The anchor of Adrien de Gerlache’s Belgica is back in Ostend, this time for good.

Curious about the turbulent career of Belgica, the vessel that carried Adrien de Gerlache’s expedition?

For his Antarctic expedition (1897-1899), Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery (1866-1934) purchased the three-masted barque Patria in Norway in 1896. The vessel measured 36 metres in length, 7.80 metres in width, and had a draught of 4.20 metres. Master shipbuilder Johan Christian Jacobsen built it in 1884 in the small town of Svelvik, using pine, oak, and greenheart wood. The vessel was originally designed for hunting whales and seals. At the Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord, it was converted into a sturdy research vessel with a reinforced hull, a few cabins, and a laboratory.  Patria was repainted steel grey and white and renamed Belgica. Officially, it was classified as a  pleasure yacht, sailing under the flag of the Royal Yacht Club of Belgium (RYCB), because the Belgian Navy refused to register it.

Under celebratory cheers, carillon echoes and gun salutes,  Belgica left the port of Antwerp on Monday, 16 August 1897. In Ostend, however, for logistical reasons, the ship had to remain at anchor for a while. Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), one of the renowned crew members, proudly referred to it as a gem of a vessel. After the great crossing, it set sail from Staten Island at the southern tip of Argentina for Antarctica, where it became trapped in pack ice from March 1898 to March 1899. The crew endured the endless darkness of the polar night, as scurvy, madness, and death relentlessly gripped them. On March 28, 1899, however,  Belgica safely docked in Punta Arenas, Chile, bringing an end to the hardships.

On Sunday 5 November 1899,  Belgica was welcomed back to Antwerp. After the decaying ship was declared a monument and repaired, de Gerlache sailed it repeatedly as commander to Greenland, the Svalbard archipelago, and other destinations. In 1916, it entered Norwegian service and was refurbished and renamed Isfjord. For two years, it transported coal and other materials between Spitsbergen and northern Norway before being sold in 1918. The new owner renamed it Belgica and converted it into a floating fish factory on the Harstad-Bergen route. In 1940, the ship was anchored off Harstad as a British munitions depot for the Allies until a German bomb sank it on 19 May. In 1990, local divers found the wreck, and the Belgica Society took ownership of it. Given the large amount of ammunition on board, it was wisely decided to salvage only part of the wreck. In 2024, the Society donated the wreck to the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ).

Some artefacts of the Belgica are in public or private ownership, including the rudder, the crow's nest, a sled, the wooden sign L’Union fait la Force that once hung on the deck, a stuffed penguin, and a hauntingly atmospheric time-lapse photograph (90-minute exposure!) of  Belgica in pack ice, taken by American ship’s doctor, photographer, and crew member Frederick Cook.

On 19 March 2025, the anchor was officially unveiled at the site of VLIZ's Marine Station Ostend, on the Slipwaykaai in Ostend.