Îles du Salut in Fr2025ench. So called because missionaries from the mainland of South America sought refuge from disease on these three islands, just 11 km (6 nautical miles) from the coast. The three islands are named Isle Royale, St. Joseph’s Island and Île du Diable, Devil’s Island. These Islands became the most notorious outposts in the French penal system.

From 1852 to 1953 the French used them to imprison the worst convicted felons and political prisoners. Isle Royal was the intake center, administrative center and the main prison island. St. Joseph Island for solitary confinement and Devil’s Island was for political prisoners.

For 70 percent of the prisoners, it ended up being a life sentence. They didn’t survive the harsh conditions and rampant disease. Average temperature on the island is 81.7 degrees F and there are over 98 inches of annual rainfall. The coldest temperature ever recorded was just over 65 degrees, so the evening does not provide relief.

The most famous prisoner was Alfred Dreyfus, a French military officer accused of spying for the Germans. His conviction, using manufactured evidence, was an an example of antisemitism in the French military establishment. The French novelist Emile Zola campaigned for a retrial. His open letter J’accuse set off a public firestorm that ultimately led to Dreyfus’ release. While visitors are not permitted on Devil’s Island they can see Dreyfus’ hut from Isle Royale. I could see it from the ship.

And I needed to see it from the ship because Suzi and I decided to declare a “ship day” and not visit the island, where we had visited twice before. I needed some down time, without all the shipboard lectures that a sea day brings, to process our Brazilian experience, catch up on reading and just relax. The only thing I really wanted to see that I hadn’t was the paintings on the wall of the chapel, and as it turned out the chapel was locked so no one on the ship saw them. Our decision was aided by reports of high heat and humidity. Volendam’s sister ship, Zaandam, called ten days earlier and 10 passengers passed out on the island. Because of the rough conditions of the trails, and the stone steps up the 66 meters (212 feet) to the top of the island, they had to bring them down in stretchers. We received all sorts of warnings to bring at least a liter of water, wear a hat, bring bug dope, wear light clothing. We decided to give it a pass this time. But I did take pictures from the ship.

Currently the Isle Royal is used as a rocket tracking station for the European Union’s space program. The rockets are launched from the mainland. There is also a hotel and restaurant.

Isle Royal really is a beautiful island despite its history. If you want to see pictures from when we did make it to the island please click here and here.

One of the ways I used my “ship day” was swimming in the midship’s pool under the retractable dome. I usually swim in the aft open air pool but that was still being cleaned after the King Neptune ceremony two days earlier. In the midship pool I met a who different group of swimmers and I learned some things. One of the people I met was Chuck from Salt Lake City. His wife was one of the people who donated blood to save my life during the 2023 cruise (that is a whole different story, well documented in other parts of this blog.) I learned that one of the conditions of donating blood was that the donor cannot have been drinking alcohol. Since the call went out at dinner time, just after happy hour, a number of people were rejected. Since Mormons do not drink alcohol, I find I owe my life to our good neighbors in the Church of Latter-day Saints. Thank you!

I also spent a lot of time in the pool talking with musicologist Bosco de Olivera from the Oi Brasil team about Brazilian, Cape Verdian, Cajun music and jazz.

Yes, I did get my PT routine in and got to swim laps as well.