At the end of the 19th century the whole world was known and most of it had been explored by man. The only part of the world that had not been explored was Antarctica. Only a mere handful of people had treaded the continent, but the interior was still ‘terra incognita’. In 1895, on the 6th International Geographical Congress in London, a resolution that said: "The exploration of the Antarctic regions is the greatest piece of geographical exploration still to be undertaken… and this work should be undertaken before the close of the century" was accepted. It was expected that Great Britain, the United States or one of the Scandinavian countries should organise a large expedition. So it was a huge surprise for everyone that a Belgian naval officer commanded the first scientific expedition to Antarctica. After all, Belgium hardly had a maritime tradition and only had a coastline of 60 kilometres.


Adrien de Gerlache

The man who gave Belgium a place in Antarctic history was Adrien de Gerlache de Gommery. He found the necessary money, bought a three-master ship, the Belgica, and found suitable men for his expedition. On 16 August 1897 de Belgica left the port of Antwerp. Besides sailors, a chef, a mechanic and the first officer (Georges Lecointe), the following scientists were on board: the Pole Henryk Arctowski (geology), Belgian Emile Danco (geophysics), the Rumanian zoologist and botanist Emile-Gustave Racovitza and another Pole, Antoine Dobrowolski, who was the assistant meteorologist. Two non-mentioned members would become famous in the future. The first one was the American doctor/photographer Frederick Cook, who, in 1908, pretended to have been the first person to reach the North Pole. The second was the Norwegian Roald Amundsen, who, in 1911, was the first person to stand on the geographical South Pole.

The purpose of the expedition was to examine the Weddell Sea and, after that, to set sail to Victoria Land where three men would spend the winter. Initially the expedition went as planned. The scientists were taking the temperature of the water and were taking depth soundings. But on 22 January 1898 disaster struck. A terrible storm was blowing and huge waves were turning the deck of the Belgica into a swimming pool. One of the scuppers clogged up, and the water couldn't leave the bridge. The Norwegian sailor August-Karl Wiencke wanted to solve the problem and clambered, against the orders, over the railing to get closer to be able to free the scupper. Unfortunately he fell overboard and drowned. And this wasn’t the end of the mishaps.


Stamp on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the Belgica expedition

The Belgica reached the Antarctic Peninsula in February 1989. A strait, now known as the Gerlache Strait, was discovered between the peninsula and the little islands (such as Anvers Island and Brabant Island) to the west. The scientists went ashore several times (do to research), the entire region was mapped, and new plant and animal species were discovered. To cut a long story short, apart from the death of Wiencke, the expedition was running smoothly.

Hoping to discover new land, the Belgica sailed southwest along the pack ice. Von Bellingshausen had explored this area already in 1821, but the pack ice stopped him from navigating further south. When de Gerlache found a passage to the south on 18 February 1898, it was difficult to resist the temptation of actually following that passage. Though the scientists weren't very keen on it, de Gerlache decided to take the risk in the hope of making some discoveries in the open sea lying behind the pack ice. But on 6 March the Belgica got trapped in the pack ice at 70° South. Because winter was approaching, the chances of liberation were almost zero. However, de Gerlache didn't panic. He seemed very satisfied about the developments, and for the first time an expedition over wintered in the Antarctic pack ice. This was a stroke of luck for the scientists. Or in the words of de Gerlache later on: "Thanks to our over wintering, the world of science has at least meteorological observations that were done hour after hour, during the whole year, so during a complete cycle of 365 days". A lot of people are claiming that de Gerlache intended to be trapped by the ice - a decision that almost ended up a complete disaster.

On 18 May the polar night set in and the expedition suffered severely under the terrible conditions. The crew was affected by despondency, swollen limbs, an irregular and weak pulse, headache and depression. According to Frederick Cook it was the result of a combination of lack of fresh food and sunlight. Some sailors became hysteric and schizophrenic. Emile Danco suddenly died of a heart attack due to the extreme conditions they were living in. So, to prevent the crew from further disasters, Cook forced everyone to eat raw penguin and seal meat.

In the summer they tried everything to free the Belgica: they tried to break the ice with explosives, they tried to make a channel using saws, all for nothing. The channel that was sawed out froze immediately. De Gerlache realised that another winter in the Antarctic ice would be fatal. But on 15 February the channel opened again. It turns out that the work had not been for nothing, and on 14 March 1899 the Belgica reached open sea again.