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Answers
Explanation:
Adrian de Gerlache was born in Hasselt on 2 August 1866. He showed a very strong interest in the sea and he joined up in the Belgian navy. He took part in multiple long distance trips and later on became captain on the Ostend-Dover ferry. Soon he became bored with this job and decided to organize his own expedition to Antarctica. He bought a Norwegian-built whaling ship (Patria) and renamed it the Belgica. A multinational crew of 23, two of whom were Roald Amundsen and Antoni Dobrowolski, departed from Antwerpen on 16 August 1897.
They had planned to be back at the start of the next year, however, on 28 February 1898 the expedition became trapped in the sea ice and it looked like they had no other option then to spend the winter in Antarctica. The long winter drove many men mad and they suffered badly from scurvy.
Finally, on 15 February 1899, after clearing a channel in the sea ice by hand they managed to break free from the ice and sail back to Belgium. It had taken nearly a month to sail the initial 10 km of ice they were trapped in. The expedition returned to Antwerpen on 5 November 1899. In total they spent two years and three months away from home, of which they spent 15 months in Antarctica. It must have been horrible conditions.
Amundsen gained lots of experience during this trip which would become valuable for him to reach the pole in the summer of 1911-1912.
Baron Adrien De Gerlache participated in more expeditions to Greenland, Barents Sea, Spitsbergen, etc. He died in Brussels on 4 December 1934 at the age of 68.
Everybody knows the names such as Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton but without people like Adrien de Gerlache they would have never achieved what they are now known for.