|
|
|||||||||||||||||
| x | |||||||||||||||||
| The Maritime Museum of Ushuaia, which already has a rich
collection about Antarctic expeditions, will open a new exhibit about 'Adrien de Gerlache and the Belgica Expedition
on 1897-99 on 18 January 2000. This exhibit was sponsored by Belgian citizens. The new exhibit will be of special interest to tourists going to Antarctica, since they will visit such places as Gerlache Strait, Anvers Island, Cuverville Islnad, Rongé Island, Wiencke Island, Danco Island, Paradise Bay, Lemaire Channel, etc. Which were discovered by this expedition. |
|||||||||||||||||
| x | |||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
| x | |||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
| x | |||||||||||||||||
| Lt. Adrien de Gerlache of the Belgian Navy conceived, organized
and led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897-99. This expedition was the first truly scientific expedition
to visit Antarctica. The program was very broad and included hydrography, exploration of lands, meteorology, glaciology,
soundings, dredging, study of fauna and flora, magnetism, photography. The Belgica Expedition was the most cosmopolitan of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Five nationalities were on board of the expedition ship Belgica: 9 Belgians, 6 Norwegian, 2 Polish, 1 American and 1 Rumanian. Two of its members became world-famous: second-officer Roald Amudsen who discovered the South Pole in 1911, and the Doctor Frederick Cook who claimed to have discovered the North Pole in 1908. The expedition left Antwerp on 16 August 1897. From 29 November 1897 to 14 January 1898 the expedition explored the channels of Tierra del Fuego. Many stops were made, allowing the scientists to collect specimen of the Magellan fauna and flora, as well as geological samples. The expedition spent 11 days in the Ushuaia area. From 23 January to 12 February 1898 the expedition discovered the 170 kilometers long Gerlache Strait and its surrounding lands. Hundreds of photographs were made of the newly discovered islands, bays, capes, channels, mountains and lands. It were the first photographic records of places in Antarctica, some photographs were of astonishing quality. Gerlache, Danco, Cook, Amudsen and Arctowski spent a week (31 January to 6 February 1898) on Brabant Island, they were the first men to camp and sledge on a place in Antarctica. From 17 to 28 February 1898 Adrien de Gerlache explored the rim of the pack-ice of the Bellingshausen Sea. He sent his ship in every breach that showed, hoping to find a navigable sea and new land behind the pack. On 28 February a storm widely opened the pack-ice and Gerlache and Lecointe (second-in-command) decided to send their ship south. After having penetrated the ice for 90 miles, it closed and the expedition got imprisoned. For thirteen months the vessel remained frozen in the ice. This was the first ocassion in the history of exploration during which an expedition had passed a whole winter within the Antarctic Circle, and the fullest use was made by the scientists of their unprecedented opportunity. Various sledge trips were made across the pack ice, and Amudsen and Cook experimented with various types of equipment, gaining experience which was to be invaluable to them at a later date. After mayor efforts in cutting and blasting a channel through pack-ice of 2.4meters of thickness, the ship was freed on 14 March 1899, just before the onset of the second winter. On 5 November 1899 the Belgica finally return to Antwerp, where the expedition was triumphantly received. As far as scientific results are concerned, the Belgica Expedition would later be regarded as one of the most important ever to visit Antarctica. For the first time meteorological data were gathered during a hole year, including an Antarctic winter; the first data were obtained about the geological composition of the Antarctic Peninsula; the first profound study was made about ice phenomena in Antarctica and about the composition and exchange of sea waters; unknown plants were reported; numerous new specimen of the Antarctic fauna were discovered; the evolution of several living organisms of the Antarctic Ocean was studied, and the first description of the Antarctic food chain was given. |
|||||||||||||||||
| x | |||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
| x | |||||||||||||||||
|
|
