Since Francis Drake went round the world in the Golden Hind there has perhaps been no voyage quite so venturesome as that of a little French fishing ketch, of forty-five tons, called J. B. Charcot, which set out from Boulogne in September of the year 1907, and, sailing across the South Atlantic, and the Antarctic and Indian seas, lay to outside Melbourne Harbour in July 1908 - a distance of 15,000 miles. The author had only five companions on the voyage. He has told the story of their adventures graphically and well. (Front dustjacket flap) Raymond Rallier du Baty (30 August 1881 – 7 May 1978) was a French sailor and explorer, from Lorient in Brittany, who carried out surveys of the subantarctic Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean in the early 20th century. Rallier du Baty took part in the 1904-1907 Third French Antarctic Expedition led by Jean-Baptiste Charcot. From September of 1907 to July of 1909 Captain Raymond Rallier du Baty sailed from Boulogne to Melbourne in a French fishing ketch, known as the J. B. Charcot. The J. B. Charcot weighed forty-eight tons and completed this trip in 15,000 miles. The reason for this voyage was primarily to chart the subantarctic Kerguelen Islands. Du Baty and his brother Henri du Baty funded this expedition by harvesting the oil of the southern elephant seals in the area. Raymond Rallier du Baty wrote a book detailing his experience on the J. B. Charcot, entitled 15,000 Miles in a Ketch.