Monday, August 15, 2011

The Wreck of LaSalle's Ship, La Belle-- Part 1

From the May 1992 National Geographic Magazine.

I'd heard of the explorer LaSalle and knew he sailed for France, but beyond that didn't know a lot about him.

On July 24, 1684, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle sailed from France to the New World with four ships and 300 men and women with the intention of establishing a colony and port at the mouth of the Mississippi River to establish permanent French domination of the waterway.

Earlier, he had become the first European to travel the length of the Mississippi, but he was not so successful this time, overshooting the river by 400 miles, losing his ship, the Belle, and his whole settlement.

The wreck of his 45-ton barque longue ship has been discovered in 1995 in Matagorda Bay, Texas, in 12 feet of water and excavated. Shrimpers had snagged their nets on the wreck for decades. A cofferdam was built around it and water pumped out, making it the first dry-land excavation of an offshore wreck in the Western hemisphere.

Always Interested in Discovered Shipwrecks. --Cooter

The mud in the bay has preserved the wreck more than could be hoped for.

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