François Martin de Vitré

François Martin de Vitré (1575–1631) was a French apothecary and surgeon from Vitré in Brittany. In May 1601 he sailed as surgeon aboard the Croissant, one of two ships equipped by Saint-Malo, Vitré and Laval merchants for the East Indies. After her consort was wrecked in the Maldives, the Croissant traded at Aceh in Sumatra and called at Surat in Gujarat.

On the return voyage in 1603 she was intercepted by the Dutch and Martin was put ashore in England. At Henry IV's bidding he published at Rennes in 1604 the first French account of the East Indies.