Madhouse at the End of the Earth

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ΓÇó The ΓÇ£exquisitely researched and deeply engrossingΓÇ¥ (The New York Times) true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awryΓÇöwith the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless,Antarctic winter ΓÇ£The energy of the narrative never flags. . . . Sancton has produced a thriller.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöThe Wall Street Journal In August 1897the 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 earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But de GerlacheΓÇÖs plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. After a series of costly setbacksthe commandant faced two bad options: turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winteror recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters. De Gerlache sailed onand 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 timethe shipΓÇÖs occupants were condemned to months of endless night. In the darknessplagued by a mysterious illness and besieged by monotonythey descended into madness. In Madhouse at the End of the EarthJulian Sancton unfolds an epic story of adventure and horror for the ages. As the BelgicaΓÇÖs men teetered on the brinkde Gerlache relied increasingly on two young officers whose friendship had blossomed in captivity: the expeditionΓÇÖs lone AmericanDr. Frederick CookΓÇöhalf geniushalf con manΓÇöwhose later infamy would overshadow his brilliance on the Belgica; and the shipΓÇÖs first matesoon-to-be legendary Roald Amundseneven in his youth the storybook picture of a sailor. Togetherthey would plan a last-ditchnearly certain-to-fail escape from the iceΓÇöone that would either etch their names in history or doom them to a terrible fate at the oceanΓÇÖs bottom. Drawing on the diaries and journals of the BelgicaΓÇÖs crew and with exclusive access to the shipΓÇÖs logbookSancton brings novelistic flair to a story of human extremesone so remarkable that even today NASA studies it for research on isolation for future missions to Mars. Equal parts maritime thriller and gothic horrorMadhouse at the End of the Earth is an unforgettable journey into the deep.