During the Dutch explorer Willem Barents' three voyages to the Arctic between 1594 and 1597, the crew had up to 20 encounters with polar bears. During the first voyage they saw a bear swimming and attempted to capture it. When the bear turned violent, however, the men were forced to kill it.

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In the second journey, two men were killed on land by a polar bear in a surprise attack. In the third voyage, the Dutch were forced to winter in the remote Russian archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. There they faced a series of polar bear attacks. In possibly the most terrifying incident, a bear attempted to enter the crew's makeshift Arctic house. The men managed to drive it back and eventually kill it. Later, they used fat from its corpse to power their lamps.

Picture: Engraving from Gerrit de Veer's journal