Frobisher

Frobisher, or Forbisher, Sir Martin (c.1535–94), English navigator and explorer, one of the ablest of the great seamen of the Elizabethan age, endowed equally with courage, resource, and seamanship. However, he made himself unpopular with his subordinates by the strict discipline he imposed and captains were not always willing to serve under him.

He first gained fame as leader of three expeditions in search of a North-West Passage to Cathay. The first of these, consisting of two little ships, Gabriel (25 tons) and Michael (20 tons), set out in 1576. In the course of it Frobisher, in the Gabriel, crossed what was later named the Davis Strait and discovered the bay—believed, until 1860, to be a strait—which has borne his own name ever since.

The glitter of mica in some stones he brought back encouraged a belief in the presence of gold. This brought him support for a second voyage the following year when Elizabeth I lent him the ship Aid, of 200 tons, to accompany the Gabriel and Michael. Though this voyage only achieved a more detailed survey of Frobisher Bay, the continuing lure of gold led to a third and larger expedition of fifteen vessels sailing under Frobisher's command in 1578. This voyage was of considerable navigational interest but brought no commercial profit and the discovery meanwhile that the glittering stones were valueless brought the expeditions to an end. In 1585 Frobisher commanded the Primrose as vice admiral in Sir Francis Drake's expedition to the West Indies.

During the operations against the Spanish Armada in 1588 Frobisher, in the Triumph of 1,110 tons, largest of the English men-of-war, distinguished himself in the fighting and, together with several others, was knighted. In 1590 and again in 1592, he commanded squadrons stationed off the Spanish coast to intercept treasure ships returning from Spain's new colonies. In this he was not successful, though he certainly dislocated the Spanish convoy system.

Frobisher's last expedition was in 1594 when he was given command of a royal squadron to assist Henri IV of France to defeat a Spanish attempt to fortify the peninsula of Crozon and threaten the port of Brest. The assault from land and sea was successful but at the cost of heavy casualties of whom Frobisher was one. Though he survived his wound and brought his squadron back to Plymouth, he died of gangrene a few weeks later.

See also exploration by sea.

Bibliography

McDermott, J. , Martin Frobisher, Elizabethan Privateer (2001).