In 1651, the need to defend the newly created town of Montreal (Ville-Marie) from the attacking Iroquois became apparent. M. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve went to France to enlist one hundred men to protect the perimeter of the town and, two years later, he returned with these brave men.

The men came from Picardie, Champagne, Ile-de-France, Normandie, Anjou and Maine (especially LaFleche) area. In the spring of 1653, approximately 150 men signed contracts before notaries with the Company of Montreal. For various reasons, only 102 arrived in Ville-Marie. The original departure from Nantes (Loire-Atlantique Department, Pays-de-la-Loire Region) was scheduled for the spring of 1653 but, after multiple delays, the vessel 'Saint-Nicolas-de-Nantes' set sail for New France on June 20th under the command of Captain Pierre le Besson.

The 'Saint-Nicolas-de-Nantes' was apparently in very poor shape and constantly took on water. Despite the best efforts of the crew and enlistees, it became necessary to sail back to Nantes after 350 miles at sea. Interestly, Mr. de Maisonneuve, realizing that many of the enlistees might desire to stay in France after their recent 'adventure', put his soldiers on an island from which they could not escape! On July 20th, the replacement ship set sail for the New World.

On September 22, 1653, the ship landed at Quebec after 64 days aboard ship. When they arrived, Governor de Lauzon refused to let them have the necessary boats to complete their journey to Ville-Marie as they were sorely needed to defend Quebec. The group finally arrived at Ville-Marie on November 16th.

For more info, see "Saving Montréal: La grande recrue de 1653"