Lot #179 BELGICA Polar Expedition; silver gelatin photograph captioned verso "Dr. Frederick A.Cook gave me this photo. Shows him on the Belgian Expedition to the South Pole. Ship BELGICA is in background. Cook said the temperature was 40 below, when this picture was taken".

Description:

BELGICA Polar Expedition; silver gelatin photograph captioned verso "Dr. Frederick A.Cook gave me this photo. Shows him on the Belgian Expedition to the South Pole. Ship BELGICA is in background. Cook said the temperature was 40 below, when this picture was taken". Also inscribed "Print not so good. Freeman Mackay(?) Belle Mead N.J. U.S.A.". The Belgica left Antwerp in 1897, Dr. Cook assumed command of the vessel along with Roald Amundsen after Captain de Gerlache went down with scurvy. The ship spent an entire winter trapped in the ice of the Bellinghausen Sea before returning to Belgium in November 1899. 18 x 13cm