“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.”
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.
But all that was yet to occur. Frobisher was busy during the fall and winter of 1577-1578 preparing for his third and final voyage to the Arctic. Still hoping to discover the Northwest Passage, he had to suspend this goal for the time being as the Queen and her Privy Council had other more pressing plans for this voyage.
After assayers tested the ore brought back from the second voyage the results were not promising. Thinking perhaps that the sample was too small, the investors and Privy Council decided to bring back a larger sample to be tested in a new set of furnaces planned for Dartford near the Thames estuary. The investors hoped that having a larger sample would prove conclusively how much gold was in the ore.
For the third voyage, Frobisher was to command a fleet of fifteen ships to sail to the Countess of Warwick Island. This was the same location …
Read the full article here: 26. Frobisher’s final voyage to the Arctic.