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Willem Barentsz
Born: No exact date known, but probably in 1550 on the Island of Terschelling, The Netherlands (on the Dutch North Coast) - Died: 20th June, 1597, at sea
Interesting Trivia:
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There are many different spellings of his name, Barents, Barentz etc.
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Discovered Spitsbergen and other places
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First European to overwinter in the high latitude of 76° north
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His charts were most accurate, which was a sensation at the time
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His meteorological data is still consulted today
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The Barents Sea, Barentsburg and Barents Region were all named after him.
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Almost three hundred years later (in 1871) the Norwegian Arctic Sea skipper, Elling Carlsen found Barentsz’ overwintering place. Some of the well preserved objects are in the Svalbard museum, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and various other museums around the world
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The location of Barentsz' wintering on the ice floes has become a tourist destination for icebreaker cruiseships operating from Murmansk
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In the late 19th-century, the Maritime Institute Willem Barents was opened on Terschelling.
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In 1878, the Netherlands christened a new ship Willem Barentsz for Arctic exploration
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In 1946, the whaling ship "Pan Gothia" was re-christened the "Willem Barentsz"
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In 1953, the second "Willem Barentsz" whaling ship was built
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In honor of the explorer, a protein in the molecular structure of the fruit fly was named Barentsz
His Story:
In the 16th Century, the seafaring nations were keen to find short cuts to China. After the English failed to find a northern passage and gave up, it was an opportunity for Dutch merchants to invest heavily in ships that might just achieve that goal.
Willem Barentsz is mostly known for the three voyages he made (1594, 1595, 1596-97) in search of the Northeast Passage to Asia. A cartographer by trade, Barentsz sailed to Spain and the Mediterranean to complete an atlas of the Mediterranean region, which was later published.
His first expedition, as the navigator, started on June 5th, 1594, and sailed from the Dutch island Texel. There were three ships undertaking the journey, heavily loaded with trading goods intended for the Chinese trade. He was aboard the Mercury. The ships took different routes in search of the Northeast Passage.
On the journey they encountered ice bears and walruses, who they tried to hunt for their ivory tusks. They discovered Orange Island. Their journey was cut short, as they were stopped by the ice. Although the expedition did not find the Northeast Passage, the trip was considered a success.
This first failure did not make Dutch merchants capitulate, and after even Prince Maurice of Orange was filled with “the most exaggerated hopes” on hearing of Barentsz' previous voyage, he even named him Chief Pilot and Conductor of a new expedition which set out on June 2nd, 1595.
This time they sent Barentsz out with a total of six ships, again loaded with merchant wares. The voyage went between the Siberian coast and Vaygach Island. On this journey, they encountered polar bears again and two crewmembers were killed.
This journey failed too, again due to frozen ice. They had encountered some unexpected weather and the Kara Sea was frozen. This time, the journey was not considered a success.
As the costs of these expeditions were high, the State was no longer prepared to subsidize a third expedition. But if someone was able to successfully navigate the north and came back with a way to successfully navigate the Northeast Passage, they were willing to pay a huge reward.
The Amsterdam Town Council decided to give it a try and outfitted two small ships. Barentsz commanded both ships and their captains were Jan Rijp and Jacob van Heemskerk.
The third expedition set off on in May, 1596, sailing to Bear Island and around the island of Spitsbergen (which he discovered and named). A navigation error led them back to Bear Island. An agreement broke out between Barentsz and Captain Rijp. They split up, leaving Barentsz to continue northeast.
His greatest fear became reality when their ship got locked in ice, to the east of Novaya Zemlya. The expedition members (Barentsz and a 16-man crew) were forced to overwinter, which no European had ever done. They used the lumber from the ship to built shelter, a fairly large lodge they called Het Behouden Huys (The Kept House). The merchant goods that were on the ship helped them survive the winter. For fresh meat, they killed arctic foxes and polar bears.
In the following year, the ship did not get free of the ice and as supplies were running out and scurvy was rampant, they headed southwards on two open boats. Unfortunately, Willem Barentsz died seven days into this journey, while it took another seven more weeks for the surviving expedition members to reach the Kola Peninsula. It is not exactly known how and when the other crew members died, but only 12 crewmembers survived the ordeal.
His achievements were huge for the time, he conducted geographical measurements during the initial voyage and, in 1599, a map was printed showing the polar regions that were named after him.
It was not until 1878, when the Swede Finn N.A.E. Nordenskjöld led the first successful navigation of the Northeast Passage.
Te Papa Whale exhibition in Washington, DC