Single sheet. Hand coloured engraving. Scale: [ca. 1:18 000 000]. The North Pole is shown surrounded by islands between which flow rivers which are the sources of the world's oceans. The magnetic pole is shown as a rock near the Strait of Anian, Circular insets in the corners of the map contain maps of three islands: Shetland, Frisland [mythical] and Farre. The map records recent attempts by Frobisher and Davis to find the North-West passage.
This plate was first published in 1595 in the posthumous part III of Mercator's Atlas. On the back is Latin text, pages 41-42 'Polus Arcticus iac terrarum circumiacention descriptio' .