The cold of a North Atlantic winter on an exposed island, combined with inadequate shelter and food, would have placed enormous physical demands on a body that was not acclimated to such conditions.

Her nurse, Damienne, also died.

And — the most devastating detail of all — Marguerite gave birth to a child on the island, and the infant did not survive either.

The pregnancy itself is mentioned across multiple sources, making it one of the more reliably attested details of the story.

Marguerite arrived on the island, spent months there, and gave birth — which means she was pregnant at the time of or shortly after her abandonment.

The birth on the island, without medical attention, without proper nutrition, in the cold and isolation of the Gulf of St.