The Voyage of the Ursulines [pp. 18-24]

.The Voyage of the Ursulines.
but before he had gone a quarter of a league
the "Gironde" brought up again on the bottom. Here she was thumped by the waves
upon the sand with such force that all hope
on the part of the Ursulines was lost. The
sailors got out boats and anchors to try and
kedge the ship off. The passengers dropped
on their knees, and offered prayer to their
patron saints. Notwithstanding all this maltreatment, the staunch ship still floated, and
was successfully relieved from her dangerous
position. Then the captain seemed to have
learned that the lead might be of use to him,
for he sent his long boat ahead to take soundings, and profiting by what was thus disclosed, made deep water.
Meanwhile; they had been so long making
the trip that they were running out of fresh
water. Their entire allowance, under the
burning summer sun of the Gulf, was but a
pint a day. WVine, also, was reduced to the
same ratio, which the Ursulines exchanged
for water, bottle for bottle. For more than
fifteen days after this. they spent the greater
part of the time at anchor; raising it at
every favorable breeze, but dropping it again
when the wind died out, to avoid being
swept back by the currents. Their course
brought them toward the coast of Florida,
near Pensacola, and here they secured some
drinking water, by landing on an island and
digging in the sand near the shore. They
were detained here several days by head
winds, and were several days more in reaching Dauphin Island, where the ship was
boarded by friends from the shore, and news
of the progress of affairs at New Orleans was
thus conveyed to them. From this point to
the mouth of the river, they were apparently
fanned with a fair wind; and on the 23d of
July, I 7 I 7, five months from the day of starting, they reached the point where they were
to abandon the "Gironde" and take to boats.
No provision had been made for their
transportation from this place to New Orleans, and they were obliged to wait until
boats could be sent down to them. They
were invited by the officer in charge of the
port, to make his house their home during
this detention, and on the twenty-sixth day
they left the "Gironde." Their boat was
over-loaded, a head wind sprang up, and for a
short time they were probably in the gravest
peril that had threatened them since their
departure from homne. They succeeded,
however, in making a landing on one of the
little mud islands at the mouth of the river,
where they spent the night. From this point
Sieur Duverg6, their escort and host, made
signals and sent messengers for boats. Three
dug-outs were sent to them, in which they
succeeded in reaching Balize without further
adventure.
They remained here, the guests of Sieur
Duverg6, six days. Meantime, news of their
arrival had reached New Orleans and created a great sensation. Their long voyage had
greatly alarmed everybody, and many had
concluded that they were lost. A boat and
two dug-outs were sent down, and the party
was distributed among them. "It must be
admitted," says the author of the Relation,
"that all the fatigues of the'Gironde' were
not to be compared with those we had on
this little journey of only thirty leagues, from
Balize up the river to New Orleans, which
is ordinarily made in six days." The dugout, in which Madame Tranchepain and
Madelaine Hachard took passage, was some
days in reaching New Orleans. The rest of
the party arrived the next day. Exhausted
by the fatigues of their protracted sea voyage, the discomforts of their journey by boat
told upon their worn-out frames, and stamped
it upon their memories as a period of torture
and suffering. Unable to sit upright or move
about in the dug-outs, the journey by day
was tedious and painful. But little relief was
experienced at night; for an hour before sundown they would land on the low, muddy
banks of the river and warm their salt provisions for supper in the boatmen's saucepan.
The sailors would then prepare shelters for
them, by cutting canes and fixing them in
the earth so as to form little huts, into each
of which two of the nuns would creep, and
then the sailors would cover them over with
a sail to keep the mosquitoes and other insects out. Twice during the trip they woke
up to find themselves flooded in their beds;
1886.]
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