Yorkshire, and there seems to be a pretty strong probability that he was a son of Francis Frobisher, who, as early as 1535, was mayor of that place. MARTIN FROBISTER belongs to American biography and history as much as he does to those of England. By his firmness, perseverance, and enterprise, the discovery and settlement of North America were vastly pro.moted. And notwithstanding his great services, we may look in vain for ..anything like a tolerable biography of him, although his name is found in the ordinary and common dictionaries of biography and naval memoirs. We have nothing that enables us to state with any degree of certainty the time of his birth; but from some circumstances it is thought to have been about the year 1536. If that date be about right, then Frobisher was about forty years of age in 1576, the year he undertook his discoveries into the American seas. He must have been full forty at this time, or he must have been very young when he conceived of the undertaking; for we are assured by Hakluyt, his cotemporary, that he had been upon the enterprise fifteen years before he was able to set out in it. That Frobisher belonged to a family of respectability there is no doubt. In one of the earliest mentions we find made of him, he is styled "gentle. man," which never was bestowed on ordinary persons in his time. Between 1560 and 1570 he was appointed a commissioner of the coal trade. Such abuses were practised at that time in the sale of coal, that a petition to the queen, setting forth the "greate deceit that is used aboute the measuring of sea coales in New Castell and elsewhere throughout Yorkshire, by the bellmen and others, to the greate damage of manie," desiring her "to graunte letters patents to Martyn Furbusher, gentleman, and Richarde Morley of London, gentleman," was set on foot.* We hear nothing further of him till 1572, at which time he was residing at Lambeth. While there overtures seem to have been made to him to aid in the liberation of the Earl of Desmond, then a prisoner in England, but no steps appear to have been taken by him to further the design, and it was suspended. The next year, 1573, there was a rumor, probably without any real foundation, that "Furbisher was allured by certaine decayed men" into a conspiracy they had formed of joining one Thomas Stukely in Spain, where they were to collect followers and invade the English in Ireland. Although the plot was partially carried out, we hear nothing further implicating Frobisher. What has been said of men by cotemporaries is generally interesting, though often to be taken with much allowance. We shall therefore give what several of Frobisher's cotemporaries have said about him, and as Camden is more full than any of them within our knowledge, his account shall be given first, and in his own words. As for Stow and Speed, they are very brief, especially the latter; and the former appears to have hurried over his notice; and as though aware he was doing so, he makes church of Doncaster is famous for a monument with what our author calls an uncouth inscription, to the memory of Robert Byrks, a benefactor to the town. It is in these words: How, how, who is heare? I Robin of Doncastre And Margaret my Feare. That I spent, that I had, Quoth Robertus Byrks, who in this World did reign * Wright's " Queen Elizabeth and her Times, i. 222. Magna Britannia, vi. 429. amends for it by referring his reader to Hakluyt, in this passage: "Concerning the rest of the English Nauigators and voyages, I will referre you vnto the Reuerend Father, Master Richard Hackluit, Batechelor of Diuinitie, in his Booke* of English voyages." We now proceed with Camden. "At this time [1576] some studious Heads, moved with a commendable Desire to discover the more remote Regions of the world and the Secrets of the Ocean, put forward some well monied men, no less desirous to reap Profit by it, to discover whether there were any Streight in the North part of America through which men might sail to the rich Country of Cathay, and so the Wealth of the East and West might be conjoyned by a mutuall Commerce. These learned men argued that probably there was some Streight opened a way in that part; taking it for granted that the nearer the Shoar a man cometh, the shallower the Waters are. But they who sail from the Western Coast of Iseland find by experience the Sea to be deeper: so as it may probably seem to joyn with that Sea which the Mariners call Mare del Sur, on the other side of America. Then they argued, That whereas the Ocean is carried with the daily Motion of the Primum Mobile, or the uppermost Heaven, being beaten back by the Opposition of America, it runneth Northward to Cabo Fredo, that is, the Cold Cape or Promontory, about which place it should be emptied through some Streight into the Sea del Sur; otherwise it would be beaten back with the like violence upon Lapland and Finmarck, as it is in the South part of the world beaten back from the Streight of Magellan (a Streight full of Isles, and, by reason of the Narrowness of the Streight, being so full of Isles, uncapable of so great a quantity of Waters,) along the Eastern Coast of America to Cabo Fredo." "Herewith these monied men being perswaded, they sent Martin Frobisher with three Pinnaces to discover this Streight, who, setting out from Harwich the 18. of June, entred on the ninth of August into a Bay or Streight under the Latitude of 63 Degrees, where he found men with black Hair, broad Faces, flat Noses, swarthy-coloured, apparelled in Sea-calves Skins; the Women painted about the Eyes and Balls of the Cheek with a blew Colour, like the ancient Britans. But all being so frozen up with Ice in the moneth of August that he could not hold on his Voiage, he returned, and arrived in England the 24. of September, having lost five Sea-men, whom the Barbarians had intercepted. Nevertheless the two years next following he sailed to the same Coasts, to perfect his Enterprise: but being incountred every-where with Heaps of Ice like Mountaines, he was kept from entring any farther into the Bay. Being therefore tossed up and down with fowl weather, Snows, and unconstant winds, he gathered a great quantity of Stones, which he thought to be Minerals, and so returned homewards: which Stones, when neither Gold nor Silver nor any other Metall could be extracted from them, we have seen cast forth to mend When Stow wrote, Hakluyt had published but one volume of his voyages, namely, that of 1589. We know not that the name of Frobisher even exists in America, unless it be in those of Furbush, Furber, &c., which may have had the same origin; and so far as we know it is rare in England. So late as 1807, not one of the name was to be found in London, that immense cauldron of almost every name under the sun; at least none is to be found in its great directory for that year. The only time we recollect to have met with it, is in an account of a shocking calamity at Exeter in the county of Devon, where, in 1800, Mrs. Rachel Charlotte, daughter of Joseph Frobisher, Esq., was burnt to death in endeavouring to rescue her child from the flames. She was the wife of Capt. E. J. O'Brien. See Lyson's Hist. of Dev., ii. 208. the High-ways. But these matters are published at large and every where to be sold."* As has been remarked, the account of Frobisher by Stow is very brief, but brief as it is, it seems to have been about all that is known of him, aside from the narrations of his maritime expeditions. It is in this: "Martin Frobusher, borne neere Doncaster, in Yorkeshire, in his youth gaue himselfe to Nauigation, he was the first Englishman that discoured the North way to China, and Cathay, and at his first discourie of the way to Cathay at which time for tryall of what he could find there, brought thence a black soft stone like sea coale, supposed to be gold, or siluer Oare, & in that perswasion made two seuerall voyages againe to Cathaye, bringing with them great quantitie of the sayd supposed Oare, the which after due tryall & much expence prooued not worth anything, neither fit for any vse, a great quantity of which stuffe was layed in the nursery at Darford, no man regarding it, he was vice-admirall to Sir Francis Drake, at the winning of Saint Domingo, Saint Iago, Carthagena, and Saint Augustino. Hee did great seruice in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred eightie and eight, vpon the inuincible Spanish Armado, for which he was Knighted, after that hee was General of tenne ships, to keepe Brest-hauen in Britaine, where the Spaniardes neere thereunto had strongly fortified themselues, in whose extirpation he did special sernice by Sea and Land, and was there shotte into the side with a Musket, the wounde not mortall, he liued vntill hee came to Plimmouth, through the negligence of his surgeon that onely tooke out the Bullet, not sufficiently searched the Wound, to take out the Bombaste strucke in with the shotte the sore festered, whereof he dyed,† & was buried in Plimmouth, he was very valiant, yet harsh & violent."‡ To these facts thus briefly stated we shall have occasion again to refer. The account of SPEED, being short, it follows entire : "For the searching and vnsatisfied spirits of the English, to the great glory of our Nation, could not be contained within the bankes of the Mediterranean or Leuant Seas, but that they passed farre, towards both the Articke and Antarticke Poles, inlarging their trades into the West and East Indies to the search of whose passage, that worthy Sea-Captaine Sir *CAMDEN, Annals of Elizabeth, 215-16. In another account it is said that in his first voyage, "one of his Company bringing back with him a large Piece of the said black Stone, much like Sea-coal, carried it to the refiners of Gold, who extracted from it so great a quantity of Gold, that they gave it the name of Gold Ore; which encouraged him to load his Ships with it, though it proved to no Purpose." Mag. Brit., vi. 430. It seems likely that the alchemists deceived Frobisher and his friends, or he would not have brought a second quantity of the same kind of stone. It is difficult too to see what object they could have had in view. "Yet (says Fuller) will no wise man laugh at his mistake, because in such experiments they shall never hit the mark who are not content to miss it." Perhaps adventurers were slow for such an undertaking, and the gold story may have been contrived to quicken them. † FULLER, in his Worthies of England, had evidently nothing but this account of Srow from which to make one for his work, but he seldom fails to add something to every thing he takes up, which increases its interest. "Swords and guns (he says) have not made more mortal wounds than probes in the hands of careless and skill-less chirurgeons, as here it came to pass." "Annales, or A Generall Chronicle of England. Begun by JOHN STOW. Continued and Augmented with matters Forraigne and Domestique, Ancient and Moderne, vnto the end of this present veere, 1631." p. 809. We give the entire title-page of Srow, except the "horid pictures," which seem to have frightened it into an exceeding small space upon the verge of the lower margin, as though it would gladly escape such company. Yet to us the whole title-leaf of the venerable old volume is most gratifying; and how Dibdin could say "it was enough to give a man the cholic to behold it," is beyond OUR comprehension. However, even antiquaries must be allowed sometimes to indulge in a conceit where the real truth cannot be mistaken. The imprint of Stow is LONDINI, Impensis RICHARDI MEIGHEN, 1631. Folio, 1087 pages, and an iudex of about 100 pages. Martin Furbusher,* made Saile into the North-East-Seas, farre further then any man before him had euer done, giuing to these parts the name of Queene Elizabeths Foreland. The next yeere hee attempted thirty leagues further, when finding Gold Ore (as was thought) and taking a man, woman, and child, of the Sauage Catayes, he returned into England; but as his gold prooued drosse, so these liued not long, neither turned that discouery to any great profit, though it was againe the third time assaied by himself, and since by other most famous Nauigators, the Northwest by Englishmen being lately descried, to bee Seas more safe, and the passage of farre better hope." We shall now proceed to narrate in as intelligible a manner as we can the voyages and expeditions of Frobisher. When an individual undertakes any great or extraordinary enterprise, the reasons or motives which led him to it are sought for by every one, and not without good reason. For there is a vast difference whether a man ventures his life and fortune merely for the accumulation of wealth, or whether it is for the enlargement of the bounds of human knowledge, and the consequent promotion of happiness to the human race. That Frobisher had other views than merely the acquirement of gold will not be questioned, when the circumstances upon which he undertook his first voyage of discovery are considered. But the first inquiry which will naturally take possession of the mind of the reader of the memoirs of Sir Martin Frobisher will be, What grounds had he to think he might find a passage into the South Seas to the north of America? What intimations had he that even such a thing were at all practicable? Had there not been northern voyages in many years before, nearly all of which had terminated in losses and distress? It appears pretty clear from the various treatises contained in Hakluyt's collection, that the subject of a north west passage had been long in agitation, and reports had been circulated that even a passage had been made around the extreme north of the American continent many years before Frobisher set out upon his voyage. This latter fact, or statement as such, was no doubt known to him as well as to the rest of the enterprising men of his time, which, although probably false, had the effect to spur on the spirit of adventure in England, and resulted in the undertaking in question. To set this matter in its proper light, the following passage from Sir Humphrey Gilbert's able treatise is extracted: "There was one Saluaterra, a Gentleman of Victoria in Spain, that came by chance out of the West Indias into Ireland, [where Sir Humphrey was at that time serving] Anno 1568. who affirmed the Northwest passage from vs to Cataia, constantly to be beleeued in America navigable. And further said in the presence of Sir Henry Sidney (then lord Deputie of Ireland) in my hearing, that a Frier of Mexico, called Andrew Vardeneta, more than In his index SPEED has " Frobisher or Furbisher." "The Historie of Great Britaine vnder the conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. Their Originals, Manners, Habits, Warres, Coines, and Seales: with the Successions, Lines, Acts, and Issues of the ENGLISH MONARCHS from IVLIVS CESAR, vnto the Raigne of King IAMES of famous MEMORIE, The Third Edition. Reuised, enlarged, and newly corrected, with sundry descents of the Saxons Kings, Their Marriages and Armes. By IOHN SPEED." p. 1167-8. The imprint is "AT LONDON. Printed by IоHN DAVVSON, for GEORGE HVMBLE, and are to be sold in Popes-head Pallace, at the signe of the White Horse. Cum Priuilegio. Anno 1632." Folio, 1243 pages besides the Index, of about 200 more. A Discourse written by Sir Humphrey Gilbert Knight, to prone a passage by the Northwest to Cathaia, and the East Indies," in Hakluyt, iii. 41–2. eight yeeres before his then comming into Ireland, told him there, that he came from Mar del Sur into Germany through this Northwest passage, and shewed Saluaterra (at that time being then with him in Mexico) a Sea Card* made by his owne experience and trauell in that voyage, wherein was plainly set down and described this Northwest passage, agreeing in all points with Ortelius mappe." To give the greater credibility to his statement, Vrdaneta† [Urdeneta] stated that he had communicated an account of the discovery to the king of Portugal, and that the king charged him not to make it known to any nation. Because if the English knew it, "it would greatly hinder bothe the King of Spaine and me." Another account of a similar kind was afterwards promulgated, which produced the same encouraging effect. It states that one Thomas Cowles, an English seaman of Badminster in Somersetshire, made oath, that being some six years before (1573) in Lisbon he heard one Martin Chacque, a Portuguese mariner, read out of a book which he had published six yeares before that, that twelve years before, (1556) he, Chacque, the author of it, had set out of India for Portugal, in a small vessel of the burthen of about eighty tons, accompanied by four large ships, from which he was separated by a westerly gale; that having sailed among a number of islands he entered a gulf, which conducted him into the Atlantic, in the 59th deg. of latitude, near Newfoundland, from whence he proceeded without seeing any more land till he fell in with the northwest part of Ireland, and from thence to Lisbon, where he arrived more than a month before the other four ships with which he set out.§ We leave the reader now to form his own opinion of the influences which may have acted upon the mind of Frobisher, which caused him to undertake "the only thing of the world that was left yet vndone," and proceed to give a summary of his voyages. Full journals of all Frobisher's three voyages are contained in Hakluyt; the first of which, "written by Christopher Hall, Master in the Gabriel," thus commences: "The 7. of Iune [1576] being Thursday, the two Barks, viz. the Gabriel, and the Michael, of which M.[aster] Matthew Kinderslye was Captaine, and our Pinnesse set saile at Ratcliffe, and bare down to Detford, [Deptford] and there we ancred: the cause was, that our Pinnesse burst her boultsprit, and foremast aboard of a ship that rode at Detford, else wee meant to have past that day by the Court then at Grenewich. "The 8. day being Friday, about 12 of the clocke we wayed at Detford, and set saile all three of vs, and bare downe by the Court, where whe shotte off our ordinance and made the best show we could; Her Maiestie Beholding the same, commended it, and bade vs farewell, with shaking her hand at vs out of the window. Afterward shee sent a gentleman aboard of vs, who declared that her Maiestie had good liking of our doings, and thanked vs for it, and also willed our Captaine to come the next day to the Court to take his leaue of her." Charts went by this name at that time. †The same, we are told by John Barrow, F. R. S., (afterwards Sir John Barrow, Knight, not the present Sir John Barrow of the Admiralty office, but his father,) who accompanied Magelhanes in his voyage. Barrow, ut supra, pronounces it "utterly false." A Chronological Hist. of Voyages into the Arctic Regions, &c. By John Barrow, F. R. S., (before cited) pp. 80, 81. Hakluyt, iii. 86. |