Which English explorer made three voyages seeking the Northwest Passage in the 1570s?

Martin Frobisher made three English voyages in the 1570s seeking the Northwest Passage.

His expeditions sailed in 1576, 1577, and 1578, backed by merchants connected with the Muscovy Company and supported by Elizabeth I. Frobisher hoped to find a western sea route through the North American Arctic to Cathay and the Pacific. On the first voyage, he reached the entrance of what is now Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island, believing it might lead onward through the continent.

The second and third voyages became entangled with a supposed discovery of gold-bearing ore. England shipped hundreds of tons of the material home, but it ultimately proved commercially worthless. The 1578 expedition also attempted to establish a settlement at Meta Incognita, the name Elizabeth gave to the region, but no lasting colony resulted.

Frobisher is often confused with John Davis, who explored the Arctic later, or Richard Chancellor, whose 1553 voyage went northeast toward Russia. Frobisher’s defining distinction is the trio of Northwest Passage voyages in 1576–78.