Robert Surcouf was born 12 December 1773 in Saint-Malo to a family of ship-owners. His father, Charles-Ange Surcouf de Boisgris, was the grandson of Robert Surcouf de Maisonneuve, who had captained the privateer "Aimable" during the reign of Louis XIV. On his mother's side, Robert was a distant relative of René Duguay-Trouin. When his parents sent him to Dinan college to become a priest, he fled at age thirteen to enlist on the merchantman "Héron", which shuttled between Saint-Malo and Cadiz.