Sir Martin Frobisher was an English sailor and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada, before entering Frobisher Bay and landing on present-day Baffin Island.
On his second voyage, Frobisher found what he thought was gold ore and carried 200 tons of it home on three ships, where initial assaying determined it to be worth a profit of £5.20 per ton. Encouraged, Frobisher returned to Canada with an even larger fleet and dug several mines around Frobisher Bay. He carried 1,350 tons of the ore back to England, where, after years of smelting, it was realized that the ore was a worthless rock containing the mineral hornblende. As an English privateer, he plundered riches from French ships. He was later knighted for his service in repelling the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Greenwich Palace on the River Thames waterfront, from a window of which Queen Elizabeth waved to the departing ships (by an unknown artist)
The Inuk 'Calichough' or 'Kalicho'. Watercolour by John White
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.
The man on this portrait has traditionally been identified as Frobisher, but there is some disagreement. (British School, Dulwich Picture Gallery)
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage (NEP).
The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from Mainland Canada by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages, Northwestern Passages or the Canadian Internal Waters.
Northwest Passage routes
Envisat ASAR mosaic of the Arctic Ocean (September 2007), showing the most direct route of the Northwest Passage open (yellow line) and the Northeast Passage partially blocked (blue line). The dark grey colour represents the ice-free areas, while green represents areas with sea ice.
Chart of the World showing New Route (the Canadian Pacific Railway) through Canada between England, China, Japan, Australasia and the East (1886)
9 August 2013