Adrien de Gerlache
| Adrien de Gerlache | |
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| Born |
Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery 2 August 1866 Hasselt, Belgium |
| Died | 4 December 1934 (aged 68) Brussels, Belgium |
| Cause of death | Paratyphoid fever |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Alma mater | Free University of Brussels |
| Occupation | Naval officer |
| Known for | Commander of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition |
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Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was an officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99.
Born in Hasselt, Belgium, 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 for some time 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 some time in Uruguay and Argentina. After a trip to Constantinople and the Black Sea he worked for the Holland-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, all the while taking further courses, and finally becoming captain on 22 August 1894.
Frustrated by the monotonous work aboard the Ostend-Dover ferries he offered his services to King Leopold II and Stanley for an expedition to the Congo but was turned down. A letter to Otto Nordenskiöld similarly went unanswered. Finally he started planning and promoting an Antarctic expedition of his own, proposing his plan in 1894 to the Royal Geographical Society.
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