La Belle

Today I will talk about something that I discovered in the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum some weeks ago. I love History, but I love the most Colonization History, so when I arrived to the Museum and I saw the pieces of an old boat and I learned the story behind this boat I went crazy. Since I knew I was coming to Texas I have this doubt of wheter French, Spanish, Mexican or English people were the first in arrived to this beautiful land. Watching around the Museum I had the chance of reading and taking pictures about this topic. Later in my room I continue doing some research and  what I found is an amazing story...

Once upon a time (1681), a french noble Robert Cavalier de La Salle launched an expedition down the Mississippi River. He wrongly believed he was going to find a path to the Pacific Ocean, but instead he found a route to the Gulf of Mexico.

Although, this land had been claimed by Spanish people one and a half century before, La Salle claimed it for French king Louis XIV and named it Louisiana. Yeah, Louisiana like the king Louis, you know what I mean?

So, anyway, when La Salle returned to France three years later he said to Louis: Howdy! What's up man? Why don't we take some french dudes back to Louisiana, we promote Christianity among the natives down there and we make some bucks with "Spanish's" silver mines? Native Americans were angry over Spanish enslavement, so it was a good and feasible idea. 

La Salle planned to sail with only one ship, but on July 24, 1684, he left La Rochelle, France with four:  Le Joly,  L'Aimable, La Belle, and the St. François, you know frenchies "More is Better". Louis also provided 100 soldiers and full crews for the ships, as well as funds to hire skilled workers to join the expedition. The ships carried a total of nearly 300 people, including soldiers, artisans and craftsmen, six Catholic missionaries, eight merchants, and over a dozen women and children. It was like a Noah's ark. Nice mix La Salle!!

On February 20, they set up a temporary camp near the site of actual Matagorda Island, Texas. One of the men who had escorting the colonists across the ocean, returned to France aboard the Joly in mid-March 1685. Although he delivered a message from La Salle requesting additional supplies, French authorities, having made peace with Spain, never responded. That's what I call a friend!! The remaining colonists suffered from dysentery and venereal diseases, and people died daily. The consequences of colonizing my friends...

For several months after the permanent camp was built, the colonists took short trips to explore their surroundings. At the end of October 1685, La Salle decided to undertake a longer expedition taking canoes and the Belle. After a few days travelling the Karankawa (a typical tribe from Texas) killed a small group of the men who had camped on shore, including the captain of the Belle. According to those who remained on the Belle, the new captain  was always drunk. Many of the sailors did not know how to sail, and they grounded the boat on Matagorda Península  That's being organized! French style. The survivors took a canoe to the fort, leaving the ship behind. The destruction of the ship left the settlers stranded on the Texas coast, with no hope of gaining assistance from the French colonies in the Caribbean Sea.

The Belle remained mired in mud for 310 years!!! After years of unsuccessful searching, archeologists from the Texas Historical Commission finally found it in 1995. This discovery is considered one of the most extraordinary engineering feats ever associated with an archaeological excavation. 

P/D: La Salle was killed trying to reach New France (Canada).