|
Gerlache
Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99. Early years Born in Hasselt in eastern Belgium as the son of an army officer, de Gerlache was educated in Brussels. 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 the Free University of Brussels. After finishing his third year in 1885, he quit the university and joined the Belgian Navy on 19 January 1886. After graduating from the nautical college of Ostend he worked on fishery protection vessels as second and third lieutenant. In October 1887 he signed on as seaman on the ''Craigie Burn'', an English ship, for a voyage to San Francisco, but the ship failed to round Cape Horn and was sold for scrap in Montevideo. He returned to Europe after spending time in Urug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgian Antarctic Expedition
The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV ''Belgica'', it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the first expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Among its members were Frederick Cook and Roald Amundsen, explorers who would later attempt the respective conquests of the North and South Poles. Preparation and surveying In 1896, after a period of intensive lobbying, Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery purchased the Norwegian-built whaling ship ''Patria'', which, following an extensive refit, he renamed . Gerlache had worked together with the Geographical Society of Brussels to organize a national subscription, but was able to outfit his expedition only after the Belgian government voted in favor of two large subsidies, making it a state-supported undertaking. With a multinational crew that included Roald Amundsen from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerlache Strait
Gerlache Strait or de Gerlache Strait or Détroit de la Belgica is a Channel (geography), channel/strait separating the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula. The Belgian Antarctic Expedition, under Lt. Adrien de Gerlache, explored the strait in January and February 1898, naming it for the expedition ship ''RV Belgica (1884), Belgica''. The name was later changed to honor the commander himself. On the expedition in the Gerlache Strait, biologist Emil Racoviță made several discoveries, including a flightless midge fly that was later formally named ''Belgica antarctica'' by the Belgian Entomology, entomologist Jean-Charles Jacobs. Geology Four tectonic blocks are identifiable in the Gerlache Strait area, bounded by two systems of Tertiary strike-slip faults. The longitudinal faults include the SW-NE trending Neumayer Fault that extends from Peltier Channel across Wiencke Island, and then onwards most likely as the Gerlache Fault. The SW-NE trending Fournier Fault paral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RV Belgica (1884)
''Belgica'' was a barque-rigged steamship that was built in 1884 by Christian Brinch Jørgensen at Svelvik, Norway as the whaler ''Patria''. In 1896, she was purchased by Adrien de Gerlache for conversion to a research ship, taking part in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1901, becoming the first ship to overwinter in the Antarctic. In 1902, she was sold to Philippe, Duke of Orléans and used on expeditions to the Arctic in 1905 and from 1907 to 1909. In 1916, she was sold and converted to a passenger and cargo ship, serving Spitsbergen from the Norwegian mainland under the name ''Isfjord''. In 1918, she was sold and renamed ''Belgica'', being converted to a factory ship. Requisitioned by the British in April 1940, she was used as a depôt ship, being scuttled when the Franco-British Expeditionary Force evacuated Harstad in northern Norway. In 2007, plans to build a modern replica of ''Belgica'' were announced. Description The ship was long, with a beam of and a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaston De Gerlache
Baron Gaston de Gerlache de Gomery (Brussels, 17 November 1919 – Oudenaarde, 13 July 2006) was a Belgian polar explorer. Gaston de Gerlache was the son of Adrien de Gerlache, and followed in the tracks of his father by leading the second Belgian expedition to Antarctica in 1957–1958, 60 years after his father led the 1897–1899 Belgian Antarctic Expedition aboard the ship ''Belgica''. Gaston de Gerlache and his crew established the King Baudouin Base in 1958 in the context of the International Geophysical Year. On 11 December 1958 an aircraft with four Belgians, led by Gaston de Gerlache crashed in the Crystal Mountains, 250 km from King Baudouin Base, Antarctica. The crew was searched for and rescued on 16 December by the Soviet polar pilot V. M. Perov on an Li-2 aircraft, that had taken off from Mirny Station. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen began his career as a polar explorer as first mate on Adrien de Gerlache's Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899. From 1903 to 1906, he led the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage on the sloop ''Gjøa''. In 1909, Amundsen began planning for a South Pole expedition. He left Norway in June 1910 on the ship ''Fram'' and reached Antarctica in January 1911. His party established a camp at the Bay of Whales and a series of supply depots on the Barrier (now known as the Ross Ice Shelf) before setting out for the pole in October. The party of five, led by Amundsen, became the first to successfully reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911. Following a failed attempt in 1918 to reach the North Pole by traversing the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. The Antarctic Peninsula is part of the larger peninsula of West Antarctica, protruding from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of the Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet that covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands; these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level. They are joined by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, is about away across the Drake Passage. The Antarctic Peninsula is in area and 80% ice-covered. The marine ecosystem around the western continental shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has been subjected to rapid climate change. Over the past 50 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Land
Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in which the name "Antarctic Peninsula" was approved for the major peninsula of Antarctica, and the names Graham Land and Palmer Land for the northern and southern portions, respectively. The line dividing them is roughly 69 degrees south. Graham Land is named after Sir James R. G. Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of John Biscoe's exploration of the west side of Graham Land in 1832. It is claimed by Argentina (as part of Argentine Antarctica), Britain (as part of the British Antarctic Territory) and Chile (as part of the Chilean Antarctic Territory). Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. Thus it is the usual destination for small ships taking paying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emil Racoviță
Emil Gheorghe Racoviță (; 15 November 1868 – 19 November 1947) was a Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist, and Antarctic explorer. Together with Grigore Antipa, he was one of the most noted promoters of natural sciences in Romania. Racoviță was the first Romanian to have gone on a scientific research expedition to the Antarctic. He was an influential professor, scholar and researcher, and served as President of the Romanian Academy from 1926 to 1929. Early life Born in Iași, he grew up on a family estate, in Șurănești, Vaslui County, he started his education in Iași, where he had Ion Creangă as a teacher, and continued his secondary education at the ''Institutele Unite'', a private high school for boys in Iași, taking his baccalauréat in 1886. He then studied law at the University of Paris, obtaining a law degree in 1889. But he did not pursue a law career, instead turning to the natural sciences. His mentor was zoologist and biologist Henri de Lacaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski (6 June 1872 – 27 April 1954) was a Polish geophysicist, meteorologist and explorer. Early life Dobrowolski was born into an indigent family in Dworszowice Kościelne, and supported himself from the age of 12 by teaching younger students while a high school student in Warsaw. His involvement in seeking Polish independence led to a conviction to three years imprisonment in the Caucasus, but after two years he escaped and started studying in Switzerland and Belgium. Belgian Antarctic Expedition While still a student in biology, physics and chemistry at the University of Liège he took part in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897-1899) as assistant meteorologist. Henryk Arctowski, who was in charge of physical observations, was initially unsuccessfully in convincing expedition commander Adrien de Gerlache to take him on, but when the Belgica had to return to Ostend for repairs and the ship's doctor and a sailor quit, he was contracted as a sail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Société Royale Belge De Géographie
The ''Société Royale Belge de Géographie'' (In English, the ''Royal Belgian Geographical Society'') or SRBG, is a Belgian learned society which works to promote geographical sciences. History The Société was founded on 27 August 1876 as the Belgian Society of Geography a few days before the opening of the Brussels Geographic Conference to promote the exploration of various parts of the world. It was initially involved with commercial investment in Belgian colonies. In 1882 King Leopold II authorised the society to use the prefix "Royal". Although it was later funded privately Adrien de Gerlache first unveiled his plans for the Belgian Antarctic Expedition to the society in 1894.. In 1900 the society had more than one thousand members including several explorers such as the American, Richard Mohun.. By the middle of the twentieth century the society had changed its objectives from exploration to scientific research and study. The SRBG represents Belgium in the Europea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasselt
Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its local distelleries of Hasselt jenever (gin), the Hasselt Jenever Festivities, Limburgish pie and the Hasselt speculaas. The municipality includes the original city of Hasselt, plus the boroughs of Sint-Lambrechts-Herk, Wimmertingen, Kermt, Spalbeek, Kuringen, Stokrooie, Stevoort and Runkst, as well as the hamlets and parishes of Kiewit, Godsheide and Rapertingen. On 01 July 2022 Hasselt had a total population of 80,260 (39,288 men and 40,972 women). Both the Demer river and the Albert Canal run through the municipality. Hasselt is located in between the Campine region, north of the Demer river, and the Hesbaye region, to the south. On a larger scale, it is also situated in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion. History Hasselt was founded in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgian Navy
The Belgian Navy, officially the Belgian Naval Component ( nl, Marinecomponent; french: Composante marine; german: Marinekomponente ) of the Belgian Armed Forces, is the naval service of Belgium. History Early history The Belgian Navy was created as the ''Marine Royale'' ( en, Royal Navy) in 1831. This force has operated in various forms throughout Belgian history. When the country became independent after the Belgian Revolution of 1830, a Dutch squadron blocked the Scheldt estuary. To deal with this threat the Belgian Congress ordered two brigantines to be built, which bore the names ''Congrès'' and ''Les Quatre Journées''. After the French Army, led by Marshal Count Gérard, captured the citadel of Antwerp in 1832, the captured Dutch gun boats were pressed into Belgian service. In 1840 the Belgian government bought the schooner ''Louise Marie'' and in 1845 the brig ''Duc de Brabant''. ''Louise Marie'' participated in the Rio Nuñez Incident in 1849. In 1862, the Belgi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
