The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897 to 1899, named after its expedition vessel Belgica, was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region.
It left Antwerp, Belgium on August 16, 1897 and head towards the west coast of the Antarctic peninsula. Due to bad seamanship they were frozen in nearby Peter I Island, and drifted helplessly around the Bellinghause Ocean for the next thirteen months.
They were poorly equipped, and the conditions where hard, but nevertheless they still managed to collect a significant amount of scientific data.
Antarctic Continent assumes South Polar orientation and is isolated by Southern Ocean.
While the Expedition accomplished little in the way of Exploration, Shackleton's successful extrication of all 28 "souls intact" from the ice is a tale that forces one to re-evaluate ones concept of endurance, determination, and the indomitable Human Spirit.
April 2, war comes to the Antarctic in the form of an Argentine Ocuupation force that took the Falkland Islands and South Georgia by force and were expelled by British Forces eleven weeks later at the cost of 910 lives.
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