Adrien de Gerlache | |
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| Born | Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (1866-08-02)2 August 1866 Hasselt, Belgium |
| Died | 4 December 1934(1934-12-04) (aged 68) Brussels, Belgium |
| Alma mater | Free University of Brussels |
| Occupation | Naval officer |
| Known for | Commander of theBelgian Antarctic Expedition |
| Spouse(s) | Suzanne Poulet (1904-1913) Elisabeth Höjer (1918-1934) |
| Children | Philippe Marie-Louise Gaston |
BaronAdrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de GomeryFRSGS (French pronunciation:[adʁijɛ̃viktɔʁʒozɛfdəʒɛʁlaʃdəɡɔmʁi]; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in theBelgian Royal Navy who led theBelgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99.
Born inHasselt in eastern Belgium as the son of an army officer, de Gerlache was educated inBrussels. From a young age, he was deeply attracted by the sea, and made three voyages in 1883 and 1884 to the United States as a cabin boy on an ocean liner. He studied engineering at theFree University of Brussels. After finishing his third year in 1885, he quit the university and joined the Belgian Navy on 19 January 1886.
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After graduating from the nautical college ofOstend he worked on fishery protection vessels as second and third lieutenant. In October 1887 he signed on as a seaman on theCraigie Burn, an English ship, for a voyage toSan Francisco, but the ship failed to roundCape Horn and was sold for scrap inMontevideo. He returned to Europe after spending time inUruguay andArgentina. After a trip toConstantinople and theBlack Sea, he worked for theHolland-America Line as fourth officer, before obtaining an appointment as lieutenant in the Belgian Navy. Until July 1894 he was an officer on Ostend-Dover ferries, meanwhile taking courses and becoming a captain on 22 August 1894.[1]
Frustrated by the monotonous work aboard the Ostend-Dover ferries, de Gerlache offered his services to BelgianKing Leopold II and Welsh-American adventurerHenry Morton Stanley, for an expedition to theCongo, but the offer was turned down. A letter to polar explorerOtto Nordenskiöld went unanswered. Finally he started planning and promoting his own Antarctic expedition, proposing his plan in 1894 to the BelgianRoyal Geographical Society.[2]
In 1896, de Gerlache purchased theNorwegian-built whaling shipPatria, which he extensively refitted and renamedBelgica. With a multinational crew includingRoald Amundsen,Frederick Cook,Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski,Henryk Arctowski andEmil Racoviță, he set sail fromAntwerp on 16 August 1897.[3]
TheBelgica reached the coast ofGraham Land on theAntarctic Peninsula in January 1898. Sailing between the Graham Land coast and a string of islands to the west, de Gerlache named the passage Belgica Strait.[4] This strait was later renamedGerlache Strait in his honour. After charting and naming several islands during some 20 separate landings, they crossed theAntarctic Circle on 15 February 1898.[4]
On 28 February 1898, de Gerlache's expedition became trapped in the ice of theBellinghausen Sea, nearPeter I Island. Despite their efforts, they quickly realised that they would be forced to spend the winter in Antarctica.[3] Total darkness set in on 17 May, lasting until 23 July. Another seven months of hardship followed as the crew laboured to free the vessel from the ice. Several men lost their sanity, including one Belgian sailor who left the ship"announcing he was going back to Belgium". The party also suffered fromscurvy.
On 15 February 1899, the vessel was able to begin moving through the channel that the crew had cleared. It took them nearly a month to cover 7 miles, and on 14 March they cleared the ice. The expedition returned to Antwerp on 5 November 1899. In 1902, de Gerlache's bookQuinze Mois dans l'Antarctique ('Fifteen Months in Antarctica'),[5] published in 1901, was awarded a prize by theAcadémie française.
The fungi collected during the expedition were described in a paper published in 1905 byMarietta Hanson Rousseau andElisa Caroline Bommer.[6]
De Gerlache participated in several other expeditions, including:[7]
He had two children with his first wife, Suzanne Poulet, whom he married in 1904: Philippe (born 1906) and Marie-Louise (born 1908). After this marriage ended in 1913, de Gerlache married Elisabeth Höjer fromSweden. With her, he had another son, the explorerGaston de Gerlache in 1919. In the 1950s, Gaston followed in his father's footsteps, participating in a Belgian research station in Antarctica.
Adrien de Gerlache died inBrussels in 1934, aged 68, fromparatyphoid fever.
Several geographical features were named in his honour, mostly in Antarctica:Cape Gerlache,Mount Gerlache,Gerlache Inlet,Gerlache Island,Gerlache Strait and thede Gerlache seamounts, as well asPic de Gerlache in Greenland andde Gerlache crater, near thelunar south pole.[1] One ofAntwerp's quays is named De Gerlachekaai.
