This is Tromelin Island.

It is exactly as barren as it looks, so much so that it used to be known simply as the Isle

of Sand.

In 1761, almost 100 people captured from their homeland were abandoned here, and most

of them were never seen or heard from again.

This is their horrifying story.

Sometime after nightfall on July 31, 1761, Jean de la Faire looked back and forth between two

different maps.

He was the captain of a French ship known as Luteel, and he was in a hurry, but having two maps of the exact same area of the Indian Ocean that contradicted one another wasn't helping.

After leaving from the east coast of Madagascar, Captain John was guiding his ship in complete

darkness while up against winds of up to 20 knots, and unfortunately,

he didn't need a map or the ability to see more than a few feet in front of him to know that

his ship was off course. Without an accurate and reliable map on the ship, though, he was left

to figure it out using bad information. Considering this, the smart move would have been to slow down

and wait until the sun came up so he could get his bearings, but time was a luxury Captain Jean could not afford. Along with a crew of more than 140 men,

Captain Jean was charged with sailing west from the Isle of France, which is now known as

Mauritius, to Madagascar to transport a load of beef and rice. The ship was expected back

in the Isle of France in a few days, but Captain Jean had another stop to make first that only he and his crew knew about. Payment for the beef and rice

would be a nice sum of money, but Captain Jaa couldn't pass up the opportunity to make

a lot more. His plan was for the ship to sail past the Isle of France to Rodriguez Island.

There he dropped off a load of unplanned cargo before returning to the Isle of France with the supplies he was set to bring back.

Below deck, 160 men, women, and children of Malagasy descent, or natives of Madagascar,

...