Henry de Monfreid

Henry de Monfreid (14 November 1879 in Leucate – 13 December 1974) was a French adventurer, a prolific writer, sailor, a smuggler, a shipowner, a hashish trader, and perhaps a spy. Born in Leucate, Aude, France, he was the son of artist painter Georges-Daniel de Monfreid and knew Paul Gauguin as a child. Monfreid was known for his travels in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa coast from Tanzania to Aden, Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula and Suez, that he sailed in his various expeditions as adventurer, smuggler and gunrunner (during which he said he more than once escaped Royal Navy coast-guard cutters).