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William Barents was born c 1550; became a cartographer and explorer; embarked on three notable expeditions hoping to find the Northeast Passage above Siberia. Barents reached the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya on his first two attempts, rediscovering Spitsbergen and Bear Island, sailing east into the Kara Sea. On his third attempt in 1596, his ship became trapped by sea ice and he and his crew of 16 men were forced to winter ashore on Novaya Zemlya. In June 1597 they set out on a 1,600-mile escape in two open boats, resulting in Barents death.
Jacob van Heemskerk was born in Amsterdam March 13, 1567. He became famous for attempts to discover an Arctic passage from Europe to China, 1596; Barents accompanied Heemskerck as pilot but died on this voyage. Following this, Van Heemskerck served as a vice admiral, protecting Dutch merchant shipping on voyages to China and the East Indies, dying after the Battle of Gibraltar as a result of leg wounds caused by a cannonball, April 25, 1607.