Jean-Baptiste Charcot – Polar Explorer

When Jean-Baptiste Charcot was born in 1867, virtually all the land on the globe had been mapped, with the exception of the poles. It was these polar lands that the explorer — though originally destined to become a doctor — would patiently reveal to the world. He would bring back from his voyages to Antarctica aboard the Français, and then the celebrated Pourquoi Pas?, numerous maps, mineral and animal collections, and would chart several new territories.

But who knows that the man nicknamed the "polar gentleman" was twice a vice-Olympic champion in sailing in 1900? And that he played a considerable role in the fight against submarines during the First World War?

Who knows, finally, that this man of Saint-Malo at heart, who had two of his ships built at the Gautier shipyards, was also a committed figure in a great many associations, as well as in politics, particularly in the corsair city?

And that, towards the end of his life, the explorer had sensed his fate at sea, writing, just a few weeks before the shipwreck that claimed his crew: "This will probably be my last voyage. The Pourquoi Pas? is ageing, and so am I…"

Roman Petroff is the author of various works on painters, notably the biography of Marin Marie for which he received the Grand Prix de l'Académie de Marine.