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On 16th August 1897, the Belgica set sail for Antarctica en route
for a fantastic adventure. On board, besides the essential crew
of sailors, mechanics and ship's cook, a bevy of scientists, all
recruited by the ship's captain, Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery.
Several weeks later, the Belgica left its final port, Ushuaia,
to enter the fearful unknown of the southern seas. On 22nd January
1898, the first drama occurred. A sailor, Auguste-Karl Wiencke,
fell overboard in fierce storms: despite attempts by the second-in-command
to save him, they were unable to get him back on board. Several
weeks later, de Gerlache and his men were exploring the west coast
of the Antarctic peninsula, disembarking at a site where nobody
had ever set foot. It was here that the strait was discovered
which to this day carries the name "Strait of de Gerlache".
On 18th February, the Belgica was still following the edge of
the ice floe. Spotting an opening towards the south, Gerlache
- who knew the benefits he would reap from a possible over-wintering
- decided to go in. On 5th March 1898, the whaling boat was permanently
trapped in the ice floe, a prisoner of the ice. An argument broke
out on board as to the real intentions of the Captain: had he
or had he not knowingly decided to imprison the boat in the ice?
For more details on the allusive episode of the de Gerlache adventure,
see the book by Michel Brent, The Antarctic and Belgium, a hundred
years of history, research and mysteries, and the chapter "The
first prisoners of the Antarctic".
Whatever the outcome, it was the first time in history that men
had had to face up to the atrocious southern winter. It was also
the first time scientists had had the opportunity to undertake
meteorological observations of the Antarctic regions throughout
an entire year, i.e. in a complete 365-day cycle.
Because these men had not been prepared to live through such
an experience, the atmosphere on board slowly deteriorated; and,
little by little, the detestable polar night was going to succeed
in its task. On 6th June that same year, one of the leading members
of the crew, Emile Danco, died of a heart ailment. A profound
despondency fell upon the men of the Belgica; one after another
they fell ill and signs of dementia began appearing. At the beginning
of December, the captain even drafted a will for the expedition.
At times, at the sound of more than sinister cracking, the crew
feared the worst for their vessel which they believed was undergoing
invisible attacks from the ice floes.
Several months later, the southern summer chased away the long
polar night and gave hope to the hibernating crew on Belgica.
The ice floe started to break up little by little around the three-masted
ship and, skimming over events too long to describe here, the
Belgian vessel was finally freed from its icy shackles on 14th
March 1899. The expedition lamented the two deaths, but went down
in history as the first to successfully endure the terrible rigours
of a southern winter.
The reputation acquired by de Gerlache and his expedition on
the Belgica was not simply limited to the fact that they had suffered
the death of two of their crew or that they were the first to
face up to the long Antarctic night. The expedition of de Gerlache
and his crew was also the very first in the world to be entirely
dedicated to science above all else. At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, despite the exploration of Antarctica being clearly in
the minds of the polar explorers, people were no longer sure that
they were not so much going off in search of new lands as to secretly
stake out a whale hunting area and fill their ships' holds with
thousands of seal skins. A little later, in 1839, the Englishman
James Clark Ross led voyages to the area; but there, while scientists
were a part of each journey, the main goal was clearly conquering
and annexing new lands rather than carrying out scientific observations
on the ground.
second phase
In 1957, Gaston de Gerlache, son of Adrien, left with 16 other Belgians
- from the armed forces, technicians and scientists - to build the
King Baudouin Antarctic base (24°18'38" south and 70°25'53"
east). Four years later, the base was closed, with the Belgian government
unwilling to spend any more of the country's efforts on Antarctic
research. In 1964 however, having found assistance from our Dutch
neighbours, Gaston de Gerlache succeeded in taking Belgians again
to Antarctica as part of a Belgo-Dutch joint venture. A new base
was built next to the old one, which had fallen down under the weight
of the snow and ice. In 1967, this scientific collaboration came
to an end. The second King Baudouin base was closed permanently.
Between 1968 and 1971, a few Belgian scientists took part in a joint
venture between Belgium and South Africa to work at the Sanae base.
third phase
In 1985, the scientific policy (OSTC) was given a new lease of life
and sent Belgian researchers to Antarctica on the basis of co-operation
projects with foreign teams . For more information, see the OSTC
web site
A few Belgian university units are working without the support
of the scientific policy. These are:
Weis Dominique
Department of Earth Sciences and the Environment,
CP 160/02, Université Libre de Bruxelles,
Av F.D. Roosevelt, 50, B-1050 Brussels
Van Hove Sandra
Laboratory for the Morphology and Systematics of Animals, Marine
Biology
Section, K.L. Ledeganckstraat, 35, B-9000 Ghent
Huybrechts Philippe
Geography Department
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan, 2, B-1050 Brussels
Joiris Claude
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Laboratory for Ecotoxicology and Polar Ecology
Pleinlaan, 2, B-1050 Brussels
Adams
Universitair Instelling Antwerpen
Universiteitplein 1, 2610 Antwerp
Beyens Louis
Department of Biology, Section Arctic Ecology, Limnology, and
Paleobiology
(R)UCA, Universitair Centrum Antwerpen
Groenenborgerlaan, 171, B-2020 Antwerp
Gerday Charles
Biochemistry Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry B6,\
Université de Liège Sart Tilman
B-4000 Liège
Goosse Hugues
Université Catholique de Louvain
Institute Astronomy and Geophysics G. Lemaître
Chemin du Cyclotron, 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
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