[3] Arriving at Bear Island again on 1 July, Rijp parted company, while Heemskerck and Barents proceeded eastward, intending to pass round the northern extreme of Novaya Zemlya.

This was the first time that an arctic winter was successfully faced; The voyage stands in the first rank among the polar enterprises of the 16th century, and led to the flourishing whale and seal fisheries which long enriched the Netherlands.

[4] On 25 February 1603, three Dutch ships under Heemskerck's command attacked and captured a Portuguese merchant carrack, Santa Catarina, off the Eastern coast of Singapore.

The Admiralty of Amsterdam's subsequent decision to take the ship and her cargo as a prize, despite Portugal's demands, became the casus belli for the Dutch–Portuguese War that lasted until 1663.

[3] J. K. J. de Jonge described Heemskerck as "less of a rough sailor, more of a Drake or a Cavendish, a gentleman adventurer, somewhat proud and lofty, but polished and afraid of naught.

[4] Heemskerck died as a result of leg wounds caused by a cannonball, during the Battle of Gibraltar, an engagement in which a Spanish fleet of 21 vessels was entirely destroyed.