=Frobisher, Joseph.= A partner of the North West Company. Member of the fur-trading firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Company. Built a fort on Red River, and penetrated to the Churchill River, 1774, where, at Frog Portage, he built a post. Gave the name of English River to the Churchill. Accompanied Alexander Henry up the Saskatchewan in 1775. Returned to Montreal, but retained a large interest in the fur trade until 1798, when he retired. =Index=: =Hd= His petition to Haldimand, 261. =MS= Builds trading-post on Sturgeon Lake in 1772, 4. =Bib.=: Henry, _Travels and Adventures_, ed. by Bain; Mackenzie, _History of the Fur Trade_ in his _Voyages_. =Frobisher, Sir Martin= (1535?-1594). Navigator. Made three voyages to America in search of the North-West Passage, 1576, 1577, and 1578. Vice-admiral in Drake's expedition to West Indies, 1586; led one of the squadrons against the Spanish Armada; took part in Hawkins's expedition, 1590. =Bib.=: _Dict. Nat. Biog._ =Frobisher, Thomas= (1744-1788). Partner of the North West Company. With Joseph Frobisher, Alexander Henry, and Peter Pond, in the North-West, 1775. In that year, explored the Churchill River as far as Isle à la Crosse Lake. =Index=: =MS= Builds trading-post at Sturgeon Lake, 1772, 4. =Bib.=: Henry, _Travels and Adventures_; Mackenzie, _History of the Fur Trade_ in his _Voyages_. =Frog Portage.= Or Portage de Traite, leading from the Saskatchewan River, by way of Cumberland Lake, the Sturgeon-Weir River, Heron, Pelican, and Woody Lakes, to the Churchill. It was discovered by Joseph Frobisher, who built a temporary trading-post there in 1774. Two years later Thomas Frobisher built a more substantial fort at the same place. He was joined there in that year by Alexander Henry, and plans were matured for intercepting the western Indians on their way down the Churchill to trade at Prince of Wales Fort. Alexander Mackenzie says that the Indians called the portage _Athiquisipichigan Ouinigam_, or the Portage of the Stretched Frog Skin. =Bib.=: Bryce, _Hudson's Bay Company_; Burpee, _Search for the Western Sea_.