de Montfreid

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Henry de Monfreid (14 November 1879, Leucate - 13 December 1974) was a French adventurer and author. Born in Leucate, Aude, France, he was the son of artist painter Georges-Daniel de Monfreid and knew Paul Gauguin as a child.
"I have lived a rich, restless, magnificent life," Monfreid declared a few days before dying in 1974 at the age of 95.
Monfreid was one of those individuals who only find their true focus in life when they stumble across it on their travels. For Monfreid it was to be the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa coast from Tanzania to Aden , Yemen , the Arabian Peninsula and Suez , treacherous routes that he tirelessly sailed in his various expeditions as adventurer, smuggler and gun runner (during which, said he, he more than once escaped the Royal Navy coast-guards cutters).





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