View source for Willem Barentsz

===Third voyage===
[[File:1598 map of the Polar Regions by Willem Barentsz.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Map of the entire Arctic from Willem Barentsz's third voyage]]
[[File:JONGE(1877) p042 Map of NOVAYA SEMLYA.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The tracks of the Dutch navigators (1596–97)]]
In 1596, disappointed by the failure of previous expeditions, the States-General announced they would no longer [[subsidy|subsidize]] similar voyages – but instead offered a high reward for anybody who ''successfully'' navigated the Northeast Passage.<ref name="maine" /> The Town Council of [[Amsterdam]] purchased and outfitted two small ships, captained by [[Jan Rijp]] and [[Jacob van Heemskerk]], to search for the elusive channel under the command of Barentsz. They set off on 10 May or 15 May, and on 9 June discovered [[Bear Island (Norway)|Bear Island]].<ref name="diary">De Veer, Gerrit. "''The Three Voyages of William Barentsz to the Arctic Regions''" (English trans. 1609).</ref>

They discovered [[Spitsbergen]] on 17 June, sighting its northwest coast. On 20 June they saw the entrance of a large bay, later called [[Raudfjorden]]. On 21 June they anchored between Cloven Cliff and Vogelsang, where they "set up a post with the arms of the Dutch upon it." On 25 June they entered [[Magdalenefjorden]], which they named ''Tusk Bay'', in light of the walrus tusks they found there. The following day, 26 June, they sailed into the northern entrance of [[Forlandsundet]], but were forced to turn back because of a shoal, which led them to call the fjord ''Keerwyck'' ("inlet where one is forced to turn back"). On 28 June they rounded the northern point of [[Prins Karls Forland]], which they named ''Vogelhoek'', on account of the large number of birds they saw there. They sailed south, passing [[Isfjorden (Svalbard)|Isfjorden]] and [[Bellsund]], which were labelled on Barentsz's chart as ''Grooten Inwyck'' and ''Inwyck''.

[[File:Barents' ship among the arctic ice.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|left|Willem Barentsz's ship amidst the Arctic ice]]

The ships once again found themselves at Bear Island on 1 July, which led to a disagreement between Barentsz and Van Heemskerk on one side and Rijp on the other. They agreed to part ways, with Barentsz continuing northeast, while Rijp headed due north in an attempt to cross directly over the north pole to reach China.<ref name="Pitzer" /><ref name="survey">{{cite journal|last= Hacquebord|first= Louwrens|date= September 1995|title= In search of Het Behouden Huys: a survey of the remains of the house of Willem Barentsz on Novaya Zemlya|journal= Arctic|volume= 48|issue= 3|doi= 10.14430/arctic1246|url= http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic48-3-248.pdf|citeseerx= 10.1.1.505.5702|archive-date= 27 March 2009|access-date= 5 December 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090327084815/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic48-3-248.pdf|url-status= dead}}</ref> Barentsz reached Novaya Zemlya on 17 July. Anxious to avoid becoming entrapped in the surrounding ice, he intended to head for the [[Vaigatch Strait]], but their ship became stuck within the many icebergs and floes.<ref name="maine"/> Stranded, the 16-man crew was forced to spend the winter on a barren bluff.<ref name="discovery" /> After a failed attempt to melt the [[permafrost]], the crew used driftwood and lumber from the ship to build a 7.8×5.5-metre lodge they called ''Het Behouden Huys'' (The Saved House).<ref name="new" />

[[File:Barents house inside.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Het Behouden Huys'' on [[Novaya Zemlya]]]]

Dealing with extreme cold, the crew realised that their socks would burn before their feet could even feel the warmth of a fire – and took to sleeping with warmed stones and cannonballs. They used the merchant fabrics aboard the ship to make additional blankets and clothing.<ref name="diary" /> The ship bore salted beef, butter, cheese, bread, [[barley]], peas, beans, [[groats]], flour, oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, beer, wine, brandy, [[hardtack]], smoked bacon, ham and fish. Much of the beer froze, bursting the [[cask]]s. By 8 November [[Gerrit de Veer]], the ship's carpenter who kept a diary, reported a shortage of beer and bread, with wine being rationed four days later.<ref name="diary" />

In January 1597, the crew became the first to witness and record the atmospheric anomaly of a polar mirage, now coined the [[Novaya Zemlya effect]] due to this sighting.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.eh2r.com/mp/data3.html|title= Homage to Gerrit de Veer|access-date= 7 December 2007|archive-date= 2 May 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080502032733/http://www.eh2r.com/mp/data3.html|url-status= dead}}</ref>

[[File:Death of Wiliam Barents.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|''The Death of Willem Barentsz'' (1836) by Christiaan Julius Lodewyck Portman]]

Proving somewhat successful at hunting, the group caught [[Arctic fox]]es in primitive traps.<ref name="new" /> The raw flesh of the Arctic fox contains small amounts of vitamin C, which, unknown to the sailors, reduced the effects of scurvy.<ref name="Pitzer" /> The crew were continually attacked by polar bears that infested the area where they camped.<ref name="Pitzer" /> The bears turned the stranded and now empty ship into a wintertime abode. Primitive guns usually did not kill the bears on first or even second shot (unless well aimed at the heart) and were difficult to aim, while the cold and brittle metal weapons often shattered or bent.<ref name="Pitzer">{{cite book |title=Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World |publisher=Scribner |author=Andrea Pitzer |author-link=Andrea Pitzer |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-9821-1334-6}}</ref>

By early June, after months of wintering on [[Novaya Zemlya]], the ice still held the ship fast. The remaining survivors, weakened by [[scurvy]], set out in two open boats. They moved south along the coast, at times rowing and at times hauling the boats over the ice. Barentsz died soon after on 20 June 1597 at about 47 years of age.<ref>{{cite web |year=2021 |title=The Arctic Exploration |url=https://www.galleribygdoyalle.no/uploads/5BELPRV1/TheArcticExploration2021.pdf |publisher=Galleri Bygdøy Allé}}</ref> "After he had drunk, he suddenly fell sick, and in a short time died," wrote [[Gerrit de Veer]].<ref name="diary" /> It is not known whether he was buried on the northern island of Novaya Zemlya or at sea.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zeeberg |first=Jaapjan J. |author2=N. A. S. Huiskes |author3=W. H. Zagwijn |title=Search for Barents: Evaluation of Possible Burial Sites on North Novaya Zemlya, Russia |journal=Arctic |volume=55 |issue=4 |year=2002 |pages=329–338 |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic55-4-329.pdf}}</ref>

Over the next seven weeks the survivors continued south and reached the [[Kola Peninsula]]. There they were rescued by a Dutch merchant vessel commanded by Rijp. He had believed the crew to be lost and encountered them by chance on a later voyage.<ref name="Pitzer" /> By that time only 12 men remained. The return journey lasted about five months and they did not reach [[Amsterdam]] until 1 November 1597.<ref name="sea">Goorich, Frank Boott. "Man Upon the Sea", 1858.</ref>

Sources differ on the losses during the return journey. Some accounts state that two men died on the ice floe and three in the boats.<ref name="new" /> Others report that three died on the ice floe and two in the boats.<ref name="maine" /> A young cabin boy had died earlier during the winter in the shelter.<ref name="discovery" />