Editing Willem Barentsz (section)

===First voyage===
[[File:Linschotens nordenkart, 1601 (12067624705).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Map of Willem Barentsz' first voyage]]

On 5 June 1594, Barentsz left the island of [[Texel]]<ref name="godutch" /> aboard the small<ref>Alexander, Philip Frederick. [https://archive.org/details/northwestnorthea00alexrich The North-west and North-east passages], 1915.</ref> ship ''Mercury'',<ref>Mirsky, Jeannette. ''"To the Arctic!: The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times"'', 1997.</ref> as part of a group of three ships sent out in separate directions to try to enter the [[Kara Sea]], with the hopes of finding the [[Northeast Passage]] above [[Siberia]]. Between 23 and 29 June, Barentsz stayed at [[Kildin Island]].

On 9 July,<ref name="discovery">{{cite book |title= A Book of Discovery |url= http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=synge&book=discoverybook&story=_contents&PHPSESSID=458b6ee0d |last= Synge|first= J.B.|year= c. 1912}}</ref> the crew encountered a [[polar bear]] for the first time. After shooting and wounding it with a [[musket]] when it tried to climb aboard the ship, the seamen decided to capture it with the hope of bringing it back to Holland. Once leashed and brought aboard the ship however, the bear [[running amok|rampaged]] and had to be killed. This occurred in Bear Creek, Williams Island.

Upon discovering the Orange Islands, the crew came across a herd of approximately 200 [[walrus]]es and tried to kill them with hatchets and pikes. Finding the task more difficult than they imagined, cold steel shattering against the tough hides of the animals, they left with only a few ivory tusks.<ref name="Pitzer" /><ref name="diary" />

Barentsz reached the west coast of [[Novaya Zemlya]], and followed it northward before being forced to turn back in the face of large icebergs. Although they did not reach their ultimate goal, the trip was considered a success.<ref name="godutch" />

[[Jan Huyghen van Linschoten]] was a member of this expedition and the second.