This must be the most well researched book I’ve ever read. The level of detail is extraordinary and yet so much of what seems perhaps over the top information later proves invaluable to making sense of everything.
If I’m honest it’s probably not my kind of book but I simply read it because it was so well written and informative. (Plus it made my husband jealous because it’s so perfect for him and I kept reading snippets out aloud to him. )

It took me a few chapters to get a feel for this story, but it really is a fascinating one. You can feel Sancton's passion for the subject and the vast amount of research that has clearly gone into it. But it never veers too far into the scholarly. It is a riveting account of an incredible journey. I knew nothing at all about the Belgica, and very little about polar expeditions in general but Sancton does an amazing job of "showing not telling" what exploration is like.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Such a great read!
This is the story of the first international expedition to the Antarctic, thoroughly researched (even pointing out discrepancies between the different people's recollections, which I found fascinating) and told in an accessible way. I felt like I was in the Belgica with the characters and that I understood each and every one of them.

I can't recommend this book enough.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I am grateful to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. 

This book documents the true story of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition at the very end of the 19th Century. Led by Adrien de Gerlache, aboard the aptly named ship, the Belgica, it was the first expedition to remain in the Antarctic region over the winter months. Whether this was planned, fortuitous or due to the unforeseen circumstances is still unknown. The author provides some evidence to resolve this issue from written records surviving the expedition. Whatever the cause, the ship, with crew, is locked in ice with no escape possible during winter. Physical and mental hardships plus isolation in a cold and dark environment affects various members of the crew in different ways. Among the crew members were an American, Ship’s Doctor and Artic explorer, Frederick Cook and a young First Mate, Roald Amundsen. Men who would later lead and attempt conquests of the North and South Poles.

This book tells their story and that of the other officers and crew. Ostensibly A Belgium sponsored, supported and manned expedition, the crew included several Norwegians with other nationalities also represented. This mix of language, background and culture provides a source of conflict, in addition to physical Antarctic hardships, for the crew to endure.

The book is centred on the Belgian Expedition Leader, de Gerlache, and his desire to create history. Although he had some Artic experience, he was probably unsuited to the role of expedition leader in such a difficult and unknown area. The book covers his planning, fund-raising, securing a vessel, recruiting the crew and finally leading the expedition. Fortunately Cook and Amundsen, both relatively late additions to the crew, provide significant leadership and strategy as difficulties arise.

The expedition was well documented with de Gerlache, other officers and some of the crew keeping diaries and other written records. The author makes good use of these sources to add colour, context and narrative to the story. First Mate Amundsen and Ship’s Doctor Cook become the dominant personalities onboard, had significant cold-weather experience and therefore played a large role in leadership, activities and events. Without these two men, the fate of the mission could have had a much different outcome.

The first half of the book covers background events and activities to plan the expedition, plus the voyage to Antartica. Leadership and personality conflicts soon become evident during this phase. The second half of the book covers events over the winter months with the ship and crew is trapped in Antarctic ice shelf. Conflicts are soon magnified as physical conditions, limited supplies and isolation begin to take a toll on the officers and crew. The author provides vivid descriptions throughout, from the numerous records, many written at the time, some written afterwards. Dialogue and thoughts based on these sources bring events to life, adding colour and context.
This is a fascinating account of a relatively unknown or at least under-appreciated expedition. My knowledge of Amundsen was superficial at best before reading this book. A man who, although first to reach the South Pole, only did so due to a strategy of using dogs for transportation and ultimately eating them. Robert Scott, who lead the ill-fated British team somehow was considered the hero of this Antarctic contest. My knowledge of Antarctic explorers is significantly improved after reading this book. Amundsen, although a late addition to the crew, brought experience and leadership and had a large responsibility for the expedition outcome. Also Ship’s Doctor Cook, a flawed character who nevertheless is also largely responsible for the crews physical well-being and plays a role in leadership and strategy. Regrettably, after the expedition, Cook has a mixed future as explorer and businessman. The books opening chapter portrays the closeness of the relationship between the men as Amundsen visits Cook in an American prison many years later.

As well as providing a fascinating tale of this first winter in the Antarctic, the author provides insights and assessments into the crew’s physical as well as mental condition as they endured the harsh, dark, cold environment, limited supplies, isolation and an unknown future.

The final chapter, gives an interesting summary of the surviving Belgica members. Some returned to their old lives. Some continued scientific careers. It is easy to forget that the expedition was primarily a scientific venture with important data and samples collected whenever possible thus providing researchers with material for investigation, documentation and publication. Cook and Amundsen went on to important feats and achievements in other remote parts of the world. The author also links the experiences and outcomes of the crew to potentially current day plans to send manned missions into space, with participants likely to experience at least some of the mental hardships of the Belgica crew.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, often pausing to seek other references material online, including many of Cook’s dramatic photographs. It is an important book, providing and insight into an Antarctic expedition that is relatively unknown. The de Gerlache expedition deserves recognition for it’s scientific and exploration accomplishments. It is a great read for anyone interested in Artic or Antarctic exploration. The endurance and leadership of men like de Gerlache, Amundsen and Cook is something we see infrequently on Earth today. Their story and the events of the Belgica expedition may provide important lessons and issues to consider if longer duration manned space exploration returns.

I found this book difficult to get into. Other reviewers said that they found this too; but that it was worth pushing through as the narrative improved greatly once the voyage to Antarctica began. It did somewhat, but I still found the book difficult to read for any length of time. It was not uninteresting, just very slow paced, except for a few instances. It was, to an extent, a biography of Amundsen, and it was interesting to know a lot more about him. And it did give me a better understanding of what an immense undertaking - and gamble- exploration was at the end of the 19th century.

This book is a narrative history of the ship, the *Belgica*, and the lives of the men aboard. The crew of this expedition sailed for Belgium (some very creative ship naming, there) and spent a year in Antarctic pack ice, which pushed them to their mental and physical limits. It is not important to the greater scope of the book, but it is very important to me, personally, that there was a cat named Nansen (named for Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen) aboard.

This book takes a few chapters to really get going, but it is absolutely worth it. The set-up chapters read like an Avengers Assemble montage and include some very famous names, such as Roald Amundsen, Adrien de Gerlach, and Dr. Frederick Cook. Julian Sancton goes into detail about their lives before the expedition and their personalities – this becomes very important in later chapters where the isolation causes personality clashes and the extreme weather and poor nutrition take their toll on the minds of the crew.

The actual story of the expedition reads like a cerebral domestic thriller rather than the "adventure" I was expecting, having read other accounts of Roald Amundsen's trek to the magnetic south pole. Upon reflection, I prefer the way this was written to a classic "adventure" narrative. It showed the expedition as important for science and harrowing for the crew, but did not frame their suffering as the stuff of "romantic heroes," that I think some narrative histories of expeditions like this have fallen into. In addition, Sancton goes out of his way to show us that the late nineteenth century *idea* of the romantic hero was extremely unhealthy and how it negatively affected members of the crew, including the famous Roald Amundsen.

I appreciate that Sancton draws from a variety of firsthand accounts – including diaries previously un-cited – and acknowledges and points out the discrepancies between the accounts of different crew members (and also between accounts of single people, written at different times in their lives). I felt drawn into the history of this expedition – not something that usually interests me – and was curious as to how it turned out for them.

A final note about my weird feelings on explorers and expeditions: white Europeans have historically used science and exploration as a means to colonize other parts of the world and the history of exploration is therefore extremely problematic and complicated. I felt I could enjoy this narrative more than I usually "enjoy" nineteenth-century history because Antarctica does not have any indigenous populations to colonize or exploit. I did feel bad for some of the seals and penguins that met with untimely ends at the hands of the *Belgica*'s crew, though. Sancton does bring up previous polar expeditions which depended on Inuit guides and sometimes treated them badly, so be aware of that going in.

In 1897, Adrien de Gerlache sets off in the Belgica with a ragtag crew and some interesting characters including Frederick Cook, a doctor, and Roald Amundsen, the famous Norwegian explorer on a polar expedition to explore Antarctica.
De Gerlache is determined to find fame and fortune for his family and for Belgium. Despite a number of setbacks, which include running aground and some very unruly and badly behaved sailors, he eventually reaches Antarctica, but his stubborn desire for fame coupled with his lack of leadership skills sees them trapped in an ice flow during winter.
The book explores the icy hell of an Antarctic winter and the psychological and physical effects that afflict the individuals as they try to survive their situation. They battle scurvy, endure terrible food and rationing, whilst trying to stay sane during prolonged periods of darkness and then blinding light.

It is a fascinating and brilliant account which reads like an adventure novel. I found it fascinating to read about the individuals and how they each coped with the circumstances,. Frederick Cook is a wonderful character, a maverick and entrepreneur, and then there's Amundsen, who seems to thrive in the harsh conditions, whilst some of the crew descend into madness, including the ship's cat who unfortunately dies, as do some of the crew. That the majority of them survive is almost a miracle....


Well researched and well written, it is a very engaging book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest reivew.

What a tremendous true story this is. The research that this author has pulled together is admirable, from the crews’ diaries and journals to the access of the ships detailed logbook. At the beginning of the journey, it felt like it was the lull before the storm. It was a time to get familiar with these historical figures before the making of a historical event, and it felt exhilarating to be on board the Belgica. There was little understanding of the consequences of long haul sailing expeditions and the effect that they would have on the crew.

The ship had set sail for Antarctica and was vastly underprepared for the journey and the winter that just wouldn’t let them go. The captain relied heavily on his officers, especially Dr Freddrick Cook the doctor on board the ship and Roald Amundsen First Mate. Besides the savage bitterness of the winter, there was endless darkness. It was not just detrimental to their mental health but also their physical health. The sailors were listless, confused and giving up on life. It was the doctor that came up with the solution.


The crew were encountering new animals and cataloguing them, but the landscape was a different matter. The land was constantly moving and reforming into unrecognisable landscapes, meaning leaving the ship and losing sight of it could be a fatal error. The story that is told is fascinating with great detail to the heath of the men, and everything that they encountered. Even now, the descriptions are truly breathtaking.

What I also liked about this book was how the story of the primary characters was carried on once the expedition was over, so I know what happened to them. I feel nothing ever matched their time in Antarctica, no matter what thrill they reached for, A fascinating, inspiring story of first footers and heroes.

I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Previously, I have read accounts of Earnest Shackleton and Scott and their epic expeditions to Antarctica so I was intrigued when the opportunity arose to read the saga of an internationally crewed ship, The Belgica, commanded by a Belgian, that was the precursor to those later events. I was more surprised as I started the book to find that I had never heard of the Belgica having lived and worked in Belgium for 10 years. As I progressed through the story of the passage of the ship and the detail of the personalities of the crew, it was the detail that was surprising and that surprise was abated only when I read the sources that the author had had access to and the fact that ten of the crew had kept detailed journals of the trip.
The journey and the subsequent first-ever wintering of an expedition on the continent were almost stranger than fiction as the crew were faced with many ‘firsts’ in Antarctic exploration and apart for two unfortunate casualties and a very intimidating brush with scurvy, the crew returned eventually with a wealth of scientific data and specimens. Nearly all however, suffered from mental health issues of varying degrees and the observations by Dr Cook and some of his treatments are today regarded as ground-breaking and still valid.
A fascinating account of the first Antarctic expedition in modern times, a real eye-opener of conditions that were faced by these brave men and the lessons learnt from their experiences are being applied today. A very good read.

This book is based on the Belgica, it’s 31 year old Belgium commandant, Adrien de Gerlache, and the journey to Antarctica which was filled with disaster and hardship. However, it seems to focus on the charismatic US doctor, Frederick Cook, another adventurer whose unorthodox methods saved many of the crew from scurvy.

The book was written using firsthand accounts of the Belgica’s voyage from many of the crew’s diaries. It is.a fascinating story, but I found it a slow read and whilst I wanted to know the outcome, it was hard going. This could be because I am studying as well as holding down a full-time job, but whilst it is a good read, I was glad when I had finished.

Received arc from Random House UK and Netgalley for honest read and review.
This was an interesting read that had me hooked from the very beginning.Great story that made it hard to put book down, really well written and described the Antarctic really well.
Very harrowing in parts, but a brilliant read.

A fascinating story of polar exploration, full of stressful moments and beautiful descriptive writing, Madhouse at the End of the Earth takes a while to get started, with a bit too much groundwork and backstory before getting to the meat of the story that leaves it slightly unbalanced. Still, a great survival story.

I am always astounded by the sheer volume of research that goes into a detailed historical account such as this! Madhouse at the End of the Earth chronicles the attempt by the Belgica to explore the Antarctic in 1897. The story centers around de Gerlache, Cook and Admundsen as they and the rest of the crew face untold challenges on their journey. They have many ordeals of note but spending a lengthy winter in darkness, trapped in the ice, whilst attempting to hold on to their wits as they wait for a summer thaw boggles the mind. A truly gripping endurance. I took a real shine to Dr. Cook who, for me, was the hero of the story. Without him and his knowledge of Arctic indigenous peoples and their practices, the Belgica and her crew may not have survived to tell the tale.

And what a remarkable tale it was. A rich story filled with facts and personal interest I deeply enjoyed. Nothing highlights man's ability to overcome obstacles quite like this entrancing story. I highly recommend it to one and all.

I found this fascinating. I don't often read non-fiction, but this was sort of fictionalised-non-fiction. It really pulls you in and makes the voyage feel so real. Really interesting!

Absolutely loved ‘Madhouse at the End of the Earth’ by Julian Sancton. I devour anything to do with Arctic/Antarctic exploration and this book was definitely one of the best. Excellently and thoroughly researched this recount of a lesser known expedition was an absolute page turner.

This is a non-fictional account of the harrowing true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly wrong. The men had to deal with their ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter.
It is a detailed, gripping account of the Belgica expedition in the late 1890s. Julian Sancton has depicted the unforgiving Antarctic landscapes the crew encountered, using excerpts from the sailors’ diaries to bring the ship’s troubled woes to life. The voyage of the Belgica is doomed from the start with an inexperienced and unreliable crew.
There is a risk it could be a little dry. However the descriptive backdrop is immersive and very impressive. It is easy to place yourself there and imagine the sounds and views with clarity. It uses various sources to derive the account, using such as crew diaries. It therefore makes for a very easy & engaging read that almost flows like fiction. This degree of writing is in itself impressive.

An hauntingly evocative story of early day Antarctic exploration . Real life story of a crew facing the worst of the Antarctic weather and the difficulties they faced , whether it be stuck in the ice floes for months on end , illness, mental illness or loss of faith in the officers leading the expedition . Well written account of this early 1898 expedition in search of the magnetic South Pole.

What a fascinating tale this was - and so well researched and written. This expedition was doomed from the start with the lack of professionals on the Belgica and the different aims and objectives of the strong characters aboard.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Julian Sancton, Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is very slow to start, with a level of detail early on that feels unnecessary (but later makes sense), but once the voyage is underway, it’s a fascinating read. The author has used the diaries and accounts of the crew members to paint a vivid and compelling picture of their experience trapped in the ice on board the Belgica, and really brought the men to life. I think the title might be a bit at odds with the book, as it suggests something quite different to what the book actually is.

Under Julian Sancton's pen, The Beligica expedition really comes to life. In fact so much so that Madhouse at the End of the Earth almost reads like fiction. There's a wealth of detail packed in the pages of this book. From the planning of the expedition to detailed descriptions of route, weather, landscapes, what scientific observations and experiments were conducted aboard the ship to the actual people who took part and their roles in the expedition. It must have taken an extraordinary amount of research to be able to paint such a complete and vivid image of this awe inducing adventure.

I would also like to point out that in my copy the biologist of the expedition is named Racovitza which is not his name. His name is Emil Racoviță. As I have not seen the other names being Americanised despite having characters that are not in English language, I hope the same respect will be show for Racoviță too and the book will be printed with the correct name,

Many thanks for the opportunity to read this.