Between the years 1594 and 1596, William Barentz made three journeys to the Arctic, losing his life in the disasters and privations of the last voyage. In this third voyage, he made his way to the sea between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, where he writes, “We came to so great a heape of ice that we could not sayle through it.” In August, 1596, they were surrounded by drifting ice which crushed around them with such alarming force as to make “all the haire of our heads to rise upright with feare.” They made every effort to extricate themselves from their perilous position, but on the 11th of September “we saw that we could not get out of the ice, but rather became faster, and could not loose our ship, as at other times we had done, as also that it began to be winter, so took counsell together what we were best to doe, according to the time, that we might winter, and attend such adventures as God would send us; and after we had debated upon the matter (to keepe and defend ourselves both from the colde and wild beasts), we determined to build a house upon the land, to keepe us there in as well as wee could, and to commit ourselves unto the tuition of God.” While searching for material wherewith to build their winter-quarters, they discovered a quantity of driftwood for which they thanked God for a special act of Providence, and “were much comforted, being in good hope that God would show us some further favour; for that wood served us not only to build our house, but also to burne, and serve us all the winter long; otherwise, without all doubt, we had died there miserably with extreme cold.” In spite of the intense cold which made the building of their hut most laborious, there was open water an “arrow shot” beyond their ship. They dragged their stores on hand sleds, and by October their dwelling, closely thatched with sea rack to keep out as much cold as possible, was completed, and “we setup our dyall and made the clock stride.” On the 4th of November, “wee saw the sunne no more, for it was no longer above the horizon; then our chirurgion made a bath (to bathe us in) of a wine-pipe, wherein wee entered one after another, and it did us much good, and was a great meanes of our health.” [Illustration: SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT] Regulations were established, food was apportioned, and extra clothing distributed. Traps were set for foxes and other game, but soon the weather became so rigorous that for days they were snowed in and could not open their door. They were in darkness except for their fire, the smoke of which became almost unendurable. Ice formed two inches thick in their berths, and their misery may be imagined better than described. On the 7th of December, they managed to secure some coal from their ship, and with it made a good fire which warmed them somewhat, though it nearly asphyxiated them. The cold becoming ever more intense and their supply of wood diminishing, their sufferings are noted repeatedly in their journal.