Born in Altofts around 1535 Martin Frobisher had connections with Yorkshire landed gentry and rich London merchants.   But he seems to have had no interest in school or business instead preferring a life at sea.   Like another famous Elizabethan seaman, Sir Francis Drake, Frobisher eventually became a privateer, albeit a fairly reckless one.

He overstepped the mark several times during the 1560s and found himself in prison for piracy and involved in treason against Elizabeth I. Yet somehow he survived these brushes with potential execution.  

He attempted to find wealth and fame with expeditions in search of the fabled North West Passage linking the Atlantic to the Pacific (and the riches of China). He set out on his first voyage of discovery in 1576, landing on Baffin Island, where he encountered the Canadian Inuit, and collected what he thought was gold ore.  

The following two summers, he led expeditions which mined tonnes of 'black ore' and 'red ore' that on return to England proved to contain no gold whatsoever.  

Despite being discredited Frobisher’s skills as a naval commander were soon in demand again on a voyage with Drake to the West Indies and in the war against Spain. On board the 1,100 ton 'Triumph' he played a role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 for which he was knighted.  

He retired to Yorkshire for a few years but by 1592 had command of another fleet attacking Spanish gold ships from Panama.  He was eventually mortally wounded whilst attempting to lift the siege of Fort Crozon near Brest, dying in Plymouth in November 1594.