An Australian schoolgirl has become the youngest person ever to sail alone around the world - even though her achievement will not be officially recognised.
Tens of thousands of people lined the foreshore of Sydney Harbour to greet her, while several hundred yachts provided an escort to the world famous Opera House.
Australia has embraced the teenager and her bravery, and the country's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joined those who turned out to welcome her home.
Mr Rudd called Jessica "Australia's newest hero" but the young sailor was not so sure.
She told the cheering crowd: "I'm actually going to disagree with the prime minister.
"I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream.
"You don't have to be someone special to do anything special to achieve something amazing.
"You've just got to have a dream, believe in it and work hard."
The official body which regulates circumnavigation attempts, the World Speed Sailing Record Council, no longer recognises attempts by under-18s, because of concerns over the safety of younger sailors.
But, if it did, the WSSRC sets a minimum distance of 21,600 nautical miles.
A flotilla of boats filled Sydney Harbour's
water ahead of her homecoming
The natural deviations to make best use of the wind may add many hundreds of miles to a voyage, but do not count when measuring the length of the route.
The young sailor's management team have claimed that she never planned to follow the regulations, knowing that her epic journey would not be recognised anyway.
But the row has soured her triumph.
No one doubts her skill and courage, but her advisers have been criticised for not ensuring her achievement was beyond any doubt.
However, some fellow global mariners have given her their unqualified support.
Among them, the two men who are in the record books as the youngest to sail round the world.
Briton Mike Perham, who completed a circumnavigation last year aged 17, but who needed to stop for repairs to his yacht, and Australian Jesse Martin, who was 18 when he did it unassisted in 1999.
They were invited to attend Jessica's welcome home party and met her yacht soon after she crossed the finish line.
Mike Perham celebrates his round-the-world
voyage
Mike Perham told Sky News: "If I was the previous youngest person, I can happily say that Jessica is now the youngest person to do it.
"Is it an official record? I don’t think anyone cares at this moment.
"Jessica set out from Sydney, she went east. She's comes back from the west. In my opinion, that classifies as going round the world."
Australians have taken Jessica Watson to their hearts.
They love an underdog and when Jessica set out on her journey last October, few people gave her much chance of succeeding.
Just a few weeks earlier she had crashed her yacht into a supertanker during the night, leading to criticism from maritime safety officials.
That rebuke led to some sailors and politicians urging her to give up her attempt because they feared for her safety.
After her 17th birthday celebrations, she will set sail again, north to her home in Queensland, where her teachers will check whether she had time to do her homework while skipping classes.