Preparing the ships for departure

The engraving shows the loading operations and the preparations for embarkation from the port of Lillebonne (Juliobonne) on the Seine and that of Le Havre of a fleet made up of three ships with six hundred French Huguenot and Swiss Calvinist soldiers and settlers, who arrived in Brazil in 1555 looking for a place of refuge for the reformed Christians and a permanent site that would allow them to exploit the "brazilwood" and the metals and precious stones that Europe demanded in abundance.