How did Jean-Baptiste Colbert recruit sailors for the French royal navy?

To recruit sailors for the French royal navy, Jean-Baptiste Colbert employed different strategies based on the type of fleet:

• Atlantic Fleet: Colbert required professional sailors to sign on for the king’s service. To ensure a stable supply of manpower, he strictly forbade French seamen from serving foreign powers, punishable by death.1
• Mediterranean Fleet (Galleys): Colbert utilized forced labor to man the galleys. He encouraged magistrates to sentence common criminals to galley service and also conscripted political offenders, Protestants, and enslaved people from Africa and Canada.1

Colbert’s efforts to build a great naval power also included founding naval schools at Rochefort, Dieppe, and Saint-Malo to train personnel and fortifying major ports such as Brest and Le Havre.1