In the darkness, plagued by a mysterious illness and besieged by monotony, they descended into madness. When the sun set on the magnificent polar landscape one last time, the ship’s occupants were condemned to months of endless night. De Gerlache sailed on, and soon the Belgica was stuck fast in the icy hold of the Bellingshausen Sea. 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. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica.īut de Gerlache’s plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. 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. Sancton has produced a thriller.”- The Wall Street Journal “The energy of the narrative never flags. The “exquisitely researched and deeply engrossing” ( The New York Times) 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.Anyone who appreciates historical narrative in which the boundaries of human endurance are examined will wholeheartedly appreciate this book. 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.
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