the fascinating journey to the Arctic Circle of the adventurer Patrice Franceschi

« When adventure calls, you must answer without asking too many questions, forward and without fuss! This is an injunction that Patrice Franceschi has never disobeyed. When in 2018 the naval officer Sébastien Lemoine, former adjutant aboard the famous Boudeuse, Franceschi’s Calypso, offered him to take part in an expedition to the Arctic Circle, the adventurer, writer and poet, did not need to be invited to pack at the moment. Accustomed to warming the seas according to his many adventures or scientific missions, the recipient of the Goncourt de la Nouvelle in 2015 finds himself embarked on one of the rare corners of the world he has not yet explored, in the distant footsteps of Terre-Neuvas, those which they practiced the Great Trade in the direction in particular of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, land of France often in the mists and which deserves.

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On the Fulmar, Franceschi officially has the role of observer and has therefore armed himself with what to pass the time if it doesn’t pass quickly enough: poems, a few books by authors he likes, and the manuscript of a work to complete, modern samurai ethics published in 2019 by Grasset. Alongside a crew of eleven sailors, however, it will be very difficult for him to remain a mere spectator. The ship’s journey, 2,000 kilometers to the far north, a stop in Nuuk and a joint operation with the Danish navy, will offer completely different perspectives than a ” perfect contemplative life “. Nature is powerful and the initial impression of being on ” a baby’s cradle “doesn’t resist encounters with icebergs well, like this giant” tall as a building, ten meters away, wrapped in scarves of fog like a ghost “. The man of the struggles with the Kurds of Syria observes: I hold a sigh: I’ve never tasted the cold ».

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Yes, but this cold was a protection. With global warming, it’s eroding just like sea ice. Important mineral resources are becoming accessible and arouse the greed of major powers such as China, for example. Furthermore, the seabed located thousands of kilometers from France are French possessions. And the Fulmar it finds itself playing a more important role than itself in this political-economic symphony “. Also, the short returns to the “ earth reveal another, slightly more exciting aspect of the changes taking place in the “ white heaven “: hordes of tourists” that pour into the cities », like Illulisat, now subscribed to « souvenir shops, bicycle and motorbike rental, paid excursions “. The Inuit are adapting, without giving up altogether what they still call “ live old fashioned “, i.e. hunting and fishing. For Franceschi this is the other part of the journey.” a form of descent into the real world at a time when the virtual world is increasingly essential “It also takes away a life lesson, verified many times elsewhere”, isolation forces you to go back to basics: explore yourself ».

Far North Patrolby Patrice Franceschi, Grasset, 240 pp., €19.50