1719
On Board the ship La Mutine

There were 132 of us and now only 62 remain, chained together in the holdings of this accursed ship. I am soul weary — all of us are the same body; we share the same maladies. We think, breathe, menstruate and cry together.

France seems so far away now, a distant memory. How long have we been here? I have since stopped counting the days. In France, I was comfortable, even if my family could barely heap together enough money to keep my siblings and me together. It still was not enough. I was a wandering seller, one of the plethora of bouquetierès by trade, if one would call crying out hour after hour for someone to at least buy a single one of my carnations. No one noticed me crying out amid les cris de Paris. I was too small, too quiet and reserved, like some of the other prettier girls who garnered attention from the handsome men who wanted to purchase inexpensive flowers for their mistresses — without their wives knowing.

At first, I wondered why I ended up chained in this hellhole with 132 other women. Why me? At first, I tried to tell those inspectors that I was innocent. I was not who they thought I was. I was an honest girl, trying to make an honest living for her family. Other mouths to feed. But the answer I received was a slap on the face and to shut up and know your place, you cheap slut. The police ruthlessly ignored my circumstances. Why did they not call upon a respectable physician to examine my body even during my prison sentence ? Surely that could have proven my innocence, but after year two I knew it was futile to hold onto hope of freedom. I was eighteen years old in 1710 and brought to Salpêtrière Prison for my sentence. Royal orders on account of public prostitution. I am now nearing twenty-eight and have never lived the life I planned. My family, of course, wants nothing to do with me.

Here we mutinous women rot, hoping not to be among the unfortunate to die while we wait to dock to uncharted territory.

All of which I am accused of is untrue, for how can I be a prostitute if I am but still a virgin?