Henri-François des Herbiers, Marquis de L'Estenduère, was born in Angers around 1682 and died in Rochefort in March 1750. He was a Navy officer and aristocrat in France. Coming from a noble family from Poitou, he began his navigational training under the direction of his uncle, and began his naval career at an early age in the Marine royale. He distinguished himself for the first time during the War of the Spanish Succession near Vélez-Málaga and then at the Battle of Marbella, before fighting as a privateer. During the 1720s, he undertook many voyages to New France and drew many marine maps of the Saint Lawrence river. He took part in the wars of the Polish Succession, and the War of the Spanish Succession.