fbpx

KidsKonnect

Sir Martin Frobisher Facts & Worksheets

Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman and a licensed privateer known for his voyages in discovering a Northwest Passage

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /People /Sir Martin Frobisher Facts & Worksheets

Premium
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman and a licensed privateer known for his voyages in discovering a Northwest Passage. He successfully discovered Labrador and it was later named after him as Frobisher Bay.

See the fact file below for more information on Sir Martin Frobisher or alternatively, you can download our 34-page Sir Martin Frobisher worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Early Life

  • Martin Frobisher was born in around 1535 or 1536 in Yorkshire, England, and was the third son among the five children of Bernard Frobisher, a merchant, and Margaret York.
  • When his father died in 1542, Francis Frobisher, his uncle, took care of them.
  • Around 1549, Martin Frobisher was sent to London and lived with their relative Sir John York, a rich, well-connected, and influential person in the industry.
  • During his stay with his uncle in London, he was allowed to study.
  • At an early age, Sir Martin Frobisher was exposed to various people and soon took an interest in navigation and exploration. 
  • He was determined to discover a Northwest Passage that connected the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
  • In 1553, Sir Martin Frobisher joined the first English expedition by Thomas Wyndham.
  • During their trip, a disease killed a hundred of the crew, including Thomas Wyndham, their leader. 
  • Many of their people were infected, and their number was lesser than before, so returning home was difficult.
  • However, despite having lost two ships and a hundred people from the crew, the expedition was considered a financial success.
  • With their success, a trading expedition to Portuguese Guinea in November 1554 was headed by John Lok and was arranged and funded by investors, including Sir Martin Frobisher’s uncle.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher took part as an apprentice to John Beryn, his uncle’s trading representative.
  • The African local government would only negotiate if the English provided a hostage to make sure that transactions made were in good faith; thus, Sir Martin Frobisher volunteered to be the hostage.
  • The Portuguese attacked and fired at the English fleet just as their negotiation was about to end.
  • The English crew returned to England without Sir Martin Frobisher, and he was held captive by the Africans who soon handed him to the Portuguese.
  • He was then imprisoned at a Portuguese fortress and sent home in 1558.
  • Shortly after, Sir Martin Frobisher led his expedition at Barbary Coast of North Africa and a voyage to the Middle East end of the Mediterranean.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher married Isobel Richard on September 30, 1559, a widow with two children.
  • Isobel Richard gained a huge amount of settlement from her previous marriage, which was used as a source of finance to cover the costs of Sir Martin Frobisher’s expeditions.
  • Left by Sir Martin Frobisher, Isobel Richard died in 1588 in a poorhouse.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher joined his brother, John Frobisher, and John Appleyard in a privateering voyage in 1563, where he commanded the fleet.
  • They seized five French ships; however, Sir Martin Frobisher was arrested and brought to prison due to piracy.
  • In this incident, about forty Englishmen died.
  • Upon his release from prison in 1564, he bought two ships, Mary Flower and William Baxter, for trading expedition use on the Guinea coast.
  • Due to a storm, he reached Scarborough and got arrested again while John Frobisher, who sailed the Mary Flower, escaped.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher was released on October 31, 1566, and prohibited to sail without a license.
  • An expedition led to his arrest again in 1569, but Edward Fiennes de Clinton and William Cecil, Lord Burghley, helped in his release in March 1570.
  • His release might have required him to take and perform commands by the Privy Council.
  • William Cecil took an interest in him and assigned him to the exploration for the Crown.
  • As early as 1560, Sir Martin Frobisher was already interested in looking for the Northwest Passage but only took action later. 
  • He sought permission and financial support from the Privy Council, and although some were hesitant, he was recommended to the Muscovy Company.
  • During his three voyages, Sir Martin Frobisher became a known explorer who was one of the first English explorers to sail North America’s northeastern coast.

First Voyage

  • Muscovy Company supported and granted his petition to license his expedition in 1576.
  • Michael Lok, the company director, helped Sir Martin Frobisher secure funds for the expedition.
  • On June 7, 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher left Dartford bringing three sailing vessels, Gabriel (30-ton ship), Michael (30-ton ship), an unnamed 7-ton pinnace, and a crew totaling 32 men.
  • They reached the Shetland Islands a few days later and repaired the ships before continuing their voyage. However, storms aroused and affected their expedition.
  • Although the ship Gabriel could still sail, the pinnace sunk, so Michael was forced to go back to England.
  • In the next four days of sailing the Gabriel, they sighted the coast of Labrador, and the landmass on the southern tip of Baffin Island was called “Queen Elizabeth’s Foreland”.
  • The crew sailed further and reached Frobisher Bay.
  • Instead of sailing north, he rerouted and sailed west until they reached Baffin Island.
  • When they reached Baffin Island, they came across some Inuit natives and had an agreement with one of them to guide them in the region.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher told five of his men to accompany him to the ship’s boat at the shore; however, some of his men were held captive by the natives after they disobeyed his order not to get close to the natives.
  • He took the Inuit guide hostage in an attempt to exchange him with the captives but failed.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher went back to England on October 2, 1576, and brought a black stone that he believed contained gold.
  • Michael Lok helped him confirm the content of the stone, and some agreed that it contained gold while others disagreed.
  • He held on to the positive confirmation from Giovanni Battista Agnello and secretly wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth I about it.
  • The favorable assessments became a conclusive factor for the investors to finance another voyage. 

Second Voyage

  • A bigger expedition was arranged in 1577 with Queen Elizabeth lending a 200-ton ship named Aid and contributing £1,000. 
  • Michael and Gabriel were also included in the expedition.
  • On May 27, 1577, the crew, which consisted of 120 men including mariners, miners, gunners, carpenters, refiners, and merchants, left to sail in search not only for the Northwest Passage but also to find the gold.
  • Lieutenant George Best, his second-in-command; Christopher Hall, a master; and Edward Fenton, the navigator of Gabriel, were also among the crew with Sir Martin Frobisher.
  • At Baffin Island, the miners worked hard to collect and load the precious ore on the ship.
  • They also encountered some Inuits whom they kept in the ships, and a fight broke out when the Inuits attacked the seamen. 
  • On August 23, 1577, they left the island, and Aid reached Milford Haven a month later while Gabriel and Michael reached Bristol and Yarmouth a little later.
  • Three Inuit captives, Calichough, Egnock, and Nutioc, were brought back with the crew in England but died as soon as they arrived.
  • At Windsor, Sir Martin Frobisher was welcomed enthusiastically, and the Queen expressed her gratitude to him.
  • Five natives were shot dead while Sir Martin Frobisher was struck with an arrow.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher also attempted to recover the five men held captive on the first voyage.

Third Voyage

  • With much trust and faith in the discovery of the new territory that she called Meta Incognita (Unknown Shore), the Queen sent Sir Martin Frobisher and financed the third voyage.
  • The expedition was considered the largest among the three with 15 vessels involved: Aid, Michael, and Gabriel, as well as Judith, Barke Dennis, Anne Frances, Francis of Fowey, Mone of Fowey, Beare of Leicester, Thomas of Ipswich, Thomas Allen, Armonell of Exmouth, Salomon of Weymouth, Hopewell, and Emanuel of Bridgwater; 400 men also joined them.
  • They left Plymouth on June 3, 1578, reached the south of Greenland on June 20, 1578, and sighted Frobisher Bay on July 2. 
  • The storms they encountered hindered their voyage, and one of the barques, Dennis, unintentionally sailed in a strait that Sir Martin Frobisher called “Mistaken Strait”.
  • Mistaken Strait, now called the Hudson Strait, was believed to be an entrance to the Northwest Passage. 
  • They sailed 60 miles up the Hudson Strait but rerouted as he thought it was not the right passage and assembled at Frobisher Bay together with the rest of the fleet. 
  • The ship Emmanuel found Buss Island but was wrecked in Ireland.
  • Failing to establish a colony, they went home and reached England with tons of ore in October. 
  • Upon their return, they discovered that the ore they collected had no value, and the thing believed to be gold was just yellow mica.
  • The Company of Cathay investors declared bankruptcy, losing £20,000, while Michael Lok was sent to the debtors’ prison.
  • There was another exploration arranged in 1579 where Sir Martin Frobisher was supposed to be appointed as the captain; however, he refused when he learned that the expedition was purely for trading purposes.
  • Despite the small achievement of Sir Martin Frobisher’s explorations, it provided motivation for other voyages.
  • The search for the Northwest Passage continued, and explorers such as Sir Francis Drake and John Davis attempted the exploration.

War With Spain

  • After his voyages, Sir Martin Frobisher sought other work. He became a captain of Foresight and also participated in the Siege of Smerwick at the Dingle Peninsula. 
  • Sir Martin Frobisher joined Sir Francis Drake as his vice-admiral in an expedition in 1585 where they were tasked to raid the Spanish ports and shipping in the West Indies.
  • They hindered Philip II’s plans to build a Spanish Armada to attack England.
  • With the threats of attack, Sir Martin Frobisher was assigned to command the ship Triumph and fight the Spanish Armada.
  • He was greatly rewarded and knighted by the Queen for his success.

Sir Martin Frobisher’s Death

  • Sir Martin Frobisher went to visit his homeland, Yorkshire, in 1590.
  • There, he married his second wife, Dorothy Wentworth.
  • In 1591, Sir Martin Frobisher decided to live in Whitwood as a land proprietor but wasn’t satisfied with country life.
  • The following year, he was commissioned on an important mission to command the English fleet to the Spanish coast, which was supposed to be Sir Walter Raleigh’s task.
  • Sir Martin Frobisher led another squadron of ships which caused his death in 1594 as he was shot in the thigh during the Siege of Fort Corazon.
  • He was buried in St. Giles-without-Cripplegate, Fore Street, but his heart was in St. Andrew’s Church in Plymouth.

Sir Martin Frobisher Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Sir Martin Frobisher across 34 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Sir Martin Frobisher an English seaman and a licensed privateer known for his voyages in discovering a Northwest Passage.

  • Sir Martin Frobisher Worksheets
  • Sir Martin Frobisher Worksheets
  • Sir Martin Frobisher Worksheets
  • Sir Martin Frobisher Worksheets
  • Sir Martin Frobisher Worksheets
  • Sir Martin Frobisher Worksheets

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Sir Martin Frobisher Facts
  • Answer Me!
  • True or False?
  • Expedition
  • Bon Voyage
  • Connections
  • Timeline
  • The Boat is Sailing
  • Vessels
  • Frobisher
  • Northwest Passage

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Sir Martin Frobisher Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, January 27, 2022

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources