"Adventurous and wilful, the swashbuckling Martin Frobisher was both a brave sea-commander who served Elizabeth I with distinction and a privateer who singlemindedly pursued his own interests. This highly entertaining biography provides the first complete picture of the life and exploits of Frobisher - from his voyages in search of the fabled Northwest Passage to his courageous resistance to the Spanish Armada and his exploits as privateer and some-time pirate. The book explores Frobisher's vigorous personality and its manifestation in the turbulence of his career and his impact on others. It also illuminates the robust world of maritime enterprise in England in the sixteenth-century; when the shifting objectives of the Elizabethan age brought together felons, merchants, and great officers of state."--Jacket.