Hello all, From: <[email protected]>> Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 10:11 AM [some snippage] > Some time during the latter years of the Reformation, > toward the later 1600's (possibly 1695-1700), one of > our Huguenot ancestors decided that all this was enough > and so decided to wander off on a sea voayge. > > The 'rumour' is that he stopped off in Cape Town to > visit for awhile with a very distant cousin (DU > PLESSIS). Around 1716 he continued his sojourn on yet > another ship and found himself admiring the newly > discovered coffee plants of Ile Bourbon or Reunion > Island in the Indian Ocean. From there he continued his > grand adventure stopping at a variety of ports. > Is there a list of French merchant ships that travelled > the route from France to the Cape of Good Hope and > onwards ? Our interest is any that would have stopped > off at Ile Bourbon around 1715 to 1717. > > Slightly off the HWE normal topics, however this > ancestor was a strong follower of the Huguenot faith > and the most unusual story so far concerning his faith > is that he did not "flee" France nor did his family > previous. They were lawyers from Rennes and St.Malo > with a few soldiers thrown in. Could he have gone first to The Netherlands? Here is a list of ships in your time period carrying Huguenots from The Netherlands to South Africa. http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/hug_index.shtml If you want some feel for what ship travel was like at that time in that area (going around Aftrica to the Indian Ocean), I recommend: The Pirate Hunter -- The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks, 2002. I don't think Reunion Island is mentioned, but seem to recall they beached their ship on one of the Comoro Islands to scrape the barnacles off. Regards, Howard [email protected]