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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Martin Frobisher Biography FROBISHER, frŏb’ĭsh-ẽr, Sir Martin (?1535–94). An English navigator and the first of his nation to seek a northwest passage to China. He was born either at Doncaster or Altofts in Yorkshire and belonged to a family which came originally from Wales. His early years were spent in voyages to the coast of North Africa and to the Levant. In 1575, at the instigation of Elizabeth, he received a license from the Muscovy Company to search for the Northwest Passage. With two vessels (the Gabriel of 25 tons and the Michael of 20 tons) and a pinnace of 10 tons, he sailed north in 1576 and sighted the southern point of Greenland, which he took to be the Friesland of the brothers Zeni. Here a storm occurred in which the pinnace was lost and the Michael deserted. But with the Gabriel Frobisher came a few days later to a cape he named Queen Elizabeth's Foreland, near the southeast end of Frobisher Bay, which he supposed to be a strait. After a fortnight's exploration of the coasts and islands he returned to England, bringing with him some "black earth" from which originated a rumor of the discovery of gold. The prospect of unlimited wealth aroused the attention of the merchant adventurers of the time. A second expedition, better equipped than the first, was fitted out, and the command was given to Frobisher. He sailed in May, 1577, but his activity was chiefly confined to hunting for gold, and his discoveries, which were comparatively trifling, were restricted to the locality which he had previously visited. A third expedition, with 15 ships, was sent out in the year following, with no other result than the discovery of a new strait, which was not explored until the time of Henry Hudson. Frobisher afterward served under Drake in the West Indies and was knighted for distinguished service in the fight with the Spanish Armada (1588). In the spring of 1591 he was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh with a squadron to ravage the Spanish coast and hold the attention of the Spanish fleet while efforts were made to intercept the merchant vessels laden with bullion on their way from Panama. He died in November, 1594, from the effects of a wound received while leading an attack by sea against Brest, then in the hands of the Spaniards. The narrative of Frobisher's three voyages may be found in the Hakluyt Society Publications for 1867. For an account of his life, consult Jones (London, 1878). The New International Encyclopaedia Vol. IX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 301. |