 He was a missionary to East Asia, intendant of French colonial islands in the Indian Ocean, and wearer of the cordon of St. Michel.In his early 20s Poivre was a missionary in Far Eastern locations that included Cochinchina, Guangzhou, and Portuguese Macau.In 1745 as a member of the French East India Company, while on a journey to the East Indies, he was struck by a cannonball on the wrist while being engaged in a naval battle with the British.