Port Louis
Between July and December 1755, the Prince de Conti was in the vicinity of the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean. It spent most of this time at Port Louis, Île de France (now Mauritius), but also made stops at Saint-Paul and Saint-Denis on Île Bourbon (now Réunion) in November and December. It then returned to Port Louis before beginning the final leg of its voyage back to Europe.
The voyage's second biggest personnel change took place at Port Louis, with 42 people disembarking and 55 people embarking on the Prince de Conti during the five-month period.
The ship's unlucky period carried into its layover in the Mascarenes, with another sixteen people dying at Port Louis or its vicinity, once again doubling the death count. Virtually all of them died of scurvy.
The dead included:
- Three of the remaining lascars, Kanmahemat Daud (n° 318) Cauja Mahemat Jaroulla (n° 326), and Soucour Mahomet Jafer (AKA "Second" Jafer) (n° 309).
- Six French sailors.
- One Maltese sailor, Jean-Jérôme Lartigue (n° 288) who had joined the crew at Cajory.
- Four novices and "pilotins."
- The ship's 3rd pilot, Michel François-Pierre le Bonhomme dit Duportal (n° 273).
Three additional people were admitted to hospital at Port Louis and, as far as we can tell, recovered. One of these, a Capuchin monk named Antonin (n° 294), certainly recovered, as he actually managed to get back on the Prince de Conti about two months later, before it resumed its return voyage.
When the ship left the region in December 1755, its fortunes finally improved. Only one person died for the remainder of the voyage.
