Blooper

When Gerrit takes young Jan out of the cabin he thrusts a torch in the snow right behind them. Seconds later Gerrit leans back: the torch has disappeared.

After 17 months away, and no indication of anyone shaving or having their hair cut in such brutal weather, none of them show 17 months worth of longer hair or beards.

The bird Claes found suddenly changes from a young Puffin into a Jackdaw.

In the late 16th century Dutch sailing-ships typically had high castle-like sterns. The arched type stern in the movie came into use a century or two later.

During a shot where actress Doutzen Kroes is swinging through the church (the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam) there is a shot of the current organ in the background. This organ was built in 1726 - 130 years later.

At Nova Zembla, Gerrit is asked to look for a plant called Cochlearia (Scurvy-grass or Spoonwort). This plant genus was named Cochlearia by Linnaeus in 1753, 157 years later.

28 minutes in the film, the storyteller says the ship sails north on a wind from the west. The sun on port side suggests the ship sails west (noon) to north-west (sunset) - not the right direction from Holland to Nova Zembla. The sails and flag indicate wind coming in from starboard side: north to north-east.

When Catharina says she is Galatea and Gerrit says it is the most beautiful star in the sky, the boom mic drops into view from above.

Gerrit tells Claes that the star in the middle of the belt of Orion is called Mintaka. The star in the middle is called Alnilam. Mintaka is the most-right of the 3 stars.