LA ROCHELLE, France (Reuters) - Tugboat captain Jean-Yves Lagarde should be only 10 years from retiring thanks to special benefits for mariners that date back to the 17th century. But President Emmanuel Macron's ambition to simplify France's Byzantine pension system may scuttle his plan.

The weather-beaten 45-year-old spent a decade traversing the world's oceans on cargo ships, encountering pirates in Asia and working in stifling temperatures below deck before returning to the port town of La Rochelle to do battle with Atlantic storms.