Nova Zembla Page #2

to sail to the kingdoms

of Cathay and China.

And to the East lndies.

The jibe!

You forgot to brace the clew line!!

No, over the top!

- Over the topsail.

No the tether over the halyard.

And then the tether over the halyard.

Look at him with his quill.

You don't need that here at sea.

You're not going to write here are you?

Dear Oene, my friend...

Would your honour be so kind

as to lower the mainsail?

This because of the approaching storm.

And please answer by tomorrow.

Yours sincerely, your captain.

Writing is for lords and masters.

And for Gerrit, of course.

l'd like to write to.

What for, boy?

- And what?

l want to write my name.

- Jan!

lt's a very ordinary name.

lt's a deadly ordinary name.

But it is mine.

Gerrit?

Pen, paper. Come with me.

Here.

Sit over here.

l don't want to hear you.

l just want to hear your pen on paper.

Write down everything that is said.

Where were we?

Plancius says that...

- l propose that the route...

With a north-easterly wind,

we're sailing north north-west.

lt's almost a month since we left Holland.

We pass a medium-sized island to port.

The captain decides to anchor and

go ashore looking for fresh provisions...

before we head for the cold.

The coasts are deserted.

We are explorers entering a new world.

Look up there, men. Fresh meat.

They're parrot crossbills,

we used to call them twites.

Jan, you're the lightest.

Little writer...

How about you?

Claes, come on.

Birds.

Jantje!

Every sailor in Amsterdam

wanted to join this voyage.

A fortune awaits beyond the horizon.

The men call themselves the chosen.

But why were they chosen?

Why? None of the men have something to

return to.

None have a wife or children.

No one has a home. Apart from me.

We leave the island and sail north

on a westerly wind.

Late that evening,

the island is 16 miles behind us.

Now there's only open sea.

Claes...

give it back.

Give it back.

Make him taste the blood!

Come on then.

Hold him under.

Hold him under!

Head in, head in!

Come on, boys.

Claes!

Stop it!

What's going on, Claes?

- He stole by book from my chest.

Shut up, Gerrit.

l thought he was asleep.

l didn't want to wake him.

Claes...

How often have l told you not

to get worked up like this?

Possessions on board are sacred, Claes.

All sailors know that.

You know the punishment.

The captain will tell you what will happen.

Everyone knows the rules on board?

Tomorrow morning: The widow!

Traitor.

Clear up the blood.

No one can survive 2 or 3 minutes

in that ice-cold water.

lt's your decision.

Claes will drown.

- Claes is strong.

He'll drown.

He won't make it.

Then reverse the decision.

- l can't. You decided for me.

You're the captain.

- Don't keep telling me that.

One of us is captain, it's not me.

- l'm captain and they want to believe you.

We can't let it pass.

Before you know,

it'll be like three years ago.

We had to hang a couple.

We should have whipped him

He could take 10 or even 20.

You know, Jacob...

a weak captain benefits no one.

ln the name of the Republic!

Pull!

Come on, pull!

He's stuck!

He won't make it!

You won't put this in your book, will you,

little man?

Yes l will.

l know exactly how to write it down.

Claes was the strongest man on board.

And everyone was afraid of him.

Everyone!

Apart from the captain and Barentsz.

And Claes knew all too well...

that minor infringements...

could be punished severely.

He knew that all too well.

But Claes happened to be Claes...

and Claes wasn't afraid of the devil.

Gerrit de Veer - he's writing about me!

Gerrit the quill!

One big hurray for Claes!

- Hurray!

And one big hurray for the quill!

- Hurray!

We sail east and north.

We haven't seen any ice.

That's strange because we're so far north.

The men withdraw increasingly into

their fixed routine

We go west with a northerly wind and...

at about five o'clock southeast

with a north-easterly wind.

Land! Men! Land!

Land ahoy!

l see land.

What you think it is?

- l don't know.

lt's Nova Zembla, men.

lt's Nova Zembla

The New Land.

Tomorrow we'll investigate.

lt means China is close by.

China is within our reach.

A tot for everyone to celebrate.

Well done Jacob.

Keep them motivated.

Tomorrow we'll explore.

Nova Zembla...

Eight of us row to the mainland

of Nova Zembla.

We pull the sloop dry and climb

to the top to get the lie of the land.

The land is much bigger than

indicated on the map.

We start to suspect

the land will block our passage.

A little later, we see open water

in the southeast.

We return to our ship to tell

the news to Willem Barentsz.

This northern route goes straight through

the ice.

You want to follow it, Willem?

lt's crazy. lt won't happen.

- The ice is temporary.

Plancius assured us,

based on his last calculations...

Rubbish. Plancius knows

as much as he knows.

This island isn't mapped right. lt's much

further west. You want more examples?

Plancius knows more

than Portugal and Spain together.

What's wrong with you?

- l'll tell you.

lt's my ship and l'm the one

who decides the route.

Write that down.

- And something else.

l don't want to contribute to

your third failure in a row.

Write that down too.

Gerrit.

Up here.

What did they say?

What will they do?

- You were there? What took so long?

Nova Zembla.

Here.

We are here.

What's up here?

- Right up north?

No one knows.

Barentsz says this is the route.

But Van Heemskerck wants to go this way.

They don't agree.

- Why?

Van Heemskerck thinks he has

a better route than Plancius.

We'll reach the ice too soon.

They have to find a new route.

Look at the stars.

Leo and Orion...

The giant's right shoulder.

''Always watch Orion's belt,''

the minister says.

They are three stars close together.

- Yes, there.

Mintaka, Alnitak and Alnilam.

Very good.

Very useful,

some knowledge of astronomy.

You never know.

ln a few hundred years,

people will travel between the stars.

Columbus was given tobacco

as a gift by the lndians. Did you know that?

He thought it stank and

threw it overboard, but one sailor...

a wayward sailor

called Roderigo kept some.

Later he walked the streets in Spain

smoking a pipe.

People thought he was a devil

with all that smoke.

They threw him in jail.

He was in jail for seven years.

lt's not always better to show off.

l want you to read it out loud.

Everything you wrote.

You have time?

- Start at the beginning.

Read it yourself, Vos...

Vos can't read.

- Shut up and go to sleep, Claes.

You read it out loud and start with what Van

Heemskerck and Barentsz talked about.

Why should l?

Because we asked you.

My friend and l.

How do you know that

l'm reading what's written in here?

Vos, you're on watch. Get on deck.

l know all about you, sprat!

You work for the Spanish.

And you'll tell them everything we face

on this voyage, won't you?

Vos, come on.

We prepare to take Willem Barentsz' route.

We want to sail around the

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