Belgian Antarctic Expedition 1897 - 1899
Adrien de Gerlache - Belgica

The Belgica under the command of Adrien de Gerlache set out from Antwerp, Belgium at the end of August 1897. It is one of the most fascinating of the early Antarctic expeditions and also probably the least comfortable one to have taken part in for all concerned.

Even though spring was underway, the Belgica was still held tightly by ice and snow. In fact the ice was even increasing in thickness as temperatures were still below freezing, soon efforts would be made to extricate the Belgica from the ice's grip.

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The crew alphabetically

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The Belgica before she sailed for Antarctica - winch in foreground

The Belgica in the tropics, underway to Antarctica

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The expedition is notable for being the first expedition to Antarctic of a purely scientific nature, and was the first time that anyone had over wintered in Antarctica proper. A group of sealers had wintered on King George Island in the South Shetlands in 1821 after their ship was blown off in a storm and rescue was not possible until the next summer, but this was the first time a winter had been spent at Antarctic continental latitudes. It was also an unplanned winter (perhaps not for the expedition leader de Gerlache however), for the rest of the men at least, there was no intention nor notice of overwintering.

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On board the Belgica heading south

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Amongst the crew were Roald Amundsen, later to be the first man to sail the North West Passage and also to reach the South Pole and Frederick A. Cook a man who would contentiously later claim to be the first man to reach the North Pole.

Problems with the expedition began long before Antarctic waters were even reached, unlike other expedition leaders who spent the utmost care and efforts in selecting the members of the expedition, de Gerlache seemed to pay little or no heed once the officers and scientific staff were recruited. Of the original crew that left Antwerp on the Belgica, two abandoned the expedition shortly afterwards at Ostend, Belgium during a forced return to port for repairs and further two went ashore there without permission and returned drunk. Of the others, there were some who seemed to know and understand little about basic seamanship, and one who refused to leave his bunk when ordered to turn out to prevent the Belgica from accidentally ramming the Royal Yacht.

In Montevideo (Uruguay, South America), the cook was sacked after a fight and a Swedish seaman taken on. Between there and Punta Arenas, Chile the most Southern Port in South America, an engineer allowed the boiler to run dry (potentially fatal to the Belgica's steam-engine) despite an earlier warning - he was put off the ship at the next land-fall. At Punta Arenas there were further disciplinary problems with men being found drunk, refusing to work when required, making demands on pay and accusing de Gerlache of prejudice against the Norwegian crew members. At one point de Gerlache even made an agreement with the Chilean Navy to send a boarding party to try and restore order on board.

Eventually three Belgians and the Swedish cook were put ashore and the ship left for Antarctica undermanned and in what must have been an uncertain state of mind for many of those on board. Certainly those who knew something about pack ice and the wisdom of entering it so late in the season, such as Cook and Amundsen, were not comfortable with the decisions being made by de Gerlache, but they also had their own positions in the crew to think of as their jobs were partly to help keep discipline and ensure that the commanders orders were followed.

En route to Antarctica, a young sailor Carl Wiencke was washed overboard and lost, despite the heroic efforts of Captain Georges Lecointe to try and rescue him. Wiencke Island was named in his honour.

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The Belgica at Iles Wauwermans.
Wauwermans Islands - named for Lieutenant General Wauwermans, president of the Societe Royale de Geographie, Antwerp, a supporter of the expedition.

The Belgica anchored at Mount William

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In any event, after much late season surveying, the ship was iced into the pack on the 3rd of March 1898. The disparate crew with their several nationalities and languages started the winter well keeping themselves as busy and making themselves as cosy as they were able. This didn't last very long however, as unprepared for the winter as they were, they didn't have sufficient equipment or supplies to be comfortable, occupied or properly nourished. On March the 21st 1898 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".

All of these factors took their toll on the men and by the 19th of May when the sun disappeared below the horizon for the start of the long Antarctic night where it would not be seen again for another 63 days, their plight was starting to become desperate.

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La Belgica in the ice on November 19th 1898. Even though spring was underway, the Belgica was still held tightly by ice and snow. In fact the ice was even increasing in thickness as temperatures were still below freezing, soon efforts would be made to extricate the Belgica from the ice's grip.

The Belgica fast in the ice after a blizzard. The morale and health of the crew deteriorated considerably with the onset of the Antarctic winter, especially from the 19th of May when the sun disappeared below the horizon not to reappear for another 63 days.

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There was a shortage of food, and what there was lacked in variety and in particular in vitamin C - signs of scurvy began to show in a number of the men. This was exacerbated by de Gerlache's dislike of the only local source of this vital nutrient - fresh penguin and seal meat that had been killed and stored before the onset of winter. Such was the expedition leaders hatred of these meats, that he forbad his men even from eating it.

On June the 5th Lieutenant Danco died of heart failure, it seems from an previously undiagnosed long-existing condition that had been considerably worsened by the cold, lack of proper food and harsh conditions. In the words of Henryk Arctowski the Polish geologist:

"In the obscurity of the midday twilight we carried Lieutenant Danco's body to a hole which had been cut in the ice, and committed it to the deep. A bitter wind was blowing as, with bared heads, each of us silent, we left him there...And the floe drifted on..."

Lieutenant Danco's burial, 5th June 1898

The return of the sun on the 22nd of July lifted the men's spirits, but illness still prevailed, de Gerlache and Lecointe wrote their wills and took to their beds able to do little else. Two of the crew, Tollefsen and Knudsen started to show signs of mental illness and moral in general was at rock bottom, Cook (the ships surgeon) also noted heart irregularities in several of the men, scurvy was rife by now. A particularly bitter blow was the death of the ship's cat "Nansen", once bright and friendly, the cat too became withdrawn, would growl at people and eventually faded away to excessive sleep and then death.

Cook and Amundsen then took command as de Gerlache and Lecointe were unable to fulfil this role due their illness. Cook in particular reversed their fortunes by retrieving the frozen penguin and seal meat and making sure that each man ate some each day and spent some time in front of the fire. He  improved morale by not allowing them to become totally introspective and organising complicated games - huge sums of imaginary money were gambled in card games. Even de Gerlache began to eat the meat that he had previously hated so much, slowly the men all recovered their health and to some extent, their spirits. By July the 31st, Lecointe was sufficiently recovered to be able to join Amundsen and Cook on a sledging trip away from the confines of the ship.

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Cutting trenches to open water to free the Belgica

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As spring came, the health of all returned due to the fresh meat, but the Belgica was still trapped in the ice that was now about 7 feet (2.1m) thick around the ship. By January, the possibility of another winter in the ice was becoming real. Explosives were used to try and blast a passage out or split the flow they were stuck in - open water was about half a mile away. Cook suggested that two trenches should be cut to open water from the bow and from the stern to try and speed the melting that was taking place. The trenches were duly dug and cut with saws and axes in what was a huge effort, on St. Valentines day, Feb 14th 1899, , the Belgica emerged from it's frozen-in position. Loose (not frozen in) pack ice was still tight around the ship however and it was a month before it was free and able to head out into open sea, she had been stuck for 13 months.

The Belgica reached Punta Arenas on March 28th 1899. de Gerlache was feted as a hero in Belgium and France. Despite the difficulties, the Belgica returned with an important collection of scientific data and the first annual cycle of observations from Antarctica. The stage was now set for later expeditions to winter in Antarctica having learnt invaluable lessons.

Over the next 40 years, 92 publications in 9 volumes presented a huge array of scientific data as the "Resultats du voyage de la Belgica en 1897-99 sous le commandement de A. de Gerlache de Gomery - rapports scientifiques.", funded by the Belgica Commission.

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The Crew

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