François Doublet

François Doublet was a French merchants who was active in trade with North America.

Born at Honfleur, Normandy into a merchant family, Doublet was active in the trade with the New World. Around 1659 he traded in partnership with Pierre Gellee, a shipowner from Dieppe, in goods imported from Canada such as cod, whale-oil, bearskins and beaver pelts. Three years later he became an independent ship-owner. In 1663 he was granted the right by the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France to develop colony and fisheries on the Îles de la Madeleine, de Saint-Jean (today Prince Edward Island), des Oiseaux, and de Brion. However, this enterprise failed.

In 1664, Doublet returned to New France as a commissioner in charge for extraction of the lead ore from a lead mine recently discovered on the shores of Gaspé, but this venture also proved unsuccessful. In the same year, he was appointed as head clerk of the Compagnie des Indes occidentales at Gaspé, and obtained from the Marquis de Tracy the right “to trade in pelts for and on behalf of the gentlemen of the said company along the coasts of Canada, Acadia, Newfoundland and elsewhere.”

In 1668 Doublet returned permanently to his native city and entered the service of a group of merchants who were active in trade along the coast of Africa.

He died before 1678.