author
Gerrit de Veer
A survivor of the brutal Arctic voyages led by Willem Barentsz, this Dutch sailor left behind one of the most vivid firsthand records of late 16th-century exploration. His account is remembered for its stark detail, from polar ice and shipwreck to the strange optical phenomenon now called the Novaya Zemlya effect.
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About the author
Gerrit de Veer was a Dutch officer and diarist active in the late 1500s. He is best known for taking part in Willem Barentsz’s second and third voyages in search of a Northeast Passage, including the disastrous expedition that became trapped in the ice near Novaya Zemlya.
What makes him especially important is the journal he kept. Published soon after the voyages, it helped preserve a gripping firsthand account of overwintering in the Arctic and gave later readers one of the clearest contemporary narratives of those expeditions.
His writing is also noted for recording unusual natural observations, including what later became known as the Novaya Zemlya effect. Beyond a few basic facts, little about his personal life could be confirmed from the sources reviewed here, which makes his surviving travel narrative all the more valuable.