An Arctic
explorer. Also one of the main characters in a series (four to date) of childrens' books by
Daniel Pinkwater featuring Larry the polar bear.
The historical Frobisher (c. 1539-1594) was a bit of a ne'er-do-well, with connections by birth to Yorkshire gentry and London merchants, but he had little interest in education and less in diplomacy, so he never became part of Elizabethan society.
Frobisher became a privateer, but quest for profit drove him beyond his charter into piracy. He avoided a long gaol sentence by offering his services to the Queen to track down privateers and smugglers, but soon reverted to piracy.
Frobisher was later recruited into a group seeking the Northwest Passage to Cathay - quite probably because he was seen as being both bold and expendable. He returned from his first voyage with a personal conviction in the existence of the Passage (having not gone far enough to disprove it) and a piece of ore that was subsequenly claimed to contain gold. He also brought back an Inuit man to England.
This was enough evidence for his backers to fund two more voyages for Frobisher, though more oriented toward mining than exploration. Later discovery that the ore he brought back did not, in fact, contain gold brought Frobisher and his backers into court where he managed to sidestep most of the blame, but his reputation and his finances both were seriously damaged.
Frobisher found little employment for the next several years until the British Navy once again needed bold sea captains for another war with Spain. Frobisher died from a gunshot wound while leading an assault on a Spanish fortress in Brittany at age 55.
Pinkwater's Frobisher is a wealthy man who is