Her adventure should, I think, be included in a history of famous women. — Prince of Nassau-Siegen (image via Wikimedia Commons) On the ship, she went by "Jean." She bound her chest, dressed in men's clothes and refused to use the bathroom alongside the male sailors. She claimed to be a eunuch, though many crew members suspected her of being a cross-dressing deviant. The alone time and social ostracization from the crew suited her just fine: she had disguised herself as a man to sneak aboard the important voyage, captained by French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1766, because she wanted the chance to collect rare herbs and plants, samples that were crucial to her botanical research. Secretly, she became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.
A Woman to Know: Jeanne Baré
A Woman to Know: Jeanne Baré
A Woman to Know: Jeanne Baré
Her adventure should, I think, be included in a history of famous women. — Prince of Nassau-Siegen (image via Wikimedia Commons) On the ship, she went by "Jean." She bound her chest, dressed in men's clothes and refused to use the bathroom alongside the male sailors. She claimed to be a eunuch, though many crew members suspected her of being a cross-dressing deviant. The alone time and social ostracization from the crew suited her just fine: she had disguised herself as a man to sneak aboard the important voyage, captained by French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1766, because she wanted the chance to collect rare herbs and plants, samples that were crucial to her botanical research. Secretly, she became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.