Jean Mocquet

Jean Mocquet (1576 – after 1617) was a French traveller and royal apothecary. He made six long sea voyages, and attempted a circumnavigation of Earth, apparently in order mainly to collect plants and animal specimen for King Henry IV of France. He published an account of his travels in 1617, Voyages en Afrique, Asie, Indes orientales et occidentales.

Biography
Mocquet was born in Meaux in Île-de-France. He was apothecary of the French king, and travelled widely during his life. He referred to himself as "keeper of the cabinet of curiosities of the King in the Tuileries".

He made in total six sea voyages, including to South America and India, and attempted a circumnavigation of Earth. Mocquet was apparently commissioned by King Henry IV to collect items fitting for furnishing a cabinet of curiosities during his travels. His main interest appears to have been the collection of plants and animals unknown or rare in Europe, though he also made ethnographic observations.

Travels
Mocquet's first voyage began on 9 October 1601, when he accompanied the ship La Serène from Saint-Malo to the Canary Islands and the coast of north Africa. His second journey started in January 1604 and lasted until May; it carried him across the Atlantic Ocean via Lanzarote and Cape Verde to the mouth of the Amazon River, and further along the coast of South America to the Caribbean. Mocquet's third voyage went to Morocco in 1605–1607. In October 1607 he set out from Paris again, this time on a journey that would take him via Portugal to Goa in India; it was a journey fraught with difficulties, but he returned to France August 1610. He however soon set out again, travelling through the Mediterranean to Lebanon and Jerusalem via Cyprus, Malta and Sardinia. His last voyage was commenced in the summer of 1614. Mocquet had the intention of making a circumnavigation of the globe, but he only reached the south of Spain before he had to abort his efforts and returned to Paris. His health was then apparently in rapid decline.

Mocquet wrote and published an account of his voyages, Voyages en Afrique, Asie, Indes orientales et occidentales published in 1617. After the death of the king in 1610, the plans to expand the royal cabinet of curiosities were abandoned. Mocquet appealed discretely to Marie de' Medici to let him continue the project, but without success.