So far the expeditions of Willoughby, Chancellor, and Jenkinson had all failed to reach the Far East. The Spanish had a way thither by Magellan's Strait, the Portuguese by the Cape of Good Hope. England in the middle of the sixteenth century had no way. What about a North-West Passage leading round Labrador from the Atlantic to the Pacific? England was waking up to possibilities of future exploration. She was also ready and anxious to annoy Spain for having monopolised the riches and wealth of the New World. And so it was that Queen Elizabeth turned with interest to the suggestions of one of her subjects--Martin Frobisher--"a mariner of great experience and ability," when he enthusiastically consulted her on the navigation of the North-West Passage. For the last fifteen years he had been trying to collect ships and men for the enterprise. "It is the only thing in the world left undone whereby a notable mind might be made famous and fortunate," he affirmed. But it was not till the year 1576 that he got a chance of fitting out two small ships--two very small ships--the _Gabriel_ of twenty tons, the _Michael_ of twenty-five tons, to explore the icy regions of the north. A wave of the Queen's hand gladdened his heart as he sailed past the palace of Greenwich, where the Court resided, and he was soon sailing northward harassed and battered by many storms. His little ten-ton pinnace was lost, and the same storm that overtook the little fleet to the north of Scotland so terrified the captain of the _Michael_ that he deserted and turned home with the news that Frobisher had perished with all hands. Meanwhile Frobisher, resolute in his undertaking, was nearing the coast of Greenland--alone in the little _Gabriel_ with a mere handful of men all inexperienced in the art of navigating the Polar seas. "And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold"