Charcot, Doctor of Medicine, and polar explorer picnicked twice in Antarctica. Each time, he used the situation to divert his crew from the boredom of being ice-bound. Charcot does not mention what they ate or drank in 1904 but uncharacteristically notes the episode is a picnic instead of pique-nique. Afterall, it wasn’t a déjeuner sur […] read more

When Shackleton’s Endurance was crushed by October ice in Antarctica, he and five companions set out for South Georgia Island, 800 miles away, in some of the most stormy and cold ocean on Earth. Their boat was a whaler, James Caird, barely big enough for the men and supplies. But it held, and enduring the […] read more