Muscovy Company) was formed to search for a northeast passage to Cathay. The initiative failed to find a route but did establish a long-lasting trade relationship with Russia. In the 1560s Humphrey Gilbert was an influential advocate for seeking a north-west passage and penned a detailed treatise in support of the idea. Although Frobisher may have expressed interest in a search for the North-west Passage as early as 1560, it was only much later that he actively pursued the idea. In 1574, Frobisher petitioned the Privy Council for permission and financial support to lead an expedition to find a north-west passage to "the Southern Sea" (the Pacific Ocean) and thence to Cathay. Some of its members were intrigued by his proposal, but cautiously referred him to the Muscovy Company, an English merchant consortium which had previously sent out several parties searching for the North-east Passage around the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia, and held exclusive rights to any northern sea routes to the East. First voyage In 1576, Frobisher persuaded the Muscovy Company to license his expedition. With the help of the company's director, Michael Lok (whose well-connected father William Lok had held an exclusive mercers' licence to provide Henry VIII with fine cloths), Frobisher was able to raise enough capital for three barques: Gabriel and Michael of about 20–25 tons each, and an unnamed pinnace of 10 tons, with a total crew of 35. Queen Elizabeth sent word that she had "good liking of their doings", and the ships weighed anchor at Blackwall on 7 June 1576. As they headed downstream on the Thames, Elizabeth waved to the departing ships from a window of Greenwich Palace, while cannons fired salutes and a large assembly of the people cheered. On 26 June, the little fleet reached the Shetland Islands, where it stopped to repair a leak in Michael hull and repair the barques' water casks. The ships hoisted sail the same evening and set course westwards, sailing west by north for three days until a violent storm arose and pounded them continuously through 8 July. On 11 July, they sighted the mountains of the southeastern tip of Greenland, which they mistook for the non-existent island called 'Friesland'. Crossing the Davis Strait, they encountered another violent storm in which the pinnace was sunk and Michael turned back to England, but Gabriel sailed on for four days until her crew sighted