Belgian Antarctic Expedition

The Belgica anchored at Mount William.

The Belgian Antarctic Expedition (BelgAE) of 1897 to 1899, named after its expedition vessel Belgica,^{[citation needed]} was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region.

Preparation and Surveying

In 1896, after a period of intensive lobbying, Adrien de Gerlache purchased the Norwegian-built whaling ship Patria, which, following an extensive refit, he renamed as the Belgica. De Gerlache had worked together with the Geographical Society of Brussels to organise a national subscription, but was only possible to outfit his expedition after the Belgian government voted in favor of two large subsidies, making it a state-supported undertaking. With a multinational crew, which included Roald Amundsen, Frederick Cook and Henryk Arctowski, they set sail from Antwerp on 16 August 1897.

After leaving Antwerp, the expedition visited Madeira, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. The Belgica was especially received enthusiastically in Rio, where a large Belgian community lived. But, the Brazilians were also very much interested in the Belgian scientific undertaking. The Historical and Geographical Society of Rio held a special meeting where the scientists and officers of the expedition were offered membership. A few weeks later, in Montevideo, Amundsen wrote in his diary that he had never seen so many beautiful women 'in one place at the same time'.

During January 1898, the Belgica reached the coast of Graham Land. Sailing in between the Graham Land coast and a long string of islands to the west, de Gerlache named the passage Belgica Strait. Later, it was renamed Gerlache Strait in his honor. After charting and naming several islands during some 20 separate landings, they crossed the Antarctic Circle on 15 February 1898.

Failing to find a way through into the Weddell Sea, on 28 February 1898, de Gerlache's expedition became trapped in the ice of the Bellinghausen Sea, near Peter I Island. De Gerlache is likely to have intentionally sailed deep into the pack ice in order to freeze his vessel into the ice for the winter. Despite efforts of the crew to free the ship, they quickly realised that they would be forced to spend the winter on Antarctica.

Winter

Frederick Cook on the sea ice.

Belgica while trapped in the ice.

They were poorly equipped and did not have enough winter clothing for every man on board. There was a shortage of food, and what there was lacked in variety. Penguins and seals were killed and the meat stored before the onset of winter. Warm clothing was improvised out of the materials available.

On 21 March 1898 the expedition's doctor Frederick Cook wrote:

We are imprisoned in an endless sea of ice... We have told all the tales, real and imaginative, to which we are equal. Time weighs heavily upon us as the darkness slowly advances.

Several weeks later, on 17 May, total darkness set in, which lasted until 23 July.

De Gerlache disliked the fresh penguin and seal meat that had been killed and stored before the onset of winter and forbade his men to eat it. Signs of scurvy began to show in a number of the men. de Gerlache and Lecointe became so ill they wrote their wills, two of the crew started to show signs of mental illness and morale in general was extremely poor. Several men lost their sanity, including one Belgian sailor who left the ship "announcing he was going back to Belgium".

Frederick Cook and the First Mate, Roald Amundsen then took command as de Gerlache and Lecointe were unable to fulfil this role due to scurvy. Vitamin C was not discovered until the 1920s but Cook was convinced that fresh meat was the cure for scurvy due to his experiences with Robert Peary in the Arctic. He retrieved the frozen penguin and seal meat and insisted that each man ate some each day. Even de Gerlache began to eat the meat and slowly the men all recovered their health.

Several months of hardship followed. Attempts to free the ship and its crew from the clutches of the ice failed. By January 1899 the Belgica was still trapped in ice about 7 feet (2.1m) thick and the possibility of another winter in the ice was becoming real. Open water was about half a mile away and Cook suggested that trenches should be cut to the open water to allow the Belgica to escape the ice. The weakened crew used dynamite and various tools to create the channel. Finally, on 15 February 1899, they managed to slowly start down the channel they had cleared during the weeks before. It took them nearly a month to cover 7 miles, and on 14 March they cleared the ice. The expedition returned to Antwerp on 5 November 1899. The conditions were hard but nevertheless the expedition still managed to collect a significant amount of scientific data including a full year of meteorological observations.

Reception

In Antwerp, the expedition was heartily welcomed. A special committee had been planning the festivities for months. Typical for polar expeditions in this age, feelings of national (and regional) pride surrounded the homecoming celebrations. The Belgian state honored De Gerlache and his men by making them member of the Royal Order of Leopold, the municipal government of Antwerp honored the men by medals and writing their names in the Golden Book of the city. On the day they first set foot on Belgian soil again, the Brabançonne sounded and the national flag was seen waving from many houses. All in all, sentiments of nationalism definitely played a role in the reception of the expedition.

Personnel

Some of the crew on the deck of the Belgica.

The expedition team included some notable individuals:

• Adrien de Gerlache (1866–1934): Belgian – leader
• Georges Lecointe (1869–1929): Belgian – Captain, executive officer and hydrographer (second in command on the Belgica)
• Roald Amundsen (1872–1928): Norwegian – First Mate. Amundsen learned much from his experience on this expedition, in particular how to prevent scurvy.
• Frederick Cook (1865–1940): American – Surgeon, anthropologist and photographer.
• Henryk Arctowski (1871–1958): Pole – geologist, oceanographer and meteorologist
• Emile Danco (1869–1898): Belgian – geophysical observations. Danco died while overwintering.
• Emil Racoviţă (1868–1947): Romanian – biologist (zoologist and botanist) and speleologist
• Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski (1872–1954): Polish – assistant-meteorologist

Nansen, as drawn by Johan Koren

• Jules Melaerts (1876–?): Belgian – third lieutenant
• Henri Somers (1863–?): Belgian – chief mechanic
• Max Van Rysselberghe (1878–?): Belgian – mechanic
• Louis Michotte (1868–1926): Belgian – cook
• Adam Tollefsen (1866–?): Norwegian – sailor
• Ludvig-Hjalmar Johansen (1872–?): Norwegian – sailor
• Engelbret Knudsen (1876–1900): Norwegian – sailor
• Gustave-Gaston Dufour (1876–1940): Belgian – sailor
• Jean Van Mirlo (1877–1964): Belgian – sailor
• Carl August Wiencke (1877–1898): Norwegian – sailor. Wiencke was washed overboard and drowned on the way to Antarctica.
• Johan Koren (1877–1919): Norwegian – cabin boy and assistant zoologist

Koren brought on board Nansen, the ship's cat on the Expedition. He was named after Fridtjof Nansen. He died on 22 June 1898, and was buried in the Antarctic.

See also

• Belgian Antarctic Program
• List of Antarctic expeditions
• Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
• Bayard Islands

Literature

• Amundsen, Roald, Decleir, H. (ed), Roald Amundsen's Belgica Diary. The first scientific expedition to the Antarctic (Bluntisham 1999)
• Baughman, T.H. Before the heroes came. Antarctica in the 1890's (Nebraska 1994)
• Cook, Frederick A. Through The First Antarctic Night 1898–1899: A Narrative Of The Voyage Of The "Belgica" Among Newly Discovered Lands And Over An Unknown Sea About The South Pole. (New York: Doubleday & McClure Co. 1900) ISBN 9780905838403
• Decleir, H., de Broyer, C. (eds), The Belgica expedition centenial: perspectives on Antarctic science and history (Brussels 2001)
• de Gerlache de Gomery, A., M. Raraty (translation), Fifteen months in the Antarctic (Bluntisham 1998)

Contemporary sources

• Bulletin de la Société Royale de Géographie d’Anvers vol 20–24(1896–1900).
• Bulletin de la Société Royale Belge de Géographie vol 20–24 (1896–1900).