More than 100 years since Captain Scott and the Terra Nova sailed out of the port of Christchurch, a similarly ambitious ship has departed for the Ross Sea. This time with more champagne and caviar.
Le Commandant Charcot is carrying 140 passengers on a 26-day circumnavigation of Antarctica. While Scott and Amundsen had their sights on one particular world first, Charcot has already bagged more records than the polar explorers combined.
Powered by two hybrid-electric engines - capable of running on liquified natural gas or 50 tonnes of lithium storage batteries - the Ponant ship has sailed more degrees latitude north and south than any ship in history.
After reaching the geographic North Pole in September 2021, Charcot recorded 78.44 degrees South in the Ross Sea, last June. Just 1283km from the South Pole, the ship holds the record for the most southerly cruise.
She also claims to be the world’s most luxurious icebreaker.
Although, according to Captain Stanislas Devorsine, there’s not much competition.
“Icebreakers are normally not comfortable,” he says. “Banging, crushing, awful noises and comfort is not a concern.”
Le Commandant Charcot in Lyttelton. Photo / Thomas Bywater
The French mariner spent 10 years sailing to Antarctica for the CNRS science programmes out of Tasmania. His relief at the helm of this cutting-edge cruise ship cannot be understated.
The ship embodies both the adventurous rigour of Jacques Cousteau with the bon vivant life of Auguste Escoffier. It is ever ready to toast the latest polar achievement with a bottle from Épernay.
The ship has marine stabilisers to prevent roll in the South Sea and a Polar Class 2-rated hull meaning she cuts serenely through the world’s roughest oceans and up to 2.5m of sea ice.
Charcot has sailed through Roaring 40s with a full show in the ship’s theatre and, the captain says, without the dancers missing a beat.
Devorsine was first invited to help with the development of Ponant’s flagship vessel in 2018 and the ambition of sailing the first zero-emission journey to the North Pole.
He understood there were certain principles that could not be compromised.
“It was important to do it with elegance - to do it properly.”
Le Commandant Charcot balances environmental credentials with luxury.
Caviar and Champagne aboard Le Commandant Charcot. Photo / Thomas Bywater
The journey from Longyearbyen to the true geographic North Pole was conducted entirely using the enormous electric engines and roughly 800-Tesla-cars worth of deep storage batteries.
“It is a nice feature for science but also for comfort,” explains Devorsine.
When at the poles the ship can be switched from burning Marine Gas Oil or LNG to run on electric power alone. This allows both for sensitive scientific instruments to monitor whalesong and for passengers to be left in splendid silence, apart from the sound of calving ice.
Embedded with the vessel is a marine science lab and teams of scientists researching whale migration and penguin genetics, among other things. But do not mistake the Charcot for a research vessel.
Cocooned within the ultra-thick, ice-strengthened hull you will find two heated swimming pools, a cigar and brandy lounge and a Nuan salon and wellness spa.
It might be the only ship sailing to the Ross Sea with its own “snow therapy room”.
The crew of Commandant Charcot's French antarctic expdition enjoy a glass of Champagne in Antarctica on Bastille Day 1904. Photo / Supplied
Sadly, a scheduled call into Macquarie Island in the Subantarctic had to be cancelled, but there are worse ways to spend five days sailing to Antarctica.
Le Commandant Charcot is named for France’s most celebrated polar sailor. Above the helicopter pad the ermine flag of Brittany flies proudly, as the home region of Jean-Baptiste Charcot. Known as France’s “polar gentleman”, in 1908 he sailed south aboard the “Pourquoi Pas?” (the “Why Not?”)
Which, fittingly, is the correct answer to both “why are you sailing to Antarctica?” and “would you like another glass of cognac?”
A larger than life character, even in the age of explorers, he was known to travel with a gramophone and library of 500 records.
Home comforts are also important aboard the icebreaker that bears his name. In the Nuna main restaurant on deck 5, there is enough space to seat all guests and crew.
Ahead of her departure from New Zealand this month, wellwishers and Ponant’s CEO of Asia Pacific, Sarina Bratton, were invited aboard Le Commandant Charcot, to bid the crew farewell.
The event took place moored in front of Lyttelton harbour, with a menu designed by Alain Ducasse, heavily accented with foie gras, black truffle and Ossetra caviar.
These were luxuries that the Terra Nova expedition did without.
The helipad aboard Le Commandant Charcot in Lyttelton. Photo / Thomas Bywater
“She really is one of a kind,” said Bratton. “She has travelled the furthest north and the furthest south. She has pioneered new technology to allow guests to explore beyond frontiers that they never would have thought possible.”
Invited to toast the good health of the ship, glasses were charged with French semillon sauvignon blanc and pinot noir.
If you’re going to christen the voyage of France’s most record-breaking cruise ship, to quote Captain Devorsine, you want to “do it properly”.
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For more information about Le Commandant Charcot, see ponant.com
