360 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [parti 
who had also served with Leigh Smith — as photographer. 
Commodore Jansen drew up the instructions. He con- 
sidered that the Barentsz Sea would make an excellent 
training ground for Dutch seamen, but that the first 
voyage should be confined within the limits of what is 
easily attainable. He thought that, by yearly increasing 
knowledge and experience, his countrymen might in 
time be in a position to undertake more hazardous and 
difficult voyages. 
The Willem Barentsz went direct to Amsterdam Island, 
near the north-west point of Spitsbergen, and the Dutch 
explorers visited the site of Smeerenburg, repairing some 
of the tombstones. They then dredged and sounded 
ovef the Barentsz Sea. In Beynen's words they made 
"a scientific examination of the sea that bears the name 
of the greatest of our mariners." Beynen in his letters, 
describes with a graphic pen the incidents of the voyage, 
and the various encounters with the ice. 
On the little schooner's return the young officer who 
had been the mainstay of the expedition was ordered 
to the East Indies and died of fever at Macassar. His 
loss was deeply felt by many friends, for there was a 
charm about the young enthusiast which endeared him 
to all. But none mourned for the youth so full of promise, 
cut off before he reached his prime, more deeply than 
Admiral Jansen, who looked upon him almost as a son. 
In 1879 Sir Henry Gore-Booth and Captain A. H. 
Markham, R.N., chartered the little Norwegian cutter 
Isbjorn, and made an extensive exploration of the shores 
of Novaya Zemlya, and the Kara Sea, with the object of 
reporting on the state of the ice and other important 
matters of a similar nature in those waters. They were 
in company with the Willem Barentsz for some days in 
the Matyushin Strait. 
The Arctic voyages of the Willem Barentsz were 
continued for six more years. In 1879 Lieut. A. de 
Bruyne again commanded, with Lieut. H. van 
Brockhuyzen as his second. In this voyage Franz 
Josef Land was sighted and large and valuable collections 
were made. The voyages of 1880 and i88r were com- 
manded by van Brockhuyzen, but in 1880 the Willem 
Barentsz was driven on shore and the work of the season 
