Third Barents Arctic Expedition of 1596, artwork. Crew members are clearing a path through the snow from their ice-bound ship, and a gun is being used to shoot at a polar bear. Led by the Dutch navigator and explorer William Barents (c.1550-1597), this expedition attempted to find the Northeast Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The crew of 16 spent the winter in a shelter they built on Novaya Zemlya. Barents died in June the following year as they attempted to escape. This engraving is from The Three voyages of William Barents to the Arctic Regions (Amsterdam, circa 1600) by Gerrit de Veer, a member of the third expedition.