View source for Jan Rijp

{{Short description|Dutch mariner}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2015}}
'''Jan Cornelisz Rijp''' ({{circa|1570}}–{{circa|1613}}) was a Dutch mariner best known for his involvement with [[Willem Barentsz]] in finding a route to the East, avoiding the Spanish and the Portuguese fleets in the South.

In May 1596, Rijp was named captain of the second of two ships commissioned to Barents by Dutch merchants to discover the fabled [[Northeast Passage]] to the [[East Indies]].<ref name=Verne>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wgkRAQAAIAAJ&dq=Jan+Rijp&pg=PA359 Verne, Jules and Leigh, Dora. ''Famous Travels and Travellers'', Scribner, 1892]</ref> [[Jacob van Heemskerk|Jacob van Heemskerck]] captained the first ship, and Barents served as its [[navigator|pilot]]. After discovering [[Spitsbergen]], the ships encountered pack ice blocking the way. Barents decided to turn east and round the northern tip of [[Novaya Zemlya]], as he had successfully managed once before. When Barents urged Rijp to follow, he refused. Rijp insisted that the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya was far too dangerous and returned to the Netherlands.<ref name="Frankfurter">''Ein heißes Bad in der Eiswüste'' in [[Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung]]vom 2. Oktober 2011, Seiten 60 und 62 {{in lang|de}}</ref>

Barents and his ship continued in the attempt to round Novaya Zemlya. He realized too late the wisdom of Rijp's decision and became trapped in the ice. Barents perished at sea in one of the two small tenders the crew used to escape to the [[Kola Peninsula]], unlike Rijp, who correctly assessed the risks of the [[Arctic]] and returned to pick up the remainder of Barents' crew—including van Heemskerk—near [[Murmansk]] on his next trip in 1597.<ref name=Verne/><ref name="Frankfurter"/>

Rijpsburg settlement on [[Svalbard]] is named for him.

== References ==
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== External links ==

{{Polar exploration}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rijp, Jan}}
[[Category:16th-century Dutch explorers]]
[[Category:Dutch polar explorers]]
[[Category:Explorers of Svalbard]]
[[Category:Explorers of the Arctic]]
[[Category:Novaya Zemlya]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]


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