From his earliest years he had a passion for the sea, but he also served as a soldier for six years.
His father had been a sea captain, and his uncle as an experienced navigator was commissioned by the King of Spain to transport by sea to that country the remainder of the Spanish soldiers who had been serving in Brittany.

The uncle took his nephew with him.

Young Champlain when in Spain managed to ingratiate himself so much with the Spanish authorities that he was actually commissioned as a captain to take a king's ship out to the West Indies.

No sooner did he reach Spanish America than he availed himself of the first chance to explore it.

For two years he travelled over Cuba, and above all Mexico.