THE ANTARCTIC VOYAGE OE THE BELGICA DURING 

 THE YEARS 1897, 1898, AND L899. ° 



By Henryk Arctowski, 



Of the scientific staff of the expedition. 



The Belgian Antarctic Expedition, a member of which 1 had the 

 honor to be, was the first to winter amid the ice of the South Pole— 

 the first of the several expeditions whose combined harvest of scien- 

 tific results is destined to effect a complete revolution in our knowl- 

 edge of the antarctic regions. The object of the expedition was not 

 to pass the extreme points reached by Ross and Weddell. We aimed, 

 on the contrary, at achieving something- new — something which might 

 better meet the requirements of modern geography. 



The expedition was a private undertaking subsidized by the Belgian 

 Government. The initiative was due to Commander de Gerlache, who, 

 from 1894 onward, had entertained a wish to undertake a voyage of 

 exploration to the South Pole. Early in 1896 the Brussels Geograph- 

 ical Society, which gave its patronage to the project, organized a 

 national subscription. Large and small gifts, and a generous grant 

 from the Government, amounted to $60,000. With this sum a whaling 

 vessel and scientific apparatus were purchased and the expenses of the 

 expedition paid. 



The Belgica was a three-masted bark, 100 feet long, with a dis- 

 placement of 250 tons, and auxiliary engines of 150 horsepower. The 

 hull was protected by a casing of hard wood. Aft, on the deck, were 

 placed the cabins of the officers and of the scientific staff, while in the 

 fore part, under the bridge, a laboratory was rigged out. 



In three essential points the organization of the expedition was 

 defective. Firstly, there was no written contract as between the staff 

 and the leader of the expedition, and the functions of the several 

 members were not sufficiently defined; secondly, no written instruc- 

 tions were provided either by the Belgian Government or by the Geo- 

 graphical Society, or by any other learned body; and. thirdly, no 

 definite programme for the voyage had been drawn up. 



"Reprinted in abstract from the Geographical Journal, London, October, 1901. 

 Illustrations from photographs kindly lent by Dr. F. A. Cook, a member of the 

 expedition, by whom they were taken. The illustrations have been previously pub- 

 lished by Frederick A. Cook, in "Through the First Antarctic Night," Doubleday & 

 McClure Company, New York, and arc copyrighted by Doctor Cook. 



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