MUTINOUS WOMEN: How French Convicts Became Founding Mothers of the Gulf Coast

In 1719, a ship named La Mutine sailed from the French port of Le Havre, bound for the place the French called "the Mississippi." It's principal commodity was a new kind of export: women. Falsely accused of sex crimes these women were prisoners, shackled in the ship's hold. Many achieved unlikely triumph across the Atlantic and were instrumental in the building of New Orleans, and more. Illus.