[1] After giving birth to an illegitimate child, Marie-Louise disguised herself as a man and fled to Brest with a letter of introduction to the widowed sister of Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec.
[1] Huon de Kermadec helped her to find a post as a steward, under the name of Louis Girardin, on board the 80-gun ship Deux Frères.
[1] When the crew threatened mutiny, Huon de Kermadec helped her to transfer to Recherche, which was about to leave in search of La Pérouse, whose expedition was last seen leaving Botany Bay, Australia in January 1788.
She served dressed as a male, and is known as the first known white European woman to have set foot in the Van Diemen's Land (23 April 1792), New Caledonia and several other places around the Australian Archipelago.
She had a love affair with a colleague, ensign Mérite, during the journey, but she was not officially exposed.