The Discovery of Jeanne Baret

October 25, 2010
An 18th-century peasant expert in countryside herb lore, Jeanne Baret posed as a young man to gain the post of assistant to the naturalist aboard France's first global seafaring expedition in the 1760s. Ridley (Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe) quickly crushes modern romantic ideas of the golden age of exploration: there were rat-scrounging days of starvation and crowded quarters, and significant abuse suffered by Baret at the hands of crew members who at first suspected, and eventually learned, her sex. Since Baret left no memoirs, Ridley carefully parses the few written accounts of the expedition, while occasionally making assumptions about her emotions and acts. Baret's harrowing journey also included scientific discoveries, such as of a plant—named bougainvillea in honor of the expedition's commander—which she believed would cure gangrene, and a Patagonian shrub to help treat the crew's rampant venereal disease. Ridley captures both the optimism that inspired Baret's groundbreaking and courageous trip and the sordid reality she encountered. 8 pages of b&w photos.