The Discovery of Jeanne Baret. A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe
The first woman to circumnavigate the globe did so disguised as a man. In 1765, Louis XV ordered the first French expedition around the world, appointing eminent botanist Philibert Commerson to seek out plants that might be useful to clothe and feed France and her empire. Commerson was charged with hiring an assistant. He already had his ideal candidate in Jeanne Baret, his 26-year old peasant-born mistress who was a deeply knowledgeable plantswoman in her own right. But the French navy forbade women on board its ships. And so the couple contrived a plan to have Jeanne disguise herself as a teenage boy. The ship they sailed on was not long out of port when its crew began to suspect Jeanne's true identity.