of six, was owned by the Compagnie des Indes Orientales and was an armed merchantman of 38 cannon, sailing for trade but also on a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Siam. On the return to France, the vessel stopped at Ascension Island, and then took a long detour across the Atlantic to the Antilles, where it made a long stop-over. It did not return to Port Louis, France until August 1691. In 1692, Challe re-appears as an ecrivain de navire, but this time on a vessel of the French navy, Le Prince. He participated in the Battle of Barfleur against the English and Dutch. Challe's navy career was, however, short-lived, and he was discharged in either 1693 or 1694, possibly for corruption. From 1695 onwards, he concentrated on writing, drawing on his previous adventures as a colonialist and seaman. He did not make a comfortable living. He published a work on Don Quixote as well as Les Illustres and the Journal. In 1717 he was denounced by a police spy for seditious remarks in a Paris cafe and was imprisoned in the famous :fr:Chatelet(Paris) prison. On being released he was exiled from Paris, and took up residence in Chartres. He died, poor and broken-spirited, on 25 January 1721. Works :fr:Les Illustres Françaises A more extensive list of works is given at :fr:Robert Challe Bibliography Hollier, Denis. A New History of French Literature. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989. . pp. 398–401. External links The Illustrious French Lovers at HathiTrust 17th-century French writers 17th-century French male writers 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers French memoirists People of New France French emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia 1680s in Canada Explorers from Paris 1659 births 1721 deaths Writers from Paris French male non-fiction writers Immigrants to New France 18th-century memoirists