Jean Juliette S.
Juliette Jean-Sossin (Sessin)
Exact years of life unknown, supposedly 1885-1887.
Juliette earned her degree from Sorbonne University and majored in Geology and Medicine. She joined the Hercules expedition as a ship’s doctor, natural scientist and, on her last voyage, as fiancée of expedition leader Vadimir A. Rusanov.
She and Rusanov first met in Sorbonne where he was doing his degree in Geology.
When a student, Rusanov enjoyed a reputation as a man with glorious past. He charmed his way into the heart of the young scholarly-minded Parisian who hadn’t considered romance.
They decided to get married. In letters to his parents Rusanov would praise his fiancée’s wit and hard-working and easy-going nature. But, alas, the wedding had to be postponed due the plans of another Polar expedition. Mademoiselle Jean was determined to join her fiancée. Rusanov welcomed Juliette’s decision, as well as her knowledge and experience he knew the expedition was just bound to benefit from.
Officially, that expedition was designed to explore coal provinces on Spitsbergen and install location monuments. Rusanov, however, had a plan to make it all the way to Siberia and into the Pacific Ocean via the Northern Sea Route. Historians agree that those few who knew about his plan were Hercules captain Alexander S. Kuchin and Juliette Jean.
There wasn’t any news from the Hercules after the August of 1912. What happened exactly is unknown. Some traces of Rusanov’s last expedition were discovered in the 1920s-1930s on the north-western coast of Taymyr — a French coin of 1903, a button with a French manufacture brand, manicure scissors, which are considered to be personal belongings of Juliette Jean. And a vial with yellow powder inside (referred to by explorer teams as ‘Juliette Jean’s perfume’), which actually happened to be a medicine. Juliette was s ship’s doctor.
Later in 1957, hydrographer V.A. Troitsky named after Jean a lake on Kolosov Island in Minin skerries.
Источник: Чуракова О.В. «Она не была легкомысленной изящной парижаночкой»: Жюльетта Жан — сподвижница Владимира Русанова // GO ARKTIC. — 14 февраля 2018 г. — Режим доступа: https://goarctic.ru/travel/ona-ne-byla-legkomyslennoy-izyashchnoy-parizhanochkoy-zhyuletta-zhan-spodvizhnitsa-vladimira-rusanov/