His name would make one more notable appearance in polar history. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, he teamed up with Lars Christensen, the Sandefjord shipbuilder who’d turned the Patria into the Belgica, to construct a new ship, the Polaris, on which he planned to lead polar-bear-hunting cruises for wealthy tourists. A three-masted barkentine clad in greenheart, she bore a sisterly resemblance to the Belgica. The Polaris was said to be among the strongest wooden vessels ever constructed. Yet in the end, de Gerlache had to back out of the partnership for financial reasons.
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