The only creatures seemingly unaffected by the oppression of obscurity were the rats. Those who lay awake in their bunks were tormented by the squeaks coming up through the floorboards. There was no such thing as a silent night. After dipping below the horizon on May 17, the sun would not rise for months. The Belgica was soon stuck fast and her men would become the first to suffer the cruelties of an Antarctic winter. Nowhere near his original goal-the south magnetic pole-Commandant Adrien de Gerlache made the baffling decision to sail south, into the clutches of the ice. By February 1898, the ship was ploughing through the thickening pack ice of the Bellingshausen Sea. The Belgian Antarctic Expedition left Antwerp in August 1897 amid great fanfare, aboard a three-mast steam whaler called the Belgica.

In this epic tale, Julian Sancton unfolds a story of adventure gone horribly awry. In the darkness, plagued by a mysterious illness, their minds ravaged by the sound of dozens of rats teeming in the hold, they descended into madness. But the ship soon became stuck fast in the ice of the Bellinghausen sea, condemning the ship's crew to overwintering in Antarctica and months of endless polar night. Anyone who appreciates historical narrative in which the boundaries of human endurance are examined will wholeheartedly appreciate this book.Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton is published by WH AllenĪugust 1897: The Belgica set sail, eager to become the first scientific expedition to reach the white wilderness of the South Pole. The endless monotony of not knowing whether they would survive and the toll it took upon their psyche is profound and gut-wrenching. One can almost feel the sting of the Antarctic coldness and imagine the endless darkness and despair as it wraps its brutal shroud upon the crew. The use of primary sources and Sancton’s unique, almost novel-like writing style is captivating. In its most basic structure, this work is a study of human nature under horrific conditions and how leadership, professionalism, and compassion ultimately prevailed over madness and disease. Sancton does a brilliant job of transporting the reader to a far-off place and time.

filled with historical facts, astonishing detail, and firsthand narratives of the Belgica’s crew. In graphic and meticulously researched detail Sancton describes the countless impediments that pushed these men to the brink of insanity.

Madhouse at the end of earth