Sir Martin Frobisher (1535-22 November 1594) was an English privateer who fought in the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604. Known for his raid on Santo Domingo and Cartagena de las Indias in January 1586, he was knighted for fighting the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Biography[]
Frobisher was born in Yorkshire in the Kingdom of England, and became a seaman at the age of 9. In 1554 he was captured by the Portuguese, and after serving as a marchant in Morocco, he became a privateer based in southern Ireland.
Having launched expeditions to find the Northwest Passage, Frobisher discovered Canada's present-day Frobisher Bay and Resolution Island. In 1586, he launched an expedition alongside Francis Drake to attack Spain during the Anglo-Spanish War. He led a party ashore to sack Santo Domingo; several weeks later he looted Cartagena de las Indias. With word coming that a "Spanish Armada" was being built, Frobisher returned to England and assisted in the defeat of the Spanish armada sent to attack England at Calais on 7 August 1588.
In 1592, Frobisher and Sir Walter Raleigh captured Portuguese carrack "Made de Deus" off the island of Flores in the Azores. In November 1594 Frobisher was mortally wounded by a gunshot wound to the chest in the Siege of Fort Crozon while relieving Spain's siege of Brest during the French Wars of Religion.