Sir Martin Frobisher
Frobisher, Sir Martin
Sir Martin Frobisher, mariner (b near Wakefield, Eng 1539; d at Plymouth, Eng 22 Nov 1594). In 1576 he searched west of Greenland for a passage to Asia, discovered FROBISHER BAY, and returned with ore thought to contain gold. He made a second voyage in 1577, hauling back more earth. On his last expedition (1578), he commanded a flotilla of 15 vessels. Driven by storms across the entrance to HUDSON STRAIT, he landed at Kodlunarn Island in Warwick's Sound, where his men excavated tonnes of ore which proved worthless. Depressions in the rock where the miners dug and the ruins of a stone house are still visible. His patron, Michael Lok, was ruined, but Frobisher's seafaring career continued. He accompanied DRAKE to the West Indies and was knighted for his heroism against the Spanish Armada (1588). He died of wounds sustained in action against the Spanish at Crozon, near Brest, France.
Frobisher, Sir Martin
Frobisher discovered the bay now named for him on Baffin Island, but was deceived by the pyrites, which he took for gold (courtesy Bodleian Library, Oxford).
Explorations of Martin Frobisher
Author JAMES MARSH
Links to Other Sites
Exploration of the Northwest Passage
An overview of European expeditions to Canada’s northern Arctic region from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Brief bios, illustrations, maps, and other reference material. An Industry Canada website.
Explorers and Northern Exploration
This site chronicles the exploration of Canada's North. Illustrated with photographs and related archival material. From the Northern Research Portal, Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists.
Major Northwest Passage Exeditions and Explorers
This site offers brief accounts of various European expeditions to North America in search of the Northwest Passage. From the website "Of Maps and Men: In Pursuit of a Northwest Passage," Princeton University.
Frozen Ocean
A superb online exhibit about the search for the Northwest Passage. Historic maps and images from books show how the Inuit assisted foreign led expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and how European explorers gradually accepted Inuit techniques of travel and survival. Contemporary maps show the lasting achievement of the expeditions: the mapping of the Canadian Arctic. From the Toronto Public Library.
Transatlantic Encounters: American Indians in Britain, 1500-1776
See an online excerpt from "Transatlantic Encounters," a book that chronicles the diverse origins and experiences of approximately 175 American Indians and Inuits who were taken to Britain by early British explorers. From Cambridge University Press.
The Dominion government's advertisement asked for volunteers "able to read and write either the English or French language" with "good antecedents" who were good horsemen...
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