At the age of 29 Lieutenant Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery
organised the Belgian Antarctic Expedition. On August 16th 1897 his ship, The
Belgica, left port with a multinational crew including a 25 year old Roald
Amundsen and the American explorer Dr Frederick. A. Cook who would later become
the disputed conqueror of the North Pole.
Lengthy Scientific observations in Tierra del Fuego resulted in a December departure and it was not till January 20 1898 that the Belgica entered Antarctic waters, very late in the season. It has been suggested that de Gerlache knew that this would mean the Belgica could be forced to spend the winter in Antarctica, leaving him the first man to endure the long Antarctic night.
Throughout early February the ship sailed along the far north of the Antarctic peninsula
through a strait between the edge of Graham land and a string of islands on which
they made numerous landings. The strait is now named Gerlache strait.
On the 15th the ship crossed the Antarctic circle and on the 28th they
entered the pack ice. After slowly progressing 60 miles they reached 71o
30' S 85o15' W at which point their vessel became trapped by the ice
and murmurs amongst the crew surfaced that de Gerlache had brought them
purposely to this fate.
Their fate seemed desperate as the long night descended on the 17th of May. Food was in short supply and the crew quickly tired of the canned supplies and of each others company, a situation made worse by the language barrier that existed between many of them. A small hut was constructed on the ice but the cold took its toll and on June 5 Lieutenant Danco died from the cold and a weak heart. Henryk Arctowski the Polish geologist wrote:
"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..."
The men's distrust and dislike of each other grew and so began a rapid descent into madness and despair. One of the crew, unable to speak French became convinced that the word for 'something' really meant 'kill' and attacked anyone who uttered it. Another man leapt overboard declaring that he was going to Belgium. The poor diet and the isolation produced lethargy and muscular spasms in the crew. Scurvy was widespread. In order to counteract this Dr Cook prescribed fresh meat but de Gerlache detested the only available source, frozen seal and penguin which they had killed prior to the onset of winter. de Gerlache's dislike bordered on a mania that drove him to forbid even his men from eating it. Dr Cook describes this vile dish thus:
"If it's possible to imagine a piece of beef, odiferous cod fish and a canvas-backed duck roasted together in a pot, with blood and cod-liver oil for sauce, the illustration would be complete"
Deprived of meat the men succumbed to scurvy and the Commander and Captain were so prostrated by it that they took to their beds and made their wills. Command of the expedition fell to Amundsen as the ranking officer and he quickly set the men to work digging up frozen carcasses which even the commander eagerly consumed.
As well as treating the men's physical ailments, Cook also tended to his wards minds and organised elaborate games to occupy them. Huge sums of imaginary money were gambled in card games.
The return of the sun in August brought hope but their plight was still desperate. The ice about the ship was now 7 foot thick. Trapped in the icy grip the Belgica continued a gradual drift westwards with no indication that they might ever escape. Two of the crew went insane and Christmas passed in gloom. Food and fuel were short and a second winter trapped would surely bring death. With inspired leadership Cook organised a tremendous enterprise, to saw a channel 1000 yards long to a small basin of water. He intended to guide the ship to the basin which he believed would lead to open sea once the sea ice began to break. With saws and a few explosives the emaciated crew set to work.
By the end of January they were 100 yards short of their goal when the wind shifted and the channel, they had so doggedly dug, closed in. As winter approached despair descended but on February 15th the channel reopened and, for the first time in 13 months, the Belgica began to move and gradually nudged her way free of the ice.
de Gerlache reached Punta Arenas in March 1899, living proof that man could, just, survive the Antarctic winter and bringing with him the first photographs of the frozen continent.