Photos from the 'end of the Earth': Story of 19th century Antarctic expedition that ended with the crew going insane after the Belgica was trapped in the ice for more than a year is told in a harrowing new book Author Julian Sancton has written a new book charting the journey of a 19th century expedition to Antarctica Belgica, a three-mast barque, left Antwerp on August 16, 1897 on the first scientific mission to the continent But the ship became trapped in the ice and the crew fell prey to illness and insanity before freeing themselves Sancton was given exclusive access to the ship's logs, letters and photographs and shares them here