Editing Martin Frobisher (section)

==North-west passage==
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Throughout much of the sixteenth century, the feasibility of a northern route to [[Cathay]] and the [[East Indies]] was debated and tested by England. In 1508, [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian Cabot]] led one of the first expeditions to search for a [[North-west Passage]]. In the 1530s, Robert Thorne and Roger Barlow tried unsuccessfully to interest [[Henry VIII]] in a plan to sail directly over the North Pole to China. In 1551 a company of English merchants (later known as the [[Muscovy Company]]) was formed to search for a northeast passage to Cathay. The initiative failed to find a route but did establish a long-lasting trade relationship with Russia. In the 1560s [[Humphrey Gilbert]] was an influential advocate for seeking a North-west Passage and penned a detailed treatise in support of the idea.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=The Context of English Northwest Exploration |encyclopedia=Meta Incognita : a discourse of discovery : Martin Frobisher's Arctic expeditions, 1576–1578 |publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization |location=Hull, Quebec |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40892244 |last=Quinn |first=David R. |date=1999 |editor-last=Symons |editor-first=Thomas H. B. |volume=1 |pages=7–18 |isbn=0-660-17507-X |oclc=40892244}}</ref>

Although Frobisher may have expressed interest in a search for the North-west Passage as early as 1560, it was only much later that he actively pursued the idea. In 1574, Frobisher petitioned the [[Privy Council of England#History|Privy Council]] for permission and financial support to lead an expedition to find a north-west passage to "the Southern Sea" (the Pacific Ocean) and thence to Cathay.<ref name="Mayers2016">{{cite book|author=Kit Mayers|title=The First English Explorer: The Life of Anthony Jenkinson (1529–1611) and his adventures on route to the Orient|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3RyDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA278|year=2016|publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd.|isbn=978-1-78589-228-8|page=278}}</ref> Some of its members were intrigued by his proposal, but cautiously referred him to the Muscovy Company, an English merchant consortium which had previously sent out several parties searching for the [[Northeast Passage]] around the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia, and held exclusive rights to any northern sea routes to the East.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|p=103}}<ref name="Householder2016">{{cite book|author=Michael Householder|title=Inventing Americans in the Age of Discovery: Narratives of Encounter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rE8fDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT103|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-11322-5|page=103}}</ref>

===First voyage===
[[File: Greenwich Palace (anonymous).jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Palace of Placentia|Greenwich Palace]] on the south bank of the [[River Thames]], from a window of which Queen Elizabeth waved to the departing ships (by an unknown artist)]]

In 1576, Frobisher persuaded the Muscovy Company to license his expedition. With the help of the company's director, [[Michael Lok]] (whose well-connected father [[William Lok]] had held an exclusive [[Worshipful Company of Mercers|mercers]]' licence to provide Henry VIII with fine cloths),<ref name="Alford2017">{{cite book|author=Stephen Alford|title=London's Triumph: Merchants, Adventurers, and Money in Shakespeare's City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HUk6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT142|date=2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-62040-823-0|pages=142–143}}</ref> Frobisher was able to raise enough capital for three [[barque]]s: ''Gabriel'' and ''Michael'' of about 20–25 tons each, and an unnamed [[Full rigged pinnace|pinnace]] of 10 tons, with a total crew of 35.<ref name=Bumsted55>{{cite book|last=Bumsted|first=J. M.|title=The Peoples of Canada: A Pre-Confederation History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfMMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP55|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-543101-8|page=55}}</ref><ref name="McCoy2012">{{cite book|author=Roger M. McCoy|title=On the Edge: Mapping North America's Coasts|url=https://archive.org/details/onedgemappingnor0000mcco|url-access=registration|date= 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press, US|isbn=978-0-19-974404-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/onedgemappingnor0000mcco/page/72 72]}}</ref> Queen [[Elizabeth I]] sent word that she had "good liking of their doings", and the ships weighed anchor at [[Blackwall, London|Blackwall]] on 7 June 1576. As they headed downstream on the Thames, Elizabeth waved to the departing ships from a window of [[Palace of Placentia|Greenwich Palace]], while cannons fired salutes and a large assembly of the people cheered.<ref>{{cite book|title=The United Service Magazine|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NtsRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA437|year=1875|publisher=Hurst and Blackett|page=437|chapter=Arctic Discovery}}</ref><ref name="Markham2014">{{cite book|author=Clements R. Markham|title=The Lands of Silence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2q8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA83|date=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-07687-6|page=83}}</ref>

On 26 June 1576, the little fleet reached the [[Shetland Islands]], where it stopped to repair a leak in ''Michael''{{'s}} hull and repair the barques' water casks. The ships hoisted sail the same evening and set course westwards, sailing west by north for three days until a violent storm arose and pounded them continuously through 8 July.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|p=136}} On 11 July 1576, they sighted the mountains of the southeastern tip of Greenland, which they mistook for the non-existent island called 'Friesland'. Crossing the [[Davis Strait]], they encountered another violent storm in which the pinnace was sunk and ''Michael'' turned back to England,<ref>{{cite book|title=Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, East Indiès, China and Japan, 1513–1616, preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, and elsewhere. Edited by W. Noël Sainsburg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIg9AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA23|year=1862|publisher=Longman|volume=I|page=13}}</ref> but ''Gabriel'' sailed on for four days until her crew sighted what they believed was the coast of [[Labrador]]. The landmass was actually the southernmost tip of [[Baffin Island]]; Frobisher named it "Queen Elizabeth's Foreland".{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|p=139}}

The ship reached the mouth of Frobisher Bay a few days later, and because ice and wind prevented further travel north, Frobisher determined to sail westwards up the bay, which he believed to be the entrance to the North-west Passage, naming it Frobisher's Strait,<ref name="Craciun2016">{{cite book|author=Adriana Craciun|title=Writing Arctic Disaster|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mSSCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA205|date= 2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-12554-4|page=205}}</ref> to see "whether he might carry himself through the same into some open sea on the backside".<ref name="Hakluyt1880">{{cite book|author=Richard Hakluyt|title=Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen to America: Thirteen Original Narratives from the Collection of Hakluyt|url=https://archive.org/details/voyageselizabet00haklgoog|year=1880|publisher=T. De La Rue & Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/voyageselizabet00haklgoog/page/n96 66]}}</ref> ''Gabriel'' sailed northwestwards, keeping in sight of the bay's north shore. On 18 August 1576, Burch's Island was sighted and named after the ship's carpenter who first spied it;<ref name="Chalmers1814">{{cite book|editor=Alexander Chalmers|title=The General Biographical Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/generalbiograph53chalgoog|year=1814|publisher=J. Nichols and Son|page=[https://archive.org/details/generalbiograph53chalgoog/page/n169 139]|chapter=XV}}</ref>{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|p=143}} there the expedition met some local [[Inuit]]. Having made arrangements with one of the Inuit to guide them through the region, Frobisher sent five of his men in a ship's boat to return him to shore, instructing them to avoid getting too close to any of the others. The boat's crew disobeyed, however, and five of Frobisher's men were taken captive.<ref name="McCoy201276">{{cite book|author=Roger M. McCoy|title=On the Edge: Mapping North America's Coasts|url=https://archive.org/details/onedgemappingnor0000mcco|url-access=registration|date= 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press, US|isbn=978-0-19-974404-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/onedgemappingnor0000mcco/page/76 76]}}</ref>

After days of searching, Frobisher could not recover the insubordinate sailors, and eventually took hostage a native man to see if an exchange for the missing boat's crew could be arranged. The captive refused to communicate with his fellow Inuit and Frobisher's men were never seen again by their fellows,<ref name=" Morison1986287">{{cite book|author=Samuel Eliot Morison|title=The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnotvLHX80gC&pg=PA291|year=1986|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504222-1|pages=287–288}}</ref> but Inuit oral tradition tells that the men lived among them for a few years of their own free will until they died attempting to leave Baffin Island in a self-made boat.<ref name="Williams2010">{{cite book|author=Glyn Williams|title=Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6kwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|date=2010|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-26995-8|page=20}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the local man, "Wherupon, when he founde himself in captivitie, for very choler and disdain, he bit his tong in twayne within his mouth: notwithstanding, he died not therof, but lived untill he came in Englande, and then he died of colde which he had taken at sea."<ref>George Best's ''The three voyages of Martin Frobisher, in search of a passage to Cathaia and India by the North-west, A.D. 1576–8. Reprinted from the first ed. of Hakluyt's Voyages, with selections from manuscript documents in the British Museum and State Paper Office''. Edited by Rear-Admiral Richard Collinson. Printed for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1867, p. 74.</ref>

Frobisher turned homewards, and was well received by the Queen when he docked in London on 9 October.<ref name="Allen1997" /> Among the things which had been hastily brought away by the men was a black stone "as great as a half-penny loaf" which had been found loose on the surface of [[Christopher Hall Island|Hall's Island]] of Baffin Island by the shipmaster, Robert Garrard, who took it to be sea-coal, of which they had to need.<ref>Garrard was one of the five men captured by the [[Inuit]] several days later.{{Harv|McDermott|2001a|p=72}}</ref>{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|pp=4, 72}} Frobisher took no account of the black rock but kept it as a token of possession of the new territory.

Michael Lok said that Frobisher, upon his return to London from the Arctic, had given him the black stone as the first object taken from the new land. Lok brought samples of the stone to the royal assayer in the [[Tower of London]] and two other expert assayers, all of whom declared that it was worthless, saying that it was [[marcasite]] and contained no gold. Lok then took the "ore" to an Italian alchemist living in London, [[Giovanni Battista Agnello]], who claimed it was gold-bearing.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|p=154}} Agnello assayed the ore three times and showed Lok small amounts of gold dust; when he was challenged as to why the other assayers failed to find gold in their specimens, Agnello replied, ''"Bisogna sapere adulare la natura"'' ("One must know how to flatter nature").<ref name="Collinson1867">{{cite book|author=Sir Richard Collinson|title=The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher: In Search of a Passage to Cathaia and India by the North-west, 1576–8, A.D. 1576–8|url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_03952|year=1867|publisher=Hakluyt Society|page=[https://archive.org/details/cihm_03952/page/n134 93]|isbn=9780665039522 }}</ref> Ignoring the negative reports, Lok secretly wrote to the Queen to inform her of the encouraging result,<ref name="Andrews1984173">{{cite book|author=Kenneth R. Andrews|title=Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480–1630|url=https://archive.org/details/tradeplundersett0000andr|url-access=registration|date=1984|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-27698-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/tradeplundersett0000andr/page/173 173]}}</ref> and used this assessment to lobby investors to finance another voyage.{{sfnp|Bumsted|2009|page=56}} Subsequently the stone became the focus of intense attention by the Cathay enterprise's venturers, who saw in it the possibility of vast profits to be derived from mining the rocky islands of ''Meta Incognita'';{{sfnp|McGhee|2001|p=60}} gossip spread in the court and from there throughout London about the gold powder Agnello was supposedly deriving from the rock.<ref name="SmithFindlen2013">{{cite book|author=Deborah E. Harkness |editor=Pamela Smith |editor2=Paula Findlen|title=Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, Science, and Art in Early Modern Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUuMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA152|date=2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-30035-7|page=152}}</ref>

===Second voyage===
[[File:John White – The skirmish at Bloody Point, Frobisher Bay (British Museum) (cropped).png|thumb|Skirmish between Martin Frobisher's men and [[Inuit]], {{circa|1577–78}}.]]

In 1577, a much bigger expedition than the former was fitted out. The Queen lent the 200-ton ship {{ship|English ship|Aid|1562|2}} or ''Ayde'' to the Company of Cathay (Frobisher's biographer James McDermott says she sold it) and invested [[Pound sign|£]]1000 ({{Inflation|UK|1000|1577|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}) in the expedition.<ref name="Allen1997">{{cite book|author=David Beers Quinn|editor=John Logan Allen|title=North American Exploration|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RGlz9a4wVYC&pg=PA311|volume=I|year=1997|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-1015-9|pages=311–312|chapter=The Northwest Passage in Theory and Practice}}</ref>{{sfnp|McGhee|2001|p=59}} Prior to 30 March 1577, Frobisher petitioned the Queen to be confirmed as High Admiral of the north-western seas and governor of all lands discovered, and to receive five per cent of profits from trade. It is unknown whether or not his request was ever granted. Michael Lok, meanwhile, was petitioning the queen for his own charter, by the terms of which the Company of Cathay would have sole rights to exploit the resources of all seas, islands and lands to the west and north of England, as well as any goods produced by the peoples occupying them; Frobisher would be apportioned a much smaller share of the profits. Lok's request was ignored and a charter was never issued, nor was a royal license granted, creating corporate ambiguity that redounded to the Queen's benefit.{{sfnmp|1a1=McDermott|1y=2001a|1p=160|2a1=McGhee|2y=2001|2p=59}}

Besides ''Ayde'', the expedition included the ships ''Gabriel'' and ''Michael''; Frobisher's second-in-command aboard ''Ayde'' was Lieutenant [[George Best (chronicler)|George Best]] (who later wrote the most informative account of the three voyages) with Christopher Hall as [[Master (naval)|master]], while the navigator [[Edward Fenton]] was in command of ''Gabriel''.<ref name="Ruby2001">{{cite book|author=Robert Steven Ruby|title=Unknown Shore: The Lost History of England's Arctic Colony|url=https://archive.org/details/unknownshorelost00ruby/page/138/mode/2up|url-access=registration|date=2001|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|isbn=978-0-8050-5215-2|page=139]}}</ref> The learned [[John Dee]], one of the preeminent scholars of England, acquired shares in the [[Cathay Company]]'s venture,<ref name="BueltmannGleeson2012">{{cite book|author=Glynn Parry |editor=Tanja Bueltmann |editor2=David T. Gleeson |editor3=Don MacRaild|title=Locating the English Diaspora, 1500–2010|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7K4gCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-1-78138-706-1|page=28|chapter=Mythologies of Empire and the Earliest Diasporas}}</ref> and instructed Frobisher and Hall in the use of navigational instruments and the mathematics of navigation, as well as advising them which books, charts, and instruments the expedition should purchase.{{sfnp|McGhee|2001|pp=34–35}} The fleet left Blackwall on 27 May 1577 and headed down the Thames, ostensibly having, per the instructions of the Privy Council, a maximum complement of 120 men, including 90 mariners, gunners and carpenters to crew the ship, as well as refiners, merchants, and thirty [[Cornish people|Cornish]] miners;<ref name="Mulholland1981">{{cite book|author=James A. Mulholland|title=History of Metals in Colonial America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwzyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT28|date=1981|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-0053-1|page=28}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, East Indiès, China and Japan, 1513–1616, preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, and elsewhere. Edited by W. Noël Sainsburg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIg9AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA20|year=1862|publisher=Longman|volume=I|page=20}}</ref> this figure included a group of convicts to be expatriated and put to use as miners in the new lands. Frobisher had exceeded the assigned quota of crewmen by at least twenty men, and perhaps by as many as forty. Letters from the Privy Council were waiting for him at Harwich, however, commanding him to trim the excess; consequently, he sent the convicts and several seamen ashore at the harbour on 31 May and set sail northwards to Scotland. The fleet anchored at St Magnus Sound in the [[Orkney|Orkney Islands]] on 7 June 1577 to take on water, and weighed anchor that evening. It enjoyed fair weather and favourable winds on its passage across the Atlantic, and "Friesland" (southern Greenland) was first sighted on 4 July.<ref name="Allen1997" /> Hall and Frobisher each attempted landing in the ship's boat but were driven back by fog and the certain knowledge of unseen ice in the water before them.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|pp=172–175}}

[[File:Kalicho.jpg|thumb|The Inuk 'Calichough' or '[[Kalicho]]'. Watercolour by [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]]]]

On 8 July 1577, presented with no opportunity to land, Frobisher set his course westwards. The ships were caught almost immediately in severe storms and separated, each of them lowering their sails for long intervals. They continued this way for several days, tracking before the wind until the weather cleared on 17 July and the fleet was able to regroup, a testament to the skill of the masters. A sailor aboard ''Ayde'' spied [[Christopher Hall Island|Hall's Island]] at the mouth of Frobisher Bay the same evening. The next day, Frobisher and a small party landed at Little Hall's Island in ''Ayde's'' pinnace to search for more samples of the black ore acquired originally by Robert Garrard, but found none. On 19 July, Frobisher and forty of his best men landed at Hall's Island and made their way to its highest point, which he dubbed Mount Warwick in honour of the [[Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick|Earl of Warwick]], one of the principal investors in the expedition. There they piled a [[cairn]] of stones to mark possession of the new land and prayed solemnly for the success of their venture.{{sfnp|McDermott|2001a|p=175}}

Several weeks were now spent in collecting ore, but very little was done in the way of discovery, Frobisher being specially directed by his orders from the Company of Cathay to "defer the further discovery of the passage until another time".<ref name=" Alexander1915">{{cite book|author=George Best|editor=Philip F. Alexander|title=The North-West and North-East Passages, 1576–1611|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rn1-mSkzyosC&pg=PA39|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-60061-4|page=39|chapter=Frobisher: Second Voyage (1577)}}</ref> There was much parleying and some skirmishing with the Inuit, and earnest but futile attempts were made to recover the five men captured the previous year. The expedition's return to England commenced on 23 August 1577, and ''Ayde'' reached [[Milford Haven]] in Wales on 23 September. ''Gabriel'' and ''Michael'' later arrived separately at [[Bristol]] and [[Yarmouth, Isle of Wight|Yarmouth]].{{sfnp|McGhee|2001|p=79}}<ref name="Williams201024" />

Frobisher brought with him three Inuit who had been forcibly taken from Baffin Island: a man called Calichough or [[Kalicho]], a woman, Egnock or [[Arnaq]], and her child, Nutioc or Nuttaaq.<ref name="Fossett2001">{{cite book|author=Renée Fossett|title=In Order to Live Untroubled: Inuit of the Central Arctic, 1550–1940|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yK7cac_mXGgC&pg=PA37|year=2001|publisher=Univ. of Manitoba Press|isbn=978-0-88755-328-8|page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB |first=Alden T. |last=Vaughan |title=American Indians in England (act. c. 1500–1615) |date=26 May 2016 |id=71116}}</ref> All three died soon after their arrival in England,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Death of the Inuit Man in England: Postmortem report and comments of Dr. Edward Dodding (Excerpts) |website=American Beginnings: The European Presence in North America, 1492–1690 |publisher=[[National Humanities Center]] |date=2006 |url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/exploration/text3/dodding.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Kupperman200994">{{cite book|author=Karen Ordahl Kupperman|title=The Jamestown Project|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lIp7_e8KMJ0C&pg=PA94|date=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02702-2|page=94}}</ref> Calichough dying from a wound suffered when a rib was broken unintentionally during his capture and eventually punctured his lung.

Frobisher was received and thanked by the queen at [[Windsor Castle|Windsor]].<ref name="Brimacombe2011">{{cite book|author=Peter Brimacombe|title=All the Queen's Men|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dsYSDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT85|date=2011|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0-7524-7404-5|page=85}}</ref> Great preparations were made and considerable expense incurred for the assaying of the great quantity of "ore" (about 200 tons) brought home. This took much time<ref name="Schwartz2008">{{cite book|author=Seymour I. Schwartz|title=The Mismapping of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ytxhjRNCeqkC&pg=PA80|date=2008|publisher=University Rochester Press|isbn=978-1-58046-302-7|page=80}}</ref><ref name="Mayers2016" /> and led to disputes among the various interested parties.<ref name="Williams201024">{{cite book|author=Glyn Williams|title=Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6kwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|date=2010|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-26995-8|page=24}}</ref>

===Third voyage===
[[File:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Merckliche Beschreibung sampt eygenlicher Abbildung eynes frembden unbekanten Volcks - 000003625.jpg|thumb|Printed text in German telling of Martin Frobisher's third voyage. Illustrated are the three [[Inuit]], [[Kalicho]]; [[Arnaq]], and her child Nuttaaq, forcibly brought back to Bristol by Frobisher from his second expedition to Baffin Island in late 1577.]]

Meanwhile, the Queen and others in her retinue maintained a strong faith in the potential productivity of the newly discovered territory, which she herself named ''[[Meta Incognita Peninsula|Meta Incognita]]''<ref name="Morison1986291">{{cite book|author=Samuel Eliot Morison|title=The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnotvLHX80gC&pg=PA291|year=1986|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504222-1|page=291}}</ref><ref name="Williams201024" /> (Latin: Unknown Shore).<ref name="Hallowell2004">{{cite book|author=Gerald Hallowell|title=The Oxford Companion to Canadian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_Z5AAAAMAAJ&q=%22%E2%80%98The%20Unknown%20Shore%27%22|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-541559-9|page=400}}</ref> It was resolved to send out the largest expedition yet, with everything necessary to establish a colony of 100 men.<ref name="Andrews1984">{{cite book|author=Kenneth R. Andrews|title=Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480–1630|url=https://archive.org/details/tradeplundersett0000andr|url-access=registration|date=1984|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-27698-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/tradeplundersett0000andr/page/176 176]}}</ref> Frobisher was again received by the queen,{{sfnp|McGhee|2001|p=79}} whereupon she threw a chain of fine gold around his neck.<ref name="Markham201486">{{cite book|author=Clements R. Markham|title=The Lands of Silence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2q8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA86|date=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-07687-6|page=86}}</ref>

The expedition consisted of fifteen vessels:<ref name="Hall1864">{{cite book|author=Charles Francis Hall|title=Life with the Esquimaux: The Narrative of Captain Charles Francis Hall|url=https://archive.org/details/lifewithesquima00hallgoog|year=1864|publisher=Sampson Low, Son and Marston|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifewithesquima00hallgoog/page/n141 121]}}</ref> the flagship ''Ayde'', ''Michael'', and ''Gabriel'', as well as ''Judith'', ''Dennis'' or ''Dionyse'', ''Anne Francis'', ''Francis of Foy'' and ''Moon of Foy'', ''Bear of Leycester'', ''Thomas of Ipswich'', ''Thomas Allen'', ''Armenall'',<ref>Sometimes conflated with the ''Admiral'', a by-name for the flagship ''Aid''.</ref> ''Soloman of Weymouth'', ''Hopewell'', and ''Emanuel of Bridgwater''.<ref name="BestEames1938">{{cite book|author1=George Best|author2=Wilberforce Eames|title=The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher in Search of a Passage to Cathay and India by the North-west, A.D. 1576–8|url=https://archive.org/stream/threevoyagesofma02bestuoft#page/62/mode/2up|year=1938|publisher=Argonaut Press|page=62}}</ref><ref name="Markham201486"/> There were over 400 men aboard the ships, with 147 miners, 4 blacksmiths, and 5 assayers in the crew.<ref name="HerbertKnapp2002">{{cite book|author=Robert M. Ehrenreich |editor=Eugenia W. Herbert |editor2=A. Bernard Knapp |editor3=Vincent C. Pigott |title=Social Approaches to an Industrial Past: The Archaeology and Anthropology of Mining|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGiFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA110|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-67652-1|page=110|chapter=European miners and the indigenous population in the Arctic}}</ref>

On 3 June 1578, the expedition left [[Plymouth]] and, sailing through the Channel, on 20 June reached the south of [[Greenland]], where Frobisher and some of his men managed to land. On 2 July 1578, the foreland of Frobisher Bay was sighted. Stormy weather and dangerous ice prevented the rendezvous, and, besides causing the wreck on an iceberg of the 100-ton barque ''Dennis'', drove the fleet unwittingly up a waterway that Frobisher named "Mistaken Strait". He believed that the strait, now known as [[Hudson Strait]], was less likely to be an entrance to the North-west Passage than Frobisher Bay ("Frobisher's Strait" to him).<ref name="Morison1986">{{cite book|author=Samuel Eliot Morison|title=The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnotvLHX80gC&pg=PA310|year=1986|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504222-1|pages=310–311}}</ref><ref name="Riendeau2007">{{cite book|author=Roger E. Riendeau|title=A Brief History of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CFWy0EfzlX0C&pg=PA31|year=2007|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0822-3|page=31}}</ref> After proceeding about sixty miles up the new strait,<ref name="Hunter2010">{{cite book|author=Douglas Hunter|title=God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzoSiqV--t8C&pg=PA74|date=2010|publisher=Doubleday Canada|isbn=978-0-385-67268-9|page=74}}</ref> Frobisher with apparent reluctance turned back, and after many buffetings and separations, the fleet at last came to anchor in Frobisher Bay. During this voyage, the vessel ''Emanuel'' claimed to have found the phantom [[Buss Island]].<ref name="Morison1986319">{{cite book|author=Samuel Eliot Morison|title=The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnotvLHX80gC&pg=PA319|year=1986|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504222-1|pages=319–320}}</ref>

Some attempt was made at founding a settlement, and a large quantity of ore was shipped, but dissension and discontent prevented the establishment of a successful colony. On the last day of August 1578, the fleet set out on its return and reached England at the beginning of October, although the vessel ''Emanuel'' was wrecked en route at [[Ard na Caithne]] on the west coast of Ireland.<ref>[http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/e89-086 Discovery of Martin Frobisher's Baffin Island "ore" in Ireland]</ref> The ore was taken to a specially constructed smelting plant at Powder Mill Lane in [[Dartford]]; assiduous efforts to extract gold and further assays were made over five years, but the ore proved to be a valueless rock containing [[hornblende]] and was eventually salvaged for [[road metal]]ling and wall construction.<ref>Ruby 2001 pp. 257–258</ref> The Cathay Company went bankrupt and Michael Lok was ruined, being sent to [[debtors' prison]] several times.<ref name="Dunlap2012">{{cite book|author=Thomas R. Dunlap|title=On the Edge: Mapping North America's Coasts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZNpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-997416-0|page=85}}</ref>