WHY NOT?

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 March 1941, Page 8

WHY NOT?

SHIP-WRECKED ON ICELAND [ COAST. i OWNER NOTABLE EXPLORER. It was in 1936 that Jean Charcot went to his death, his ship the Why Not? being wrecked in a hurricane off the coast of Iceland. Few people outside France know all they ought to know of Jean Charcot, the remarkable French explorer who led a French expedition to the Antarctic as far back as 1903, and was searching for knowledge in 1908. A scientist, this great and heroic son of France was content to add knowledge to the world's store rather than win fame for himself. While other explorers were striving 'to reach the South Pole he was patiently and bravely probing into the secrets of the I great white South. But adventures came his way, and in one of them he was as near losing his life as any man could ever be—and live to tell the tale. His ship was the Why Not? —so named because to people who used to say she would never weather the Antarctic winter he used to reply “Why Not?" She had run deep into the southern ice. and Charcot and two companions had. gone off in a little boat to explore islands and channels. All went well at first. They looked on land no human eye had ever seen before, and then they began the return journey. But a blizzard came on. They could not see their way. The channels froze up. The wind beat in their faces. They wanted to sleep but dare not. They lost their way. They bore a piercing cold in little more than ordinary clothing. Their engine failed. They were compelled to tramp mile after mile in the snow, j They reached the ship at last, but they had suffered terribly. And all this was only one adventure among a host of adventures which Charcot and his gallant band shared in the Far South.