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Holding Details

Barcode30053003321224
Home LocationParis-Bourbon
Call No919.8904 SANC
Title Madhouse at the end of the Earth : the Belgica's journey into the dark Antarctic night / Julian Sancton.
Author Sancton, Julian, author.
CollectionAdult 900-999
Reserve Item

Copies

StatusHome LocationBarcodeCall NoCreated OnIssue NameCirc Status
 Paris-Bourbon30053003321224919.8904 SANC5/4/2021 Available

Catalog Details

Personal Name Sancton, Julian, author.
Title Statement Madhouse at the end of the Earth : the Belgica's journey into the dark Antarctic night / Julian Sancton.
Edition Statement First edition.
Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice New York : Crown, [2021]
Physical Description viii, 350 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Content Type text txt rdacontent
Media Type unmediated n rdamedia
Carrier Type volume rdacarrier
Bibliography, Etc. Note Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-325) and index.
Summary, Etc. "The harrowing true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry-with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter-in the tradition of David Grann, Nathaniel Philbrick, and Hampton Sides. 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 earth: 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 options: 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 this epic tale, Julian Sancton unfolds a 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 captivity: 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"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject-Personal Name Gerlache de Gomery, A. de (Adrien), commandant, 1866-1934.
Subject-Personal Name Cook, Frederick Albert, 1865-1940.
Subject-Personal Name Amundsen, Roald, 1872-1928
Subject Belgica (Ship)
Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term Antarctica Discovery and exploration Belgian.

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