MADHOUSE AT THE END OF THE EARTH

Sub-titled 'The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night' this harrowing story of survival was listed as a Book of the Year in The Times and The Sunday Times. This true life horror story of an early polar expedition that went terribly wrong tells the story of the ship frozen in ice and a crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter. In August 1897, the Belgica set sail eager to become the first scientific expedition to reach the white wilderness of the South Pole. But the ship soon became stuck fast in the ice of the Bellinghausen sea, condemning the crew to overwintering in Antarctica and months of endless polar night. Plagued by a mysterious illness, their minds ravaged by the sound of dozens of rats teeming in the hold, they descended into madness. Julian Sancton unfolds their story of an adventure gone horribly awry. As the crew teetered on the brink, the Captain increasingly relied on two young officers whose friendship had blossomed in captivity - Dr. Frederick Cook, the wild American whose later infamy would overshadow his brilliance on the Belgica, and the ship's first mate, soon-to-be legendary Roald Amundsen, who later raced Captain Cook to the South Pole. Together, Cook and Amundsen would plan a last-ditch desperate escape from the ice, one that would either etch their names in history and into the icy adventure, or doom them to a terrible fate in the frozen ocean. Draws on first-hand crew diaries and journals and exclusive access to the ship's logbook, this is equal parts maritime thriller and gothic horror and an unforgettable journey into the deep. 358 page paperback with author's notes and illus.