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Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
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About This Book
In August 1897, the young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition aboard the good ship Belgica with dreams of glory. His destination was the uncharted end of the the icy continent of Antarctica. But de Gerlache's plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. After a series of costly setbacks, the commandant faced two bad turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winter, or recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters. De Gerlache sailed on, and soon the Belgica was stuck fast in the icy hold of the Bellingshausen Sea. When the sun set on the magnificent polar landscape one last time, the ship's occupants were condemned to months of endless night. In the darkness, plagued by a mysterious illness and besieged by monotony, they descended into madness. In Madhouse at the End of the Earth, Julian Sancton unfolds an epic story of adventure and horror for the ages. As the Belgica's men teetered on the brink, de Gerlache relied increasingly on two young officers whose friendship had blossomed in the expedition's lone American, Dr. Frederick Cook—half genius, half con man—whose later infamy would overshadow his brilliance on the Belgica; and the ship's first mate, soon-to-be legendary Roald Amundsen, even in his youth the storybook picture of a sailor. Together, they would plan a last-ditch, nearly certain-to-fail escape from the ice—one that would either etch their names in history or doom them to a terrible fate at the ocean's bottom. Drawing on the diaries and journals of the Belgica's crew and with exclusive access to the ship's logbook, Sancton brings novelistic flair to a story of human extremes, one so remarkable that even today NASA studies it for research on isolation for future missions to Mars. Equal parts maritime thriller and gothic horror, Madhouse at the End of the Earth is an unforgettable journey into the deep.
Reviews
"A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale."
"Drawing on an impressive array of materials, the author shows how the Belgica endeavor was yet another example of careful planning that quickly went awry as physical illness, natural disaster, and a breakdown in command derailed every good intention."
"Though the prose occasionally tips over into the melodramatic, this is a well-researched and enthralling portrait of endurance and escape."
"Sancton gives this extraordinary saga its first book-length treatment ..."
"The endless monotony of not knowing whether they would survive and the toll it took upon their psyche is profound and gut-wrenching."
"There's more scope in Madhouse for dark humor than for general levity, and Sancton knows when to employ it ..."
"Sancton conjures the fug of pipe smoke and unwashed men in the unventilated wardroom, the taste of kjøttboller—spongy canned meatballs resembling 'soft, colorless gobs'—and the pearly sheen of fluted icebergs ..."
"he coaxes his material into a watertight narrative."
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