little, and lesse than nothing, let me in silence admire thy
greatnesse, that in this little heart of man (not able to
serve a Kite for a break-fast) hast placed such greatness of
spirit as the world is too little to fill."

Thus in long-winded meed of praise writes Master Samuel
Purchas. Of those bold mariners of whom he speaks our worthy
knight, Sir Martin, is one of the first and far from the
least.

An effort had been made to discover a northwest passage to
the Pacific as early as 1527, and another nine years later;
but these were feeble attempts, which ended in failure and
disaster, and discovered nothing worthy of record. It was in
1576 that Frobisher, one of the most renowned navigators of
his day, put into effect the project he had cherished from
his youth upward, and for which he had sought aid during
fifteen weary years, that of endeavoring to solve the
ice-locked secret of the Arctic seas.

The fleet with which this daring adventure was undertaken
was a strangely insignificant one, consisting of three
vessels which were even less in size than those with which
Columbus had ventured on his great voyage. Two of these were
but of twenty tons burden each, and the third only of ten,
while the aggregate crews numbered but thirty-five men. With
this tiny squadron, less in size than a trio of
fishing-smacks, the daring adventurer set out to traverse
the northern seas and face the waves of the great Pacific,
if fortune should open to him its gates.