Ships Transporting Acadians to Louisiana

List of Ships and passengers departing for Louisiana in 1785

Special Note: About half of those Acadians who went to Louisiana, beginning in 1764, came by ship from Nova Scotia and Maryland. As far as we know, NONE walked overland.

The other half (around 1,500 individuals) arrived in 1785 from France on SEVEN ships, not all debarking exclusively from Nantes. Four of the ships also picked up passengers in Paimboeuf; one ship left from Saint-Malo, then Paimboeuf. The following is _THAT_ list of passengers.

 

 

Ship Name	Departing From:	Date	Arrival in New Orleans	# of Acadians from Belle-Ile	Total # of Acadians
Le Bon Papa	Paimboeuf	May 10	July 29	18	156
La Bergère	Paimboeuf	May 14	August 15	2	268
Le Beaumont	Nantes	June 11	August 19	46	178
Le Saint-Rémy	Paimboeuf	June 27	September 10	29	327
La Ville d’Archangel	Saint-Malo	August 12	December 3	1	312
L’Amitié	La Rochelle	August 20	November 8	18	268
La Caroline	Nantes	October 19	December 12	11	75
125	1584

 

I am very grateful to my friend, Daniel Burgot of France, for having provided me his approval to translate the above-noted information and the information on the following pages to post on my web site. Connect to http://daniel.burgot.perso.neuf.fr/html/nantes/navires.htm to visit Daniel’s informative web site.

MYTH: Some Acadians traveled overland to Louisiana.

REALITY: All known historical evidence, indicates the Acadian exiles went to Louisiana solely by ship. Claims to the contrary stem largely from the work of Saint Martinville writer Judge Felix Voorhies, whose 1907 fictional account of the expulsion, Acadian Reminiscences, described a “perilous and weary journey overland.”