French frigate Boudeuse ( 1766 ) Boudeuse was a frigate of the French Navy , famous for being the exploration ship of Louis - Antoine de Bougainville between 1766 and 1769 . Career . First French circumnavigation . " La Boudeuse " , under Antoine de Bougainville , departed from Nantes on 15 November 1766 for the first French circumnavigation , along with the " Étoile " . On board was the botanist Philibert Commerçon and his valet , later unmasked by the ship ' s surgeon as Jeanne Baré , Commerçon ' s mistress ; she would become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe . The expedition saw islands of the Tuamotu group on the following March 22 , on April 2 saw the peak of Mehetia and famously visited the island of Otaheite shortly after and narrowly missed becoming their discoverer , unaware of a previous visit , and claim , by Samuel Wallis in HMS " Dolphin " less than a year previously . Bougainville claimed the island for France and named it " New Cythera " . They left Tahiti and sailed westward to southern Samoa and the New Hebrides , then on sighting Espiritu Santo turned west still looking for the " Southern Continent " . On June 4 he almost ran into heavy breakers and had to change course to the north and east . He had almost found the Great Barrier Reef . He sailed through what is now known as the Solomon Islands that , due of the hostility of the people there , he avoided . Bougainville named them Bougainville Island for himself . The expedition was attacked by people from New Ireland so they made for the Moluccas . At Batavia they received news of Wallis and Carteret who had preceded Bougainville . On 16 March 1769 the expedition completed its circumnavigation and arrived at St Malo , with the loss of only seven out of upwards of 200 men , an extremely low level of casualty , and a credit to the enlightened management of the expedition by Bougainville . American Revolutionary War . " La Boudeuse " later took part in the American War of Independence . On 13 January 1779 , she captured the 16 - gun sloop HMS " Weazle " . The French took her to the Antilles where they disarmed her by taking all her guns for Admiral d ' Estaing ' s squadron . They then sold her at Guadeloupe in 1781 . On 28 February , " La Boudeuse " took Saint Martin island . On 6 July 1779 , she participated in the Battle of Grenada as a member of the Rear Guard . French Revolutionary Wars . During the French Revolutionary Wars , in the Action of 8 June 1794 , " La Boudeuse " captured from the Sardinian Navy the 36 - gun former French frigate " Alceste " . The British had captured her in Toulon harbour in August 1793 and then handed her over to the Sardinians . Last journey . On 28 January 1799 , " La Boudeuse " under the command of Lieutenant Calamand sailed from Toulon to Malta . " La Boudeuse " was loaded with essential supplies for the beleaguered French garrison in Malta which at the time was under a blockade . The French garrison under the command of General Claude - Henri Belgrand de Vaubois had withdrawn to the fortified cities found around the Grand Harbour basin following an armed insurrection by the Maltese back in September 1798 . Portuguese and Royal Navy ships were assisting the Maltese rebellion by imposing a sea blockade on French shipping , thus cutting off French supplies . Under the cover of inclement weather , " La Boudeuse " managed to run the blockade and on 4 February 1799 she entered the French - controlled Grand Harbour . She was moored under the Lower Barracca . In the early months of 1800 , the French authorities were forced to break up " La Boudeuse " for firewood because supplies of firewood for bakeries had run out .