Biografie
The Muscovy Company had tried unsuccessfully to reach Cathay through the Northeast Passage.
They turned their attention to the North West Passage as an alternative. Martin Frobisher was a Yorkshire-born pirate and slave trader.
He won a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth I of England for capturing Spanish treasure.
He was jailed for capturing a French vessel that turned out to be carrying an English cargo - and this led to him losing his fortune. The merchant Michael Lok financed Frobisher to make a voyage to Cathay in June 1576. Frobisher borrowed Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s manuscript of his information on discovering a route to Cathay and published it without permission. Frobisher led three small vessels - one sank and the other turned back.
He rounded the south coast of Greenland and reached Resolution Island. Frobisher carried on to Baffin Island convinced that he was sailing between America and Asia.
He entered what he took to be a channel that was actually Frobisher Bay.
He encountered Inuit with who he traded. During these encounters five members of his crew disappeared - either mutinous or captured.
He took an Inuit hostage and sailed home - where the poor hostage died of disease.
He also brought back a black rock that appeared to Michael Lok to be gold-bearing ore. Assayers stated that it was not gold - but Lok was not dismaed and financed a second voyage. In 1577 Frobisher sailed back to Frobisher Bay where he mined 200 tons of ore.
He battled with the Inuit inhabitants - and was wounded.
He captured a family group of Inuit and with his hostages and the ore he sailed back to London.
He was erecieved at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1578 he sailed with a large expedition to the Arctic where he noted the strong tides in Hudson Strait.
He erected some stone structures at Frobisher Bay and undertook mining operations.
He carried back 2,000 tons of ore to London. After it was assayed it turned out to be worthless - and Michael Lok was financially ruined. That was Frobisher’s last Arctic voyage.
He then turned his attention to raiding the Spanish West Indies.
He died in 1594 of wounds received an an attack on the Spanish fort at Brest France.
Benannte Orte
Frobisher Bay (NT); Frobisher Strait (NT); Frobisher’s Farthest (NT); Farbusher Point (NT)
Referenzen
- McGhee, Robert (2001)
- Story, Norah (1967)
- Sale, Richard (2002
