The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV Belgica, it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the first expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Among its members were Frederick Cook and Roald Amundsen, explorers who would later attempt the respective conquests of the North and South Poles. Preparation and surveying In 1896, after a period of intensive lobbying, Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery purchased the Norwegian-built whaling ship Patria, which, following an extensive refit, he renamed . Gerlache had worked together with the Geographical Society of Brussels to organize a national subscription, but was able to outfit his expedition only after the Belgian government voted in favor of two large subsidies, making it a state-supported undertaking. With a multinational crew that included Roald Amundsen from Norway, Emil Racoviță from Romania, and Henryk Arctowski from Poland, Belgica set sail from Antwerp on 16 August 1897. En route to the Antarctic, the expedition visited Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo. Belgica was received particularly enthusiastically in Rio, where a large Belgian community lived. Frederick Cook, an American, joined the expedition there. The Brazilians were also very interested in the Belgian scientific undertaking. The Historical and Geographical Society of Rio held a special meeting where the scientists and officers of the expedition were offered membership. A few weeks later, in Montevideo, Amundsen wrote in his diary that he had never seen so many beautiful women "in one place at the same time". During January 1898, Belgica reached the coast of Graham Land. On 22 January, Carl Wiencke was washed overboard during a storm and drowned. Wiencke Island was named in his honor. Sailing in between the Graham Land coast and a long string of islands to the west, Gerlache named the passage "Belgica Strait"; it was later renamed Gerlache Strait in his honor. After charting and naming several islands from some twenty separate landings, the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle on 15 February. Failing to find a way into the Weddell Sea on 28 February, Gerlache's expedition became trapped in the ice of the Bellinghausen Sea, near Peter I Island. It is likely that Gerlache intentionally sailed deep into the pack ice in order to freeze his vessel into the ice for the winter. Despite the crew's efforts