Commander Adrien Degerlache, on Skis Hunting Seals on South Polar Pack
Here is a wonderful view of the South Polar Regions. This is a great stretch of pack ice lying off the coast of the Antarctic Continent. This is the land of eternal snow and ice. Sunrise and sunset on many days are combined. During the winter there is neither sunrise nor sunset. But the dull cold and darkness of the long winter is never-ending. It is the winter season that the men on these Polar Expeditions find hardest to live through. There were only 19 persons, 7 officers and 12 mariners, on the Belgica Expedition. Some of these went crazy because of the terribleness of the cold and the sameness of the days. The Commander of the Belgica is here shown. DeGerlache was a Belgian by birth. He had spent some time with the seal fishers in the Arctic Ocean. By private subscriptions he succeeded in having the Belgica fitted up for a two-years trip to Antarctic Seas. His ship, though small, was built very stout. Its stern wall was 5 feet thick. Its breast wall was 12 feet thick. Over this was a covering of Swiss iron. With all its strength, the ice battered it so strongly it came near being lost. Perhaps the greatest single result of the Belgica Expedition was the discovery of the western part of the Antarctic Continent. From that time on, geographers felt sure that there was a great-body of land lying about the Polar Cap. Two men who were on this voyage deserve special attention. One is Roald Amundsen, the man who afterwards discovered the South Pole. The other is Dr. Cook, whose name is connected with the North Pole. It was Dr. Cook who took this photograph of deGerlache. Keystone ID: 13328 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.