Sir Martin Frobisher, an English explorer, born near Doncaster, died in Plymouth, Nov. 7, 1594. After spending 15 years in fruitless endeavors to get up an expedition to find the northwest passage, he at length sailed with three barks from Deptford, June 8, 1576, going as far as Labrador and Greenland, discovering the bay now known by his name, and returning in October. Indications of gold were discovered, which led to the despatch of a large squadron in the following year; and the ore brought back being thought valuable, still a third expedition was fitted out with 15 ships in 1578, but the fleet, being scattered by storms on the coast of Greenland, was obliged to return early in the winter without having effected any settlement. Relics of these expeditions were discovered by Hall in 1860-'62. In 1585 Frobisher went with Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies; and in 1588, on the defeat of the Spanish armada, he was knighted for his services in the action. He afterward commanded a fleet on the Spanish coast, and in 1594 supported Henry IV. against the leaguers and Spaniards, and died of a wound received in an attack on Brest.