Celebrated as a national hero in 1798 and saluted by Jussieu as a friend of science, Nicolas Baudin fell into disgrace six years later, his expedition to the Southern Lands considered a failure despite the richness of the collections it brought back to France. The campaign of vilification conducted by those who had accompanied Baudin to the Antipodes only partly explains this reversal of fortune. An analysis of his preceding voyage to the Caribbean and of the conditions that made it such a success provides us, by way of contrast, with a better understanding of the impact that the profound political and institutional hanges which took place in France between the Directory and the Empire would have on Baudin’s reputation and on his experience of scientific voyaging.