Robert Fotherby

Robert Fotherby was an English explorer and whaler employed in the service of the Muscovy and East India Companies.

From 1613 to 1615 Fotherby was a part of three whaling voyages to Spitsbergen (Svalbard) sent by the Muscovy Company. Spitsbergen was the largest island in Norway and was used as a whaling base during the 17th and 18th centuries. On the first two trips, Fotherby served as master’s mate aboard the ships Matthew and Thomasine. Along with the William Baffin, pilot of the Thomasine he participated in the exploration of the island, and they named several bays and capes. In 1615 during the third exploratory expedition he was named commander of the ship Richard. During the trip they stumbled upon Jan Mayen, a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean, becoming the first documented English expedition to reach the island.

After his return from this expedition in 1615, a court's minute of the East India Company stated that Fotherby was "a very fit person to be employed upon a discovery for the south side of the Cape." He probably made one voyage to India, and was agent to the company at Deptford and at Blackwall. He died in that employment.