Aymar de Chaste (1514–1603) was a Catholic French

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

during the Franco-Spanish Wars between 1582 and 1598. A gentleman of the King's Chamber, François Aymar (or Aimar) de Cleremont de Chaste served as governor of

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

and

Arques-la-Bataille Arques-la-Bataille () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region in north-western France. The zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (177 ...

as well as the French ambassador to England during mid to late 16th century. A vice admiral, Chaste commanded the French-Portuguese naval forces supporting

António, Prior of Crato António, Prior of Crato (; 153126 August 1595), sometimes called "The Determined", "The Fighter", "The Independentist" or "The Resistant", was a grandson of King Manuel I of Portugal who claimed the Portuguese throne during the 1580 dynastic ...

's attempt to defend the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

from Spain to use as a staging point to liberate Portugal. However, he was defeated by Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz at the Battle of Terceira in 1583. After agreeing to command an expedition to the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

with former officers

Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons Pierre Dugua de Mons (or Du Gua de Monts; – 1628) was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A Calvinist, he was born in the Château de Mons, in Royan, Saintonge (southwestern France) and founded the first permanent French settlement ...

François Gravé Du Pont François Gravé (Saint-Malo, November 1560 – 1629 or soon after), said ''Du Pont'' (or ''Le Pont'', ''Pontgravé''...), was a Breton navigator (captain on the sea and on the "Big River of Canada"), an early fur trader and explorer in the N ...

, and Samuel Champlain, Chaste was appointed Viceroy of Canada by King Henry IV on February 6, 1602. Chaste would preside over

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

as lieutenant governor later forming the "Canada and Acadia Trading Company", which would eventually establish French domination of the

North American fur trade The North American fur trade is the (typically) historical Fur trade, commercial trade of furs and other goods in North America, beginning in the eastern provinces of French Canada and the northeastern Thirteen Colonies, American colonies (soon- ...

for more than a decade, overseeing the company until his death in 1603, shortly before this first expedition return to France.

Further reading