Frederick Albert Cook 
Through the First Antarctic Night, 1898-1899 [PDF ebook] 
A Narrative of the Voyage of the Belgica Among Newly Discovered Lands and Over an Unknown Sea About the South Pole

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. This third period of antarctic research, like the third stage of arctic exploration, is wholly in the interest of science. The first country to complete the outfit of a modern expedition was Belgium. England and Germany now have expeditions in preparation, but the honour of being the first to send a scientific ven ture, with trained specialists and appropriate equip ment to the antarctic, belongs to Belgium.