Michael Lok was the son of a well-connected British merchant who spent his early career in the great financial center of the world. He was apprenticed as a young man in the Low Countries; he traveled in Spain and Portugal; and he lived in Venice, where he plied the Levantine trade in silk other luxury goods.
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​Lok later became an agent in London for the Muscovy Company. This was how he came to meet Captain Martin Frobisher who after being released from British prison for pirating, had a grand idea to sail north and find the northwest passage to Cathay (China).
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​Captain Frobisher needed approval of the Muscovy Company as The British Crown had granted it a royal charter for northern exploration and a monopoly on trade with Russia. This led to the formation of Company of Cathay, organized by Michael Lok. Cathay meaning China.

The Company of Cathay, set sail in 1576 with Frobisher as the captain and the adventured north to Greenland sailing a strait that we now know had no outlet. At the entrance, Frobisher named the territory Loksland in honor of Michael Lok as a sponsor.

When the Company of Cathay voyage returned home from the voyage, Frobisher reported a possible northwest passage as well as he had found a black mineral he thought might be gold. This mineral was examined by 3 experts and only one thought it to contain gold, possibly through bribery. This was enough for Frobisher and Lok to secure a royal charter modeled after the Muscovy Company, now officially called the Company of Cathay.

Lok was the governor, and Frobisher was appointed admiral. Now investors flooded in, even the Queen Elizabeth herself invested 1,000 pounds. Lok as organizer took a 20% cut from the over 4,000 pounds raised in the company.

The goal was to head back to the new world with more boats and men to set up a colony and mine for gold as well as probe for the northwest passage.

It turns out what they thought was gold was actually just pyrite and Frobisher had significant trouble with the locals often fighting wars with tribes of natives.

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