August 11, 1755
     Lawrence issued sailing orders to the vessels on August 11.  He and Gov. Shirley had contracted about 2 dozen cargo ships on a monthly basis from Apthrop and Hancock of the Boston Mercantile.  The vessels were refitted to hold 2 people per ton. [Maryland Historical Magazine - V III #1 March 1908,  "The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland",  Basil Sollers, p 7]
       One author described the preparations as follows.  "Before leaving Boston the ships had been renovated by removing the balast stones and the bulk heads of the holds.  In the case of a ship designed to carry 150 tons of cargo, the hold that usually measured approximately 24 feet wide and 48 feet long was lengthened by approximately 12 feet, creating  a large area in the hold of the vessel measuring approximately 24 feet wide by 60 feet long. The removal of the floor timbers and the balast stones increased the heigth to approximately 15 feet high. This enlarged hold space was then divided into three levels of just at or slightly over 4 feet high without windows for light or ventilation. The holds were locked creating a prison with no windows for light or ventilation, no sanitary conditions and no heat, except that of the huddled bodies." [Rushton, 51]
     Ten of the vessels were sent to the Beaubassin area, but the 3 that weren't needed (the Boscowan under Capt. James Newell, the Dove under Capt. Samuel Forbes, and the Ranger under Nathaniel Munroe) moved to the Minas area on Oct. 13.  The Boscowan later ran aground at Pisiquid and wasn't used in the deportation.
     The vessels were ready for use by October 11.

August 15, 1755
     Winslow arrived at Grand Pre on the 15th and camped on the plain where the priest’s house and church were located.  The soldiers’ tents were placed around the churchyard.  Winslow stayed in the priest’s house.  He (Abbe Lemaire of Canard Church) had been taken in on Aug. 10.  The officers were in a nearby house.  The church valuables had been taken by the Acadians when told the church would become a storehouse for the soldiers. 
     The camp was on high ground, NW of Grand Pre, with willows along the roads.  There was a graveyard too.  To the SE was the village with its scattered houses.  Houses lay to the E and W.  Winslow, age 54, had raised 2000 men to attack Beausejour.
     The camp was fortified.  Lawrence thought this might make the Acadians nervous, but Winslow responed that they weren’t; they expected the soldiers to be with them through the winter.  The Acadians had to supply the soldiers with food (for no money).  It was harvest time, and they wanted the Acadians to harvest the grain before being deported.

August 31-September 1, 1755
    On Aug. 31 (Sunday), Winslow & 50 men toured Grand Pre.  On Sept. 1, Capt. Adams & 70 men visited the villages of Canard and Habitant. 

September 2, 1755
     On Sept. 2, Capt. Hobbs visited the village of Melanson, in the Gaspereau valley on the south side of the river.  The commanders decided to have the Acadian men gather at the Grand Pre church to hear the king’s orders.
     The captains (Hobbs, Osgood, Adams) were sworn to secrecy.  By Sept. 1, 3 transports had arrived.  The Acadians wondered what they were for.  Eleven more ships arrived over the next few days.  On Sept. 2, Winslow took a whaleboat to Ft. Edward to meet with Murray to draft the “Proclamation to the Inhabitants” as follows. 
                    “To the inhabitants of the district of Grand Pre, Minas, River Canard and places adjacent, 
                              as well ancients as young men and lads.” 
          “Whereas His Excellency the Governor has instructed us of his late resolution respecting the matter 
          proposed to the inhabitants, and has ordered us to communicate the same in person, His Excellency 
          being desirous that each of them should be satisfied of His Majesty’s intentions, which he has also 
          ordered us to communicate to you, as they have been given to him: We, therefore, order and strictly, 
          by these presents, all of the inhabitants as well of the above-named district as of all the other districts, 
          both old and young men, as well as the lads of ten years of age, to attend at the church at Grand Pre,
          on Friday, the 5th instant, at three in the afternoon, that we may impart to them what we are ordered to 
          communicate to them, declaring that no excuse will be admitted on any pretense whatsoever, on pain 
          of forfeiting goods and chattels, in default of real estate.

September 5, 1755
     After they entered, Winslow had a table set up in the middle of the church.  He got into place and flanked by soldiers (New Englanders).  He read to them the following:

He basically said your are prisoners and your belongings are forfeited.  He retired to the priest’s house, where some of the older Acadians went and begged him to consider their families, who didn’t know what had happened. ]       Winslow allowed 20 men (10 on each side of the Cornwallis) to go back and tell the women and children that they wouldn’t be harmed.  They were also to bring back any who hadn’t shown up, with the men still in captivity held responsible.  The family & friends of those imprisoned had to provide them with food.  Though they could move about the enclosure, they couldn’t go east of the officers’ quarters.

September 7, 1755
      By the 7th, only 5 transports had shown up.  There were now 424 prisoners.  The prisoners had been allowed (20 a day) to return and spend a night with their families.  On the 10th, the people sent a request to Winslow that they be allowed to go to French soil and be given time to get ready.

A FINAL LOOK  by George Rodrigue

They even offered to pay their way.  Winslow noted that there was more commotion among the Acadians that morning.  So he planned to put 50 young men on each of the 5 ships to lessen the danger of rebellion.  Pierre Landry (who spoke English) was summoned and told to prepare the 250 men.  The men, in columns 6 deep, were on the left of the whole group, with 80 armed soldiers around them.  The order was given to march, but none moved.  You can imagine the scene, crying, pleading, calling out to each other.       Boys said they wouldn’t leave without their fathers, but Winslow couldn’t understand them.  The soldiers brandished their bayonets and the men were forced to start moving.  People from the villages lined the road down to the landing place at Gasperau, 1.5 miles away.  They were put aboard smaller vessels and shuttled out to the ships.  Boats carried as many wives & mothers as they could carry each day to the ships to bring provisions.  There were 363 soldiers at Grand Pre.  It seems that they hated the French, since Winslow had to make an order to protect them.

October 7-8, 1755
     The final boarding began Oct. 8.  More ships had arrived.  On Oct. 7, 24 men had escaped ship.  Francois HEBERT was suspected as having come up with the plan.  He was taken off the ship he had boarded that day and brought to his house, which was burned down while he watched. [Herbin, 116]
     Notice was given that if the escapees didn’t return in 2 days, their friends would be treated likewise and their household goods confiscated.  With the aid of Pierre Landry 22 returned (2 had been shot by a search party while trying to escape).  Winslow writes that he began to embark the inhabitants on the 8th.  Women were carrying their children and were in great distress.  The belongings and the elderly were taken in carts.  The Grand Pre and Gaspereau areas were cleared quickly.  They loaded at Boudro’s Point (between the Canard and Cornwallis Rivers).  They were packed onboard, crowded to the point of suffocation ... but there was still not enough space for everyone.  Most of their belongings, such as furniture and household items, were left behind in the carts ... to be found by English settlers in 1760. 
     Sailing orders were given by Lawrence on the 13th. (Some give this as the sailing date.)

Grande Pre      2182 
Port Royal      1664 
Pisiquid       ~1100 
Beaubassin     ~1100 
              ------- 
               ~6050

    Things didn't go so smoothly for Major Handfield at Annapolis Royal.  He wasn't able to gather the local Acadians till December.  So he sent the transports in the bay to Minas.  Three of those vessels went to Pisiquid.  Those that weren't used at Minas were sent back to Annapolis Royal.  Finally, at 5 a.m. on December 8, 1755, those ships set sail from Goat Island with the Port Royal area Acadians..