MAROT, BERNARD, surgeon and ship’s captain; b. apparently in the Basque country of France; fl. 1610–50.

Marot came to Port-Royal (Annapolis Royal, N.S.) as a qualified surgeon in 1610 or 1611. It was he who in 1630 was sent from Bordeaux by Jean Tuffet, director of the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, with two ships carrying letters and supplies for Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour and his men at Cap de Sable. While there, he traded for furs to help pay for the voyage. The favourable report he carried back to the company helped win for La Tour the title of lieutenant-general in Acadia. However, he was reprimanded by Tuffet for having sent his second vessel back to France empty. Soon afterwards Marot was caught carrying on unauthorized fishing and fur-trading in Acadia and sent a prisoner to France by order of La Tour, who later withdrew the charges. On his release, Marot joined Isaac de Razilly in Acadia and was given the rank of captain. In 1635 he led the party of soldiers sent by Razilly to capture Jean Thomas who instigated the first rebellion in Acadia.

After Razilly’s death, Marot served under his successor, Charles de Menou d’Aulnay. In 1640 he was sent by d’Aulnay to reinforce the garrison at Fort Pentagouet on the Penobscot. He took part in the successful attack on Fort La Tour at Saint John in 1645 and was one of the signers of a statement concerning that action [see Jacquelin and Menou]. That same year he was sent to the Rechibouctou area to seize a bark and her crew trading there for furs for the Miscou company. From then until 1650 he appears to have been employed mainly in capturing vessels and trading and fishing in Acadia without the consent of d’Aulnay. Nothing definite is known of his subsequent career, although he may have been the Capt. Marot who commanded a merchantman voyaging to Quebec in 1657.

George MacBeath