Born in 1740 to a day laborer in rural Burgundy, Jeanne Baret rose from an impoverished, orphaned childhood to become the first woman to sail around the world, disguised as a teenage boy. This deep dive strips away the romantic myths to examine the resourcefulness, survival, and immense hidden labor that powered one of history’s great scientific voyages.

As botanist Philibert Commerson’s assistant and beast of burden, she hauled heavy plant presses through Montevideo, Rio, and Patagonia while binding her identity under the French Navy’s strict no-women rule. We weigh the conflicting accounts of how she was unmasked and follow her from stranded widow to independent entrepreneur.

• The legal pregnancy declaration she filed while refusing to name Commerson as the father
• The stroke of luck of the captain’s cabin, whose private facilities made her disguise possible at sea
• The clash of the conflicting Tahiti and New Ireland accounts of her discovery, and the Tahitian mahu perspective
• Running a successful tavern in Mauritius and marrying officer Jean Dubernat before sailing home
• Her royal pension of 1785 praising her as an extraordinary woman, and modern honors on Pluto and beyond