HEEMSKERCK, JACOB VAN

born March 13, 1567, Amsterdam died April 25, 1607, Bay of Gibraltar, off Spain explorer and admiral remembered for his voyage (1596-97) in the Barents Sea region in search of an Arctic passage to India and for his victory over the Spanish fleet off Gibraltar (1607), which led to an armistice between Spain and the United Provinces (now The Netherlands) and brought about the Twelve Years' Truce (1609-21). Under the direction of the Dutch navigator Willem Barents, van Heemskerck captained a vessel that penetrated the Barents Sea in search of a northeast route to the Indies. After rounding Novaya Zemlya the ship became trapped in the ice, and the men were forced to spend the winter of 1596-97 on the island. Living in a hut made of driftwood, they were the first Europeans to survive a winter in the Arctic. They abandoned their still-icebound ship in June 1597 and left in two of the ship's open boats; although the captain led most of the crew to safety, Barents died on the journey. A vice admiral in 1598, van Heemskerck accompanied Adm. Jacob van Neck, a commercial representative of the Verre Company, on a trade mission to the East Indies; and, on van Neck's return to Amsterdam (1599), van Heemskerck took over the company's fleet and established trade relations with the rulers of Ternate, Banda, and Amboina. After visiting Amsterdam in 1600, van Heemskerck returned to the East Indies as a full admiral. Three years later he captured the armed and heavily laden Portuguese treasure ship "Santa Catarina" in the Straits of Malacca. Appointed commander of the entire fleet of the United Provinces in 1607, he was killed while directing an attack that resulted in the capture or destruction of the 21 ships of a Spanish fleet off Gibraltar.