Adventure in Odd Corners of the Globe

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 41, 11 May 1927, Page 9

Adventure in Odd Corners of the Globe

Authoress Arrives in Auckland on Visit ROMANCE AND CRAZY SHIPS Battling round the world in crazy little ships .... That is how Miss Jean Schoen describes voyages which make the average woman shudder and leave the globe-trotter green with envy. Into a few years of her life Miss Schoen has packed adventure on adventure until it seems that there is no new exploit from which she could possibly obtain a thrill. But there is, she says, the world is wide and life is one. long romance. Adventure is her very existence.

Miss Schoen has travelled almost from Greenland’s icy mountains to the coral strands of the Pacific. This morning she stepped off the Hinemoa. adding Auckland to her long chain of acquaintances after spending two months in Norfolk Island.

It was impossible to believe that this much-travel led little lady who looked out from a smart grey fur and the neatest of clothes. had been in a mutiny among the natives on the Congo, West Africa, endured the voyage from Vancouver in an old, plodding barque, journeyed from island to island in the Pacific in a tiny 50-foot schooner. and worked as a stenographer in the wilds of Africa on the wages paid to the blacks. ENJOYED IT ALL But she has, and what is more, she has enjoyed it all—afterwards. There have been uncomfortable, exciting and terrible moments, but they have been forgotten in the realisation that she had been drinking deep from the cup of adventure. Not so many months ago, on a lonely Pacific isle, Miss Schoen was greeted by natives carrying uglylooking rifles. She smiled it out, however, and the natives ended by pinching her arm to see how fat she was. Another unpleasant adventure happened in West Africa when Miss Schoen possessed the only live revolver in her party. It was used by the captain of the ship to shoot two of the natives. Through all these varied and amazing exploits Miss Schoen has never forsaken woman’s attire. Not for her the freakish “breeks” or the male trousers so loved by publicity hunters. “I have always worn woman’s clothes.” she said this morning. “I found that I always got along best in them.” WRITING STORIES Miss Schoen is an American freelance journalist, and naturally she is always on the look-out for stories. Her articles and short stories have appeared in many American magazines and papers. One of her latest is a comprehensive descriptive article on Norfolk Island for the “National Geographic Magazine.” With a companion, Miss Viola Irene Cooper, Miss Schoen left Vancouver in the French barque Bourgainville for her adventures in the Pacific. Miss Corper, who is assistant editor of “The New Orient,” and was at one time secretary to Charles and Kathleen Norris, the authors, stayed behind in Noumea. “The Bourgainville’s was the dirtiest, but the best trip I have ever done,” Miss Schoen remarked this morning. Apparently she has the spirit which won’t be damped by heavy seas and dirty ships. EVE IN THE ISLANDS One of her most exciting trips was a journey round New Caledonia in a tiny 50-foot schooner. She was the only woman on board, but fortunately the captain was a Frenchman. While in the New Hebrides Miss Schoen spent an uncomfortable time in quarantine. Even that did not quench the spirit of adventure, which has led this enterprising young American into many corners of the globe, and incidentally to New Zealand, where she is to spend a little time thinking and plotting new stories. And the wonder of it is how she has kept her clothes so neat through all this wild adventuring.