58 NOVAYA ZEMLYA 



history by a sea-fight in Spanish waters, for which his 

 countrymen will never forget him. He it was who 

 as Vice- Admiral of Holland fought the Spanish fleet 

 at Gibraltar in the decisive battle of the 25th of 

 April, 1607, in which with his twenty-six vessels he 

 attacked Juan Alvarez Davila's twenty ships and ten 

 galleons. Early in the struggle he had his leg swept 

 off by a cannon shot, but he remained on deck till he 

 died, gaining the complete victory which rendered his 

 countrymen free from hindrance on the road to the 

 Indies round the Cape of Good Hope, of which for 

 so many years they made such profitable use. It is 

 customary to give all the credit of the Arctic voyage 

 to Barents on the ground that his captain was no 

 sailor, but Holland knows no better sailor than Jacob 

 Van Heemskerck of Gibraltar Bay. 



On the 9th of September, 1871, Captain Elling 

 Carlsen, sailing in the Barents Sea, which he had 

 entered round Icy Cape, landed in Ice Haven and 

 found the house just as De Veer had described it. 

 There it had stood in cold storage for 274 years, never 

 having been entered by human foot since Van Heems- 

 kerck had shut the door. The bunks, the table, the 

 bath, the clock, in short everything, all in order, 

 as the orderly Dutchmen had left it. Never did a 

 voyage book receive such ample verification ; never did 

 the description of an island home stand the test better. 



Carlsen, to begin with, knew nothing of De Veer or 

 Barents, but he set to work in a conscientious way 

 and recorded the results like a true archaeologist. 

 " Thursday, 14th," he wrote in his log, " Calm with 

 clear sky. Four o'clock in the morning we went 



