Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage.
Background
Martin Frobisher was born in 1535 in Altofts, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Son of merchant Bernard Frobisher of Altofts, Yorkshire and Margaret York of Gowthwaite. He was raised in London by a relative, Sir John York. Some records suggest that his father was actually Gregory Frobisher, Esq., also of Altofts, Yorkshire, by his wife, Ann; however, George Frobisher, a descendant of Martin Frobisher and a family genealogist, has discovered a family pedigree, verified and registered by the College of Arms, that buttresses the case for Bernard (Barnard) being Martin's father.
Education
Martin went to London, United Kingdom as a boy to be educated by a relative. He showed no aptitude for book learning, so his kinsman sent him to sea.
Career
Before reaching manhood Frobisher had been on two voyages to the Guinea Coast. On the second he was captured and handed over to the Portuguese garrisoning São Jorge da Mina, who allowed him to return to England. For a time he engaged in piracy, though he never attacked English ships.
By the 1570 England had largely abandoned hope of finding a Northeast Passage to Asia, and thoughts turned to the Northwest. Frobisher formed a partnership with Michael Lok, a man of some means and learning. Frobisher's first voyage, in 1576, took him to Frobisher Bay in Baffin Island, which he at first claimed as the strait; he also captured an Eskimo whom Lok supposed was a Tatar from north of China.
English investors, including Queen Elizabeth, overlooked Frobisher's former piracy to pour money into Lok's Company of Cathay. Frobisher sailed again in 1577, this time to ship home what he mistakenly thought was gold-bearing ore. Lok still felt hopeful and sent Frobisher back in 1578. This time the mariner discovered the Hudson Strait, which he followed for nearly 200 miles and acknowledged to be a more promising Northwest Passage than Frobisher Bay. He brought home more dirt and rocks, but English confidence had evaporated; Lok went to a debtors' prison and Frobisher sought other employment.
Frobisher accompanied Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies in 1585-1586. When Philip II's Spanish Armada entered the English Channel in 1588, Frobisher's part in the fighting was distinguished. He died of a bullet wound, received near Brest, where he had been sent to relieve the Spanish siege.
Achievements
Martin Frobisher was an English explorer, naval commander, and soldier initiated Europe's search for a Northwest Passage to the Orient and discovered the Hudson Strait. He was knighted for his service in repelling the Spanish Armada in 1588.
A Parker-class flotilla leader destroyer was named HMS Frobisher during construction but was named HMS Parker when launched in 1915. It was scrapped in 1921. The Royal Navy Hawkins-class cruiser HMS Frobisher was named after him. It was scrapped in 1949. A SR Lord Nelson class steam locomotive was named after him.
Frobisher Crescent, part of the Barbican Estate in London, is named after Frobisher. A stained glass window placed in memory of him is located in All Saints' Church, Normanton, near his birthplace in Altofts, West Yorkshire. Frobisher Bay in Nunavut is named after him. This was also the former name of Nunavut's capital, Iqaluit, from 1942 until 1987. The city's airport was Frobisher Bay Air Base from 1942 to 1963, and Frobisher Bay Airport from 1963 to 1987, before being renamed Iqaluit Airport. The small settlement of Frobisher, Saskatchewan, and Frobisher Lake, in northern and southern Saskatchewan, respectively was named in his honor.
A number of roads bear Frobisher's name: Frobisher Avenue in Toronto; Frobisher Street in Richmond Hill, Ontario; Frobisher Drive in Waterloo, Ontario; Frobisher Boulevard in Milton, Ontario; Frobisher Street in Peterborough, Ontario, and Sudbury; Frobisher Promenade in Pointe Claire, Québec.
Connections
On 30 September 1559 Frobisher married a Yorkshire widow, Isobel Richard, who had a substantial settlement from her previous marriage to Thomas Richard (given also as Riggat, Ricard, or Rickard) of Snaith, as well as two young children. Little is known of their domestic life, but having spent all her inheritance to finance his ventures, Frobisher seems to have left her and her children by the mid-1570s; Isobel's death in a poorhouse in 1588 went unremarked by the ambitious captain.
