From Lorient to Madeira | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

The account recounts the 1727 Atlantic voyage of twelve Ursuline nuns aboard the armed merchant ship Gironde, starting from Lorient and bound for New Orleans. On Feb. 22, 1727, the sisters were boarded using a swing or cloth bag and were delayed by contrary winds until the next day, allowing them time to settle into extremely cramped quarters. The narrative, drawn largely from letters written by novice Marie Madeleine Hachard after her arrival in New Orleans, also contrasts choir nuns, who typically came from well-off families, with converse nuns that performed heavier manual labor. The ship carried livestock and provisions including sheep and 500 chickens for the crossing. Before leaving Lorient, the Gironde struck a rock; help from the Company of the Indies freed the vessel, but it took 15 days to cover what favorable winds could have done in three. A storm killed 49 sheep and reduced water supplies.