350 YEARS AGO

Hokitika Guardian, 4 November 1927, Page 4

350 YEARS AGO

WHEN FROBISHER SOUGHT GOLD V ANCOI'V El!. Out. -5. Mute reminders of tin tilmost lorgotton gold rush of 350 yours ill'll, which cniiie to naught, lint in wfiitjt Queen Elizabeth and many of England’s wealthy nobles were involved, have been found in the frozen north by the Hawsun-.Mac.Millan Arctic Expedition of the Field Museum. William Duncan Strong, anthropologist of the expedition, lias reported that tire explorers came on the ruins ol the house, the mining pits, and the improvised shipyard ol Sir Martin Frobisher, who, between 1570 and 1573, led three expeditions, two of them lor gold, into the forbidding regions of Labrador, and llalfin Land.

Digging in the ruins. Dr Strong unearthed fragments of luiek, plaster, toal. and porcelain, products which. Instates. undoubtedly were brought over from England and are indisputable proof that the ruins are of European, and not native Eskimo habitations. rhe story of Frobisher, recalled bv the museum expedition’s findings, is one of the most romantic in the history of quests for riches. Frobisher, with the financial assistance of a few friends, sailed from England in July. 1570, in search of a north-west passage to Cathay and India. He had two tiny vessels, the Michael and the Gabriel, and thirty-live men. Arriving in Labrador, they proceeded up the coast to what is now Frobisher Hay, in Baffin Land. Five of the men were captured by the natives and never seen again. Failing to find the passage, the expedition returned to England, bringing specimens of what the sailors called

" black earth ” and soon a rumour spread that this was gold ore. !n the excitement, another expedition was fitted out. The Queen lent the Aid. a large vessel, to Frobisher, and L'loo3 to finance the quest. Mining equipment, miners and refiners, were included in the vessel’s complement. The expedition returned in the following autumn with 200 tons of the ore.

Dr Strong reports having investigated what were believed by some explorers to be Norse ruins, but declares all he had seen to date were of Eskimo origin. Further search is to be made for evidence of landing of tbe Vikings.