Adrien de Gerlache, Belgica
Belgian Antarctic Expedition 1897 - 1899

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.

Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache - Commandant

Belgian. A complex character, the preparations for the expedition were not always transparent and there are unanswered questions about how planned the winter in Antarctica was. de Gerlache was certainly not a great planner nor a leader, but he did achieve his aim and was feted by the establishment on his return to Europe after a truly remarkable voyage.

Born Hasselt, Belgium 2nd August 1866 - Died Brussels, Belgium 4th December 1934

Belgian. Georges Lecointe had been approached by de Gerlache as early as 1895 to be his second in command, the appointment was made until June 1897 however partly as funding had not been raised for the expedition.

On his return from Antarctica, Lecointe became Scientific Director at the Royal Astronomical Observatory at Uccle (Belgium), being joined there for a time until 1907 by Antoine Dobrowolski, also a veteran of the Belgica expedition. Lecointe was interned during the 1st World War in Holland from 1914-18.

Born Antwerp, Belgium 29 April 1869 - Died in Uccle, Belgium in 1929.

Roald Amundsen - 1st mate
expedition leader Gjřa / northwest passage 1903-06
leader of the south pole party on the first successful expedition to reach the South Pole - 1910-11 Fram

Norwegian. Roald Amundsen had a specific reason for wanting to go on the Belgica expedition, he went in order to obtain experience to enable him to get his skipper's licence. As one day he intended to mount his own polar expedition and if he could qualify as ship's captain, there would be no conflict in having to share the command of an expedition with a ship's captain.

Belgian. Emile Danco had been a close friend of de Gerlache for some years prior to the expedition, he had accompanied de Gerlache on the Castor in search of a suitable vessel for the expedition. Danco had foreseen the possible problems posed by having an international and disparate crew, in particular if both the principle officers were Norwegian (like Amundsen). Danco tragically died during the expedition of what the surgeon, Cook, described as the exacerbation of an underlying chronic valvular heart disease by the stresses and difficult conditions of the winter on board the Belgica. He weakened after they were beset in the pack ice and died in early June 1898.

Born Malines, Belgium 29 November 1869 - Died on Belgica amongst pack-ice 5th June 1898

Romanian.

Polish. Arctowski had been a student at the University of Ličge and had already studied Antarctica from a distance. He was a very cosmopolitan character and after the voyage emigrated to the USA, where he held a scientific post at the New York Public Library from 1910-1920 (having turned down the offer of a position of education minister from the prime minister). After this, he returned to Poland to become director of the Geophysical Institute of Lwów University where he remained to 1939 when he returned once again to the USA. While he was there war broke out, unable to return to Poland, joined the Smithsonian Institution. In 1977, the Poles named their permanent Antarctic base after him - Henryk Arctowski station at Admiralty Bay, King George Island on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Born Warsaw, Poland, July 15, 1871 - Died  Washington, USA, Feb 21 1958.

Polish. On his return from Antarctica, Dobrowolski spent some time at the Royal Astronomical Observatory at Uccle (Belgium) with Lecointe the Belgica's captain who had become Scientific Director.

Dobrowolski spent the 1st World War in Sweden. He eventually became director of the Polish Meteorological Institute and Professor in Warsaw.

Born Dworchowitzé, Poland June 6, 1872 - Died in 1954.

American

Belgian

Born 1863

Belgian. After the expedition, settled in Chile where he worked as an engineer on the railways for some time.

Born 1878

Belgian. Stayed in the Navy, his previous occupation on return from Antarctica. He made another polar journey, though this time to the Arctic. Became second in command of a training ship and ended his career in Zeebrugge (Belgium).

Belgian

Belgian

Belgian

Belgian. Lost his life en route to Antarctica around the South Shetland Islands. Wiencke was clearing coal out of the scuppers where it had been washed by waves during a gale when he fell overboard. Amundsen and Cook on watch in the bridge heard his cries and went aft to see him floundering in huge seas. He was thrown a log attached to a line which he was able to grab hold of and was drawn closer to the ship. The captain, Lecointe volunteered to be lowered down to haul Wiencke in, and was almost inundated by waves and drowned himself. In the cold and violent seas, Wiencke let go of his life-line and was lost. His loss was taken hard on a ship already ill at ease.

Norwegian. Tollefsen had a harder time than many during the long Antarctic night losing his sanity and needing to be treated for this by Dr. Cook. Fortunately he eventually recovered.

  Amundsen/Fram - first successful expedition to reach the South Pole - 1910-11 Fram

Norwegian

Johan Koren, born in Fredrickstad, Norway in 1879, died in the American Red Cross Hospital in Vladivostok, Russia in 1919.

His sister, Dagny Koren, would have been my mother-in-law, and his brother-in-law Carl Ramm, a US resident also born in Fredrickstad, Norway, in 1864, whom I well knew was my father-in-law.

Johan Koren always maintained close relations with these relatives. My late wife's older sister used to tell us about Uncle Johan's visit to their home. He preferred to sleep out on the New Jersey flats, and played games with his little niece, fashioning paper fish and attaching them to a string and then hiding under the dining room table while the little girl played fishing and was encouraged to recognize each fish she "caught". There is a book about his life and zoological work published in Norway "John Koren". It stated that a kind of national park around Nizhny Kolymsk in Siberia was to be named after him, and urged that Norway do likewise.

According to this book, the sailor on the Belgica--on an Antarctic expedition around 1897-- who drowned, was a Norwegian, too, and Johan left a sketch of that boy and it is printed in the book on Koren. Another book on him was written earlier and it was called "Guten som Norge glemt" that is, in English, "The Boy Norway Forgot". I hope these hasty lines may help clarify a little about Johan. Oh, yes, during the expedition he was given some zoological responsibilities and a new title He kept in touch with Amundsen throughout his life, and after his death Amundsen went to Nizhny Kolymsk to retrieve some of Koren's records for Norwegian archives.. According to some reports I saw at the Cornell University Agricultural Library, it was not an easy task with the Soviet authorities..

With best wishes, Thomas D. Bowie - by email

Norwegian. Knudsen was one of those who suffered from signs of mental illness during the Antarctic night, while he recovered to some degree, he died shortly after the voyage ended.