Historical Files

In 1596, Willem Barentsz set out to find a shortcut to Asia.

Instead, his expedition became a desperate test of human endurance trapped in the crushing ice of Novaya Zemlya.

When their ship was trapped, the crew did the unthinkable. They dismantled parts of their vessel and gathered driftwood to construct a small cabin they called The Preserved House.

For ten months, they lived in total darkness while temperatures plummeted far below freezing. They did not just deal with the cold.

The crew was forced to defend their tiny shelter from relentless polar bears that wandered onto their camp.

They recorded every encounter, charting the movements of the animals while struggling with starvation and frostbite.

Barentsz eventually succumbed to illness just as the group began their return journey in open boats.

Despite his passing, his meticulous maps of the Arctic survived the journey back to Europe.

The record kept by the crew remains the first documented account of humans successfully surviving a full winter in the high Arctic.