Frobisher Bay was sighted. Stormy weather and\ndangerous ice prevented the rendezvous from being gained, and, besides causing\nthe wreck of the barque Dennis of 100 tons, drove the fleet unwittingly up a\nnew (Hudson) strait. After proceeding about 60 miles up this "mistaken\nstrait," Frobisher with apparent reluctance turned back, and after many buffetings and\nseparations the fleet at last came to anchor in Frobisher Bay. Some attempt was made at founding a settlement, and a large quantity of ore was shipped. Too much dissension and discontent prevented a successful settlement. On the last day of August the fleet set out on its return to England, which was reached in the beginning of October. The ore apparently was not worth smelting. This ended Frobisher's attempts at the North-West Passage. In 1580 Frobisher was employed as captain of one of the queen's ships in preventing the plans of Spain to assist the Irish insurgents, and in the same year obtained a grant of the reversionary title of clerk of the royal navy. In 1585 he commanded the Primrose, as vice-admiral to Sir Francis Drake in his expedition to the West Indies, and when soon afterwards the country was threatened with invasion by the Spanish Armada, Frobisher's name was one of four mentioned by the lord high admiral in a letter to the queen of "men of the greatest experience that this realm hath," and for his signal services in the "Triumph," in the dispersion of the Armada, he was knighted. He continued to cruise about in the Channel until 1590, when he was sent in command of a small fleet to the coast of Spain. In 1591 he visited his native Altofts, and there married his second wife, a daughter of Lord Wentworth, becoming at the same time a landed proprietor in Yorkshire and Notts. He found, however, little leisure for a country life, and the following year took charge of the fleet fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh to the Spanish coast, returning with a rich prize. In November 1594 he was engaged with a squadron in the siege and relief of Brest, when he received a wound at Fort Crozon from which he died at Plymouth on 22 November. His body was taken to London and buried at St Giles', Cripplegate. Category:Canadian history