L'Orient in Southern Brittany (Lorient,
today) was only a building site for two 150 ton frigates
and a 1,000 ton vessel known as "le Soleil d’Orient",
which gave its name to the town, the shipyard of the
East.
In 1719 the India Company took back from the
King all the port installations and established itself in
L'Orient. Being very wealthy the company began to supply arms.
In less than a year and a half more than forty ships were
armed. L'Orient quickly became the focus of the company's
attentions in France : shipbuilding after 1730 arming and
disarming ships storage of merchandise freight and of course
sales of the many good brought back from afar.
