THUS, THESE EUROPEANS MUST HAVE EITHER BEEN FOOL-HEARTY, or frustrated of European turmoil, or just plain ill-advised as to the expected riches advertised in Louisiana. For to take a journey which lasted for months on the rough sea accompanied with a family and few belongings, required courage, patience,
and a hard will for change.

FROM THE READINGS OF THE WORK BY J. HANNO DEILER, IT appears that of the thousands of Europeans who left their homelands to sail to America, only a small percentage ever arrived alive.(14)

DEILER ALSO INDICATES THAT IN HIS RESEARCH TO FIND THE facts, he estimates that of the 6,000 Germans who emigrated to Louisiana as indicated by Soniat Duffosat, a French naval author in his "Synopsis of The History of Louisiana," that only 2,000 ever reached the colony.  (15)

THE GENERAL VOYAGE WHICH MANY SHIPS LEAVING FROM FRANCE TOOK usually included the long voyage across the Atlantic, docking intermittedly at one of the many islands in the Caribbean, burying the dead who recently died aboard ship (not counting the ones which died enroute), re-stocking provisions for the many months journey which led to ports at Dauphine Island near Alabama or other port.

FURTHERMORE, IF THE JOURNEY HAD NOT BEEN DIFFICULT ENOUGH, hardships encountered once arriving in ports along the Gulf increased the risk of disease or death. It is no wonder that only a handful of emigrants helped establish Louisiana. Housing in the ports was a problem. Food was not readily available. The mere fact of having hundreds of German emigrants reach a port and embarking at a village in which the population was doubled or tripled in one day is astounding!

EARLY SHIPS:

DEILER INDICATES THAT THE FIRST MASS EMIGRATION TOOK PLACE in 1718. In the Fall of 1719, the ship, "Les Deux," sailed from the port of Brest, France, carrying many well-to-do Germans bound for Louisiana with their belongings . (16)

14 Ibid., pages 15-17
15 Ibid., page 16-17
16 Ibid., page 19

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