elief that the
"black ore" brought back
by Frobisher in 1576 might contain precious metals was the pivotal
element in the history of his Arctic expeditions. Various theories
have been proposed for why this mistaken belief arose and persisted.
It has been suggested that there was deliberate fraud on the part
of one or more players in the drama. Multiple tests of the early
samples were undertaken by various assayers. One, Jonas Schutz,
managed repeatedly to find at least some gold and argued that
others failed because using inadequate equipment. Burchard
Kranich was brought in for a second opinion and also achieved
positive results, promising that a serious mining expedition
would bring back enough rich ore to cover expedition costs.
The two rivals did not get along and Schutz charged that
Kranich had used chemicals salted with gold. There could be no
long-term benefit to either in falsifying results. However, each
probably hoped to build reputation and wealth by being made the
chief assayer for the enterprise - Kranich did temporarily
eclipse Schutz, but it was the latter who was put in charge of
operations at the Dartford furnaces.
So, if they truly believed the ore contained gold, they may have been
prepared to falsify the results of their tests in order to win the
ore-processing contract.
Frobisher and Lok
also had little to gain from intentionally
being party to any fraud; Lok was himself misled by Baptista
Agnello - more of an alchemist, than a true metallurgist like
Schutz or Kranich - who had similarly claimed to have extracted
gold from the ore. Yet, whatever their suspicions of the assays,
it served the interests of both Lok and Frobisher to go along
with the positive findings, since that was the key to funding
for further expeditions. How firmly Agnello and Kranich were
convinced of the gold is uncertain, for they were subsequently
accused of not making serious efforts to smelt the ore assigned
to each.
The science of assaying at this time was itself imperfect and
its own practitioners could be deceived. It is possible that
chemicals used in the assaying process might occasionally have
been contaminated with small amounts of gold or silver, causing
misleading results. Some of the early assays produced only small
quantities of such metals - although Schutz and Kranich believed
there was more to be extracted; yet modern analysis has shown
that most of the ore actually "contained less gold than the
average of the Earth's crust". We cannot rule out the
possibility that a few ore samples - perhaps particularly the
"red ore" mentioned by the sources - did in fact contain
significant amounts of gold, but that mining failed to focus on
the sources of those particular samples.
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This assayer, working in front of a rectangular furnace, is stirring the
molten ore with a stick.
From De re metallica, by Georg Bauer ((known as Agricola)), 1556
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A further possibility is that the wealthy Elizabethan courtiers,
aware of the precious metals being retrieved from the Americas
by the Spanish and eager to tap into similar riches, simply
wanted to believe. That the majority of the analyses by
reputable assayers suggested the ore was worthless could be
interpreted as a failure to find what a few assays - conducted
by men trained in Germany, the leading centre of metallurgy -
had evidently shown to be present. Schutz continued to blame the
equipment when the large-scale smelter at Dartford produced even
more disappointing results than had the small-scale assays in
London, but fled abroad once it was clear that investors had
abandoned all hope of the ore being worth anything. These
courtiers had the money and inclination to speculate on ventures,
in the hopes that one would pay off. Their gold-fever fed the
determination to mine ore in the Arctic.
All these factors may have worked together to persuade even the
skeptical to support the second expedition, while fear of
losing the investment therein (along with imperialistic
ambitions of Elizabeth and her advisors) was added to the
motivations behind the third and most expensive expedition.
All that glitters may not be gold, but the prospect of gold was
too glittering an illusion for the Elizabethans to resist.
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