Gerrit de Veer

Gerrit de Veer (c. 1570–c. 1598) was a Dutch officer on Willem Barentsz' second and third voyages of 1595 and 1596 respectively, in search of the Northeast passage.

Novaya Zemlya's west coast as depicted in De Veer's diary

De Veer kept a diary of the voyages and in 1597, was the first person to observe and record the Novaya Zemlya effect, and the first Westerner to observe hypervitaminosis A caused by consumption of the liver of a polar bear.[1]