Sir Martin Frobisher
Sir Martin Frobisher, (1535-1595) came across tattooed women in 1576. When he was on the first of his three unsuccessful sea voyages to find a northwest passage to China.
Although without success Frobisher did however find a certain amount of fame when he brought back to England an Inuit (Eskimo) woman called Arnaq, who had chin and forehead tattoos.
Arnaq sadly died shortly after arriving in England and was buried at St Stephen’s church, Bristol, on the 12th of November 1577. The famed painter John White even painted her portrait including her tattoos. In fact Frobisher brought back four Inuit women during the years 1576 and 1577.
Frobisher later went on to even greater achievements when in 1586 he sailed as vice-admiral in an expedition with Drake to the West Indies. And two years later was given charge of a ship that helped defeat the armada and so distinguishing himself that he was knighted upon his own ship. Frobisher was later to die in battle from a fatal wound he received on the 14th of January 1595.
Copyright Paul Sayce
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