Sir Martin Frobisher by Taliesin Trow

Author:Taliesin Trow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: TRA006010
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781844684168
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2011-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Fool’s Gold

By the time Frobisher appeared before Queen Elizabeth again he had clearly become a royal favourite, and this went to his head. A report on all three voyages compiled for the State Papers highlights this: ‘Hereupon, Frobisher grew into such a monstrous mind, that a whole kingdom could not contain it, but already, by discovery of a new world, he was become another Columbus.’1 Before he left on his third voyage, the Queen gave him a generous gift of a large gold chain. He had presented her with the famed narwhal tusk, a rich prize and something that was irksome to the financially minded Lok. Frobisher was once again the focus of attention at court and delighted people with tales of his exploits, which doubtless swelled his ego further. He was a celebrity, finally gaining the admiration and recognition he had been craving.

The three captives brought back were once again a fascination. They remained in Bristol – already assuming a new importance because of its position in the west in the context of the New World – but did not survive long enough to be presented to the Queen, something that disappointed the doctor who examined them more than their actual deaths. Dr Edward Donninge’s two-page report, written in Latin as was still usually the practice amongst medical men, still survives. According to Best: ‘when he founde himself in captivitie, for very choller and disdain, he bit his tong in twayne within his mouth’.2

Whilst in Bristol, the Inuit were observed by the public as an entertainment. Seyer’s Annals of Bristol, compiled from earlier documents in the 1790s, reported Frobisher’s return to Kingrode (the entrance to Bristol Harbour) ‘from Cattai’. He brought ore: ‘esteemed to be very ritch and full of gowlde. It was heavy and so hard that it would strike fire like flint.’3 Of more immediate interest were Frobisher’s captives: ‘Callicho and a woman called Ignorth [sic]. They were savage people and fed only upon raw flesh.’4

Kalicho took to the Avon in his 14ft kayak and began hunting mallard as he would have hunted seabirds in his Arctic home – ‘he would hit a ducke a good distance and not misse’.5 The women of England, who had perhaps applied a little lead-based make-up in the fashion of their white-faced monarch, were fascinated by the blue-delineated tattoos on Arnaq’s face. The water-colourist John White, who was to join Ralegh on his voyages to North America where he would sketch Indians, flora and fauna, found in the Inuit captives his new fascination. The images, clearly the most famous, are very detailed, down to the seams on Kalicho’s hide jacket. He also depicted the decisive ‘battle’ at Bloody Point from hearing the tales of the returning adventurers. As with the previous captive, the three Inuit did not survive more than a few months. Kalicho, it is presumed, died from a collapsed lung, having developed breathing problems earlier as a result of sustaining two broken ribs perhaps during his capture by Nicholas Conger.

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