Interior of the Safe House, winter of 1596-1597
Veer, Gerrit de
The image shows the interior of the Safe House during the polar winter of 1596-1597. The cots of the crew members are seen against the back wall. To the left a clock, about which the journal mentions that it froze and the crew then had to make do with an hourglass, which is likewise depicted, on a table to the right. To the left a bath tub which the crew had constructed out of a large water barrel. Several crew members are sitting or lying around the fire; a man covered in blankets probably depicts the sick crew member who died in late January. At the fire, an arctic fox is being roasted. One of the crewmembers is outside, near a fox trap.
From the Wahrhafftige Relation, the German version of Gerrit de Veer’s journal, published in 1598. (See under ‘documentation’ for details.)
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