Michel Bégon (naturalist)

He only entered the naval administration late in life, aged around 40, when Colbert made him treasurer of the marine du Levant at Toulon (1677) : this was the start of a happy career.

Bégon later left the shores of the Mediterranean for north-western France, becoming commissaire général de la marine at Brest (24 November 1680) then at Le Havre (1681).

Michel V was seigneur of Picardière and Mirbelin (or Murbelaix), and also possessed an estate at Saint-Pierre on Martinique, which he sold in 1684 on leaving the Antilles.

He was made Intendant of Saint-Domingue and set up his headquarters in the east of the island, Haiti, where he and Bertrand D'Ogeron got involved in the spice trade.

His time at Rochefort considerably transformed the port and with Colbert du Terron (1669–1674) he was the prime mover in the development of its town and arsenal.