HaWa Historic Notes. 15 



hall's abstract of the FllOBISHER EXPEDIJIONS. 



In Sir John Barrow's history Hall liad bolorc him tlic, follow ing accoiiiil <•! 

 Frobisher's tliree expeditions : * * * 



"Whether Frobisher had collected the reports of the Northwest Passage to 

 Cathaia having- been actually performed, or whether alone from his knowledge of 

 the sphere and all other skilles appertaining to the arte of navigation, his liojics 

 were grounded, it is quite certain that lie had persuaded hiiiiself tlic voyage was 

 not only feasible but of easy execution. His friends, however, were not so easily 

 persuaded to enter into his scheme ; but as it was the only thing of the world left 

 yet undone whereby a notable mind might be made famous and fortunate, he per 

 severed for fifteen years without being able to acquire the means of setting forth 

 an expedition on which his mind had been so long and so resolutely bent. 



"At length, in the year 1576, by the countenance and assistance of Dudley, 

 Earl of Warwick, and a few friends, he was enabled to fit out two small barks, 

 the Gabriel of 35 and the Michael of 30 tons, together with a pinnace of 10 tons. 

 With this little squadron he prepared to set out on his important expedition, and 

 on the 8th of June passed Greenwich, where the court then was, and Queen Eliz- 

 abeth bade them farewell by shaking her hand at them out of the window. 



"On the 11th July, 1576, they came in sight of Friesland, rising like pin- 

 nacles of steeples, and all covered with snow ! This island^ whose position has so 

 greatly puzzled geographers, could not be the Friesland of Zeno, but, being in 61° 

 of latitude, was evidently the southern part of Greenland. The floating ice 

 obliged Frobisher to stand to the southwest, till he got sight of Labrador, ahjng 

 the coast of which he then stood to the westward, but could neither reach the 

 land nor get soundings on account of the ice. Sailing to the northward he met 

 with a great island of ice which fell in i)ieces, making a noise as if a great clitie 

 had fallen into the sea. After this he entered a strait in lat. 63° 8'. This strait, 

 to which his name was given from his being its first discoverer, is the same which 

 was afterwards named Lumley's Inlet, but Frobisher's Strait teas for a long time 

 supposed hy geographers to have cut off a portion from Old Greenland, till Mr. 

 Dalrymple and others showed the fallacy of such a supposition. * ♦ # 



"Frobisher set sail for England and arrived at Harwich on tlie 2d of Octo- 

 ber, 'highly commended ol all men for his greate and notable attempt, but specially 

 famous for the great hope he brought of the passage to Cathaia.' That hope, how- 

 ever, would probably have died away but for an accidental circumstance which 

 had been disregarded during the voyage. Some of the men had brought home 

 flowers, some grass, and one a piece of stone 'much like to a sea cole in color,' 



