Editing Martin Frobisher (section)

==Privateer and pirate==
The circumstances and timing of Frobisher's return from Portugal are unclear. There is no indication of any diplomatic or financial effort to secure his release; perhaps the Portuguese simply saw no advantage to holding a low-ranking political prisoner any longer.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|pp=42–44}} Frobisher must have returned to the sea soon after his release. There is some evidence that by 1559, he led a voyage to the [[Barbary Coast]] to secure the release of an English hostage, Anthony Hammond.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|pp=44}} In September of the same year the well-known pirate, [[Henry Strangways (pirate)|Henry Strangways]], testified in court that Frobisher had been part of an aborted plot to attack and plunder the Portuguese fortress of Mina where Frobisher had been held captive in 1555.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|pp=49}}

On 30 September 1559, Frobisher married a Yorkshire widow, Isobel Richard, who had two young children and a substantial settlement from her previous marriage to Thomas Rigatt of [[Snaith]]. 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.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|pp=45–46}}<ref name="Kitzan1999109">{{cite book|author=Chris Kitzan|title=Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery : Martin Frobisher's Arctic Expeditions, 1576–1578|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BhS4R7qnvAC&q=%22Snaith%22|year=1999|publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization|isbn=978-0-660-17507-2|page=109}}</ref>

In 1563, Frobisher became involved in a privateering venture with his brother, John Frobisher, and a fellow Yorkshireman, John Appleyard. Appleyard was [[Letter of marque|licensed]] to seize ships of the French Catholic party and financed a fleet of three vessels. Martin Frobisher captained one vessel and may have been fleet commander. By May 1563, they had seized five French ships and brought them to [[Plymouth]] harbour. Frobisher was promptly arrested by officers of the [[Privy Council of England|Privy Council]] because his ship had also participated in the seizure of a Spanish ship which resulted in the death of 40 Englishmen. The leader of this attack was the pirate [[Thomas Brooke alias Cobham|Thomas Cobham]], who gave Frobisher the Spanish cargo of tapestries and wine. Possession of these goods was sufficient evidence to land Frobisher in prison.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|pp=58–60}}

In 1564, Frobisher was released from prison. In 1565, he purchased two ships, the ''Mary Flower'' and ''William Baxter''. His stated intention was to outfit the ships for a trading expedition to the Guinea coast. Based on previous experience, officials were skeptical of his motives and when a storm drove him into [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]], he was seized along with the ''William Baxter''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Martin Frobisher and Scarborough|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220045608/http://www.scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/article.php?article=124.html|url-status=live|archive-date=20 December 2020|url=http://www.scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/article.php?article=124.html|access-date=2020-12-20|publisher=Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre}}</ref> His brother, John Frobisher, was captain of the ''Mary Flower'' and escaped arrest. Martin Frobisher was once again imprisoned briefly by the [[admiralty court]].{{sfnp|McDermott|1999|pp=61–62}}<ref name="Rowse2003">{{cite book|author=A. L. Rowse|title=The Expansion of Elizabethan England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eVAVd3g8UlMC&pg=PA256|year=2003|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-18824-5|page=256}}</ref>

On 31 October 1566, Frobisher was again set free on the condition that he refrain from going to sea without a license. In 1568, he commanded the ''Robert'' in service to the exiled [[Cardinal of Chatillon]] who licensed at least six vessels to prey on French shipping. For a brief time Frobisher associated with other notable privateers including [[John Hawkins (naval commander)|John Hawkins]] and [[William Winter (admiral)|William Winter]]. However, Frobisher refused to limit his depredations to French Catholic vessels and also seized Protestant ships carrying English goods. In 1569, he was again arrested by admiralty officers and imprisoned first at [[Fleet Prison|Fleet prison]] and then at [[Marshalsea]]. He might have remained there for some time if not for the intervention of the lord admiral, [[Edward Fiennes de Clinton]] and the secretary of state, [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]]. With their help, Frobisher was free again in March 1570.{{sfnp|McDermott|1999|pp=62–63}}

The terms of his release are unknown but it appears that Frobisher was required to undertake certain assignments at the direction of the Privy Council. In October 1571, he was commissioned to command four ships in the search for pirates and smugglers along the English coast. There is no indication that he had any success in this effort. In 1572, he was directed to the Irish coast to provide logistical support for the English campaign against the [[Desmond Rebellions]].{{sfnmp|1a1=McDermott|1y=1999|1pp=62–63|2a1=McDermott|2y=2015}}

Starting in 1571, Frobisher was involved in various plots that ran counter to government interest. He possibly had the tacit approval of the Privy Council, suggesting that he may have been working as a double agent. He was briefly associated with a plan to help the [[Earl of Desmond]] flee England; then a proposal to lead a group of disaffected English mercenaries to seize Flushing for the Spanish king; and finally, in 1573, a plot to capture the English rebel, [[Thomas Stukley]].{{sfnp|McDermott|2015}}

According to the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'', the first direct notice of Frobisher apparently is an account in the [[state papers]] of two interrogations in 1566, "on suspicion of his having fitted out a vessel as a pirate". On 21 August 1571, Captain E. Horsey wrote to [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|Lord Burghley]] from Portsmouth that he "has expedited the fitting out of a hulk for M. Frobisher"; this is the earliest mention of Frobisher being in the Crown's employ. Burghley, then chief minister of the Queen, became [[Lord High Treasurer]] in 1572.<ref name="Cartwright1872">{{cite book|author=James Joel Cartwright|title=Chapters in the History of Yorkshire: Being a Collection of Original Letters, Papers, and Public Documents, Illustrating the State of the County in the Reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I. ... Subscriber's Copy|url=https://archive.org/details/chaptersinhisto00cartgoog|year=1872|publisher=B. W. Allen|page=[https://archive.org/details/chaptersinhisto00cartgoog/page/n121 100]}}</ref> From the latter part of 1571 to 1572, Frobisher was in the public service at sea off the coast of Ireland.{{sfnp|Coote|1889}}