declared that it was worthless, saying that it was marcasite and contained no gold. Lok then took the "ore" to an Italian alchemist living in London, Giovanni Battista Agnello, who claimed it was gold-bearing. Agnello assayed the ore three times and showed Lok small amounts of gold dust; when he was challenged as to why the other assayers failed to find gold in their specimens, Agnello replied, "Bisogna sapere adulare la natura" ("One must know how to flatter nature"). Ignoring the negative reports, Lok secretly wrote to the Queen to inform her of the encouraging result, and used this assessment to lobby investors to finance another voyage. Subsequently the stone became the focus of intense attention by the Cathay enterprise's venturers, who saw in it the possibility of vast profits to be derived from mining the rocky islands of Meta Incognita; gossip spread in the court and from there throughout London about the gold powder Agnello was supposedly deriving from the rock. Second voyage In 1577, a much bigger expedition than the former was fitted out. The Queen lent the 200-ton Royal Navy ship or Ayde to the Company of Cathay (Frobisher's biographer James McDermott says she sold it) and invested £1000 in the expedition. Prior to 30 March, Frobisher petitioned the Queen to be confirmed as High Admiral of the north-western seas and governor of all lands discovered, and to receive five per cent of profits from trade. It is unknown whether or not his request was ever granted. Michael Lok, meanwhile, was petitioning the queen for his own charter, by the terms of which the Company of Cathay would have sole rights to exploit the resources of all seas, islands and lands to the west and north of England, as well as any goods produced by the peoples occupying them; Frobisher would be apportioned a much smaller share of the profits. Lok's request was ignored and a charter was never issued, nor was a royal license granted, creating corporate ambiguity that redounded to the Queen's benefit. Besides Ayde, the expedition included the ships Gabriel and Michael; Frobisher's second-in-command aboard Ayde was Lieutenant George Best (who later wrote the most informative account of the three voyages) with Christopher Hall as master, while the navigator Edward Fenton was in command of Gabriel. The learned John Dee, one of the preeminent scholars of England, acquired shares in the Cathay Company's venture,