Martin Frobisher's Arctic Voyages (1576-1578) and Fool's Gold

Martin Frobisher’s Arctic voyages of 1576 to 1578 were England’s first serious attempt to find a Northwest Passage to Asia. Frobisher reached Baffin Island, in today’s Canadian Arctic, and entered the inlet now called Frobisher Bay. A piece of black rock he brought home was declared to contain gold, and the expeditions turned into a mining venture that shipped more than 1,000 tons of worthless ore to England and ruined its backers.

Background: the search for a northern route

In the 16th century Spain and Portugal controlled the southern sea routes to Asia and America. English merchants hoped to reach China by sailing around the north of the continents. Earlier ventures had looked north-east, such as the Willoughby and Chancellor voyage of 1553, which opened trade with Russia.

Martin Frobisher, a Yorkshire-born seaman with a past in privateering and the Guinea trade, had promoted a north-western route for years. He found a backer in the London merchant Michael Lok, who raised money from courtiers and merchants.

The first voyage, 1576

Frobisher sailed from the Thames in June 1576 with two small ships, the Gabriel and the Michael, and a pinnace. The pinnace was lost in a storm and the Michael turned back, but the Gabriel reached the coast of Baffin Island. In August Frobisher entered a long inlet which he believed was a strait leading to Asia, with America to the south and Asia to the north.

There the English met Inuit, who came out in kayaks to trade. Five sailors who went ashore in a boat disappeared and were never seen again by the English. In return Frobisher seized an Inuk man and carried him to London, where he died soon after arrival.

Frobisher also brought home a piece of black rock. Most assayers found nothing of value, but an Italian named Giovanni Battista Agnello claimed it contained gold. The news transformed the enterprise.

The second and third voyages

Investors formed the Company of Cathay, with Queen Elizabeth I among the shareholders. In 1577 Frobisher returned with three ships, including the royal ship Ayde, and loaded about 200 tons of ore. There were violent clashes with Inuit, and the English took captive a man known as Kalicho, a woman called Arnaq and her infant son Nutaaq. All three died in Bristol within weeks of arrival.

The third voyage of 1578 was far larger: 15 ships, miners and materials for a colony of 100 men to winter in the Arctic. Storms and ice scattered the fleet, and one ship carrying part of a prefabricated house sank. The colony was abandoned, but the miners worked several sites, especially on the small island the English called Countess of Warwick’s Island, now Kodlunarn Island. The fleet returned with around 1,100 to 1,300 tons of ore.

Fool’s gold

Smelting works were built at Dartford in Kent, but repeated tests failed to produce gold. Modern analysis shows the rock was mostly hornblende and other common minerals. It is popularly called fool’s gold, though it was not chiefly pyrite. By 1579 the Company of Cathay had collapsed, Michael Lok was imprisoned for debt, and the ore was used for road-building and walls in Kent.

Frobisher’s career survived. He sailed with Francis Drake in 1585, was knighted for his part in fighting the Spanish Armada in 1588, and died in November 1594 at Plymouth after being wounded at Crozon near Brest.

Inuit memory and archaeology

In 1861-1862 the American explorer Charles Francis Hall visited Frobisher Bay and recorded Inuit oral traditions about strangers who had come in ships long ago, and about five men left behind who later tried to leave in a boat. He also found relics of the English mining camps. Archaeological work in the 1990s confirmed the mines, trenches and smelting remains on Kodlunarn Island.

Myths and facts

Myth: Frobisher discovered a passage to Asia. Frobisher Bay is a deep inlet that ends at the site of modern Iqaluit; no route to Asia exists there. The real Northwest Passage was not navigated until Roald Amundsen’s voyage of 1903-1906.

Fact: the Inuit remembered the English. Oral history gathered nearly three centuries later matched details in English accounts, an important example of Indigenous tradition confirming written records.

Timeline

• 1576, June: Frobisher sails from the Thames with the Gabriel, the Michael and a pinnace.
• 1576, August: Frobisher enters Frobisher Bay and loses five men after contact with Inuit.
• 1576, October: The Gabriel returns to London with a captive Inuk and a sample of black rock.
• 1577, May: The second voyage sails, financed by the Company of Cathay.
• 1577, autumn: Kalicho, Arnaq and Nutaaq die in Bristol.
• 1578, May: The third voyage of 15 ships departs.
• 1578, autumn: The fleet returns with over 1,000 tons of ore.
• 1579: Tests fail to find gold and the Company of Cathay collapses.

Why it matters

Frobisher’s voyages were among the first English contacts with the Inuit and the first English mining venture in the Americas. Their failure showed the dangers of speculation, but they kept alive English interest in a northern route that later drew Henry Hudson and many others into the Arctic.