Von Graffenried recruited a group of German refugees from the Palatine region, which had been ravaged by French warfare and an extremely harsh winter, and Bernese immigrants. After severe hardships in their own countries, they were willing to try starting over in Carolina. He sailed with the colonists to Carolina in 1710. On the sea, the settlers were attacked by French privateers who stripped them of everything they brought. (On a similar voyage of nearly 3000 German Palatines from London to New York, nearly one-third died during and shortly after the trip; shipboard illnesses killed many already weakened by the harsh conditions of that winter.)