Beyond Brant and Brock

Sir Martin Frobisher (from 1620) My goal has been to give an overview of the life of Sir Martin Frobisher as it relates to the founding of Canada. To achieve that I had to be selective. Frobisher’s voyages introduced the world to the Inuit who lived and thrived in one of the most inhospitable climates on eart. English prejudices about native populations in the New World affected how Frobisher and his men related to the Inuit. Yet, at the same time they learned to respect and even admire them. ...

Frobisher leads a successful assault on El Leon, a key Spanish fort in Brittany, with the help of French troops among whom was a young Samuel de Champlain. Northen coast of Brittany Sometimes, as the saying goes, facts are more fascinating than fiction. In this, the last chapter of Sir Martin Frobisher, historians could not write a better ending for the great Privateer’s life. Frobisher exited history on the same peninsula that Samuel de Champlain entered history.1 ...

“The singular achievement of this new expedition was not so much that it met most of its objectives, but that it did so in the face of many strong reasons to abandon the voyage entirely. If this untypical commitment and cohesion was an occasion for praise, a great part was due to Frobisher himself.” Locations of Frobisher's Final Voyage Frobisher prepares for his final voyage to the Arctic When Martin Frobisher returned from his second voyage in 1576 with 200 tons of mined ore, he was at the zenith of his reputation1. Up and down England he was hailed as a hero and great explorer in the same class that Sir Francis Drake or Sir Walter Raleigh would be. But unlike these explorers, Frobisher’s peak veneration would not last. His financially disastrous third voyage in 1578 would lead to the ruin of the “Company of Cathay” investors. It would also result in a debacle of failed attempts at extracting gold from the 800 or so tons of ore extracted from the Arctic. ...

Michael Lok believed a dubious opinion that the black rock from the Arctic contained gold. A second voyage was sent to Little Hall’s Island to mine 200 tonnes of the rock. Sample of the rock that cost many lives and fortunes lost While on an island during Frobisher’s first voyage to the Arctic in 1576, one of his mariners picked up an unusual black rock that had within it something that glittered. ...

Martin Frobisher unexpectedly met the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the Arctic. We need to understand who they were before continuing our story. 1578 watercolor by John White depicting three Inuits abducted by Frobisher during his 1578 voyage to Baffin Island. The Inuit peoples Before we continue the story of Frobisher’s voyages to the Arcti, some context about the peoples Martin Frobisher and his crews encountered would be helpful. ...