Martin Frobisher (ca. 1540-1594)

Abstract

... the Englishman Martin Frobisher is the first accredited pioneer of northern Canadian exploration. He made known to the world the dangers of navigation in the icy seas, the forbidding terrain of Baffin Island, the type of its inhabitants, and the existence of Hudson Strait. ... he dimmed his credit by failing to fix his discoveries with precision, by diverting his search - perhaps contrary to his own choice - from exploration to a futile gold-hunt, and by failing to emphasize the significance of Hudson Strait. ... Though not a scientific geographer, Frobisher was the pioneer of the Canadian Arctic. His ignorance permitted him to defy dangers from which better-informed ship masters might have shrunk. Others followed where he had blazed the trail. He pierced the barrier of the realms of frost and opened a breach for more skilled navigators to exploit.