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by Randy Paul Decuir (Author)
On the 16th September the ship le Profond arrived in the Louisiana colony with two hundred and forty French citizens on board, ready to help establish and populate the lower Mississippi River valley. Le Profond was one of forty-three ships of the "Company of the West" which were designated for Louisiana as part of a massive recruitment effort to populate the new vast French colony which stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. Most of the passengers on board the Le Profond were engagés who had signed contracts to work the lands to establish plantations. A group of soldiers were also on board. Some of these soldiers later returned to France, but some remained and established families, such as Antoine La Roche Bonvillain.The ship which reached Ship Island at Biloxi from La Rochelle with men, women, teens, and few servants. They were exhausted, after spending the entire summer at sea, after waiting several months at the French ports preparing before for the ship departed on June 10.The LeProfond colonists at first were destined for the Arkansas Post. When that settlement failed, the colonists left helped to establish farming concessions along the lower Mississippi River and valley at Arkansas, Illinois Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Some of the concessions were the foundations which led led to present day cities and communities which were formed: Baton Rouge, the German Coast, Natchez, and New Orleans.
