Today has been the last day of off-ship operations in the Antarctic. Early morning found us at 64° 44’ S, 63° 02W with an outside temperature of 0° C, or 32° F, and a wind speed around 17 knots. This mild weather augered well for the morning activities planned for Danco Island.
Danco Island was named for Lieutenant Emil Danco who was a member of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897-99. Danco had been released from the army to act as the magnetician to the expedition and he assisted de Gerlache in Norway with the refitting of the whaler Patria as an expedition ship. It was renamed Belgica when re-launched in June 1897. For the second season of the expedition, Danco was to have been put ashore with a party at Cape Adare at the tip of the Ross Sea. The young physicist Louis Bernacchi, who grew up in Tasmania but with a Belgian and Italian heritage, was to have been picked up in Melbourne to take over the magnetic work on board the ship. After various misadventures and delays the Belgica finally sailed south past Cape Horn in mid-January 1898 and commenced coastal surveys and depth soundings. On their tenth landing, at Brabant Island, Danco fell down a crevasse. His rope tether broke but he was saved when his ski wedged and his fall was arrested. Further survey and mapping was carried out along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, during which time the Danco Coast (the portion on the western side of the Peninsula between Capes Sterneck and Renard) was named. Then, even though it was the end of February, late in the season for Antarctic exploration, de Gerlache took a decision to head the ship southward when they chanced upon some open water. It was inevitable that the ship would become icebound, and so it was. The ship survived being locked in the ice over the winter but the health of the crew was not so secure. During the winter many of the men developed scurvy symptoms and suffered headaches and acute anaemia. Danco was particularly affected as he also suffered from a weak heart and he died on June 5th. The doctor on board, the American Frederick Cook, prescribed fresh seal and penguin meat which eventually curtailed the maladies. After various adventures the ship was finally freed from ice in mid-March 1899. The rest of the program was abandoned and the ship returned to Belgium via Punta Arenas, landing in early November 1899. Danco Island was charted by de Gerlache and again by the British Falkland Island Dependency Survey in 1955 and named for Danco by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place Names Committee.
The program at Danco Island was a full one. Options included kayaking or walking ashore to an overlook with a stunning view of the locality. A total of 50 guests can now return home having enjoyed the bracing waters the Errera Channel during their polar plunge (2.9° C or 37° F) that followed the shore landing and kayaking activities. Of those, ten liked the experience so much they took a second dip. Congratulations to them all!
Shortly after, during lunch, humpback and killer whales were seen close to the ship moving about together in a display of seldom-seen proximity to each other. Guests had fine views of these species intermingling in an uncommon alliance. As the ship turned north and reached open water a program of presentations commenced, led by the veteran National Geographic photographic editor Kent Kobersteen.
