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Greetings and welcome to the Explorers Podcast.

Today is part two in our series on the Belgium Expedition, the first endeavor that is part of what today we call the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Let us get rolling.

Last time, the Belgium had departed from Europe, steaming south towards Antarctica.

The ship had to meet the expedition's new doctor, Frederick Cook, in Rio de Janeiro.

Adrian Descartes, the expedition's commander, had his hands full from the start due to the crew's volatile mix and his own passive leadership.

I want to talk about this because it really sets the stage for the rest of the series.

The crew was made up of 13 Belgians and 10 foreigners, the latter, mostly Norwegians.

Many of the Norwegians were experienced whalers and fishermen, and they disliked the Belgians who resented being ordered a belt by foreigners.

And let us remember, this was a Belgian expedition.

Descartes Lache had sold the endeavor as such, and he could not afford to antagonize his own countrymen.

Regarding Descartes Lache, he was an interesting man.

He was smart and intellectual.

He was confident and firm when sailing a ship.

Yet as a commander, he was a wet noodle.

He was like confrontation and ignored festering problems, or tried to get his officers to take care of things themselves.

I mentioned last time that he was sensitive to criticism, and thus he was terrified of doing anything that would report it back to the Belgian press that might be controversial.

This included discipline in our firing Belgian crew members, or giving non-Belgians too much authority.

This made some of the Belgians, and I stress some, not all, more willing to disobey orders or challenge the officers.

I want to note that the officers of Belgica had contracts, and were thus bound to perform to the specs of said agreement.

The crew was a different matter. This was not the Belgian Navy.

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