La Belle (ship) - Voyage

Voyage

On July 24, 1684, La Salle left La Rochelle with four: the 36-gun man-of-war Le Joly, the 300-ton storeship L'Aimable, the barque La Belle, and the ketch St. Francois. The ships carried almost 300 people, including 100 soldiers, 6 missionaries, 8 merchants, over a dozen women and children, and artisans and craftsmen. The St. Francois and its full load of supplies, provisions, and tools for the colony was captured by Spanish privateers in Santo Domingo. In late November 1684, the three remaining ships continued their search for the Mississippi River delta. Before they left, local sailors warned them that the Gulf currents flowed east, and would carry the ships toward the Florida straits unless they corrected for it. On December 18, the ships reached the Gulf of Mexico and entered waters that Spain claimed as their sole territory. None of the members of the expedition had ever been in the Gulf of Mexico or knew how to navigate it. The expedition was to be unable to find the Mississippi due to a combination of inaccurate maps, La Salle's previous miscalculation of the latitude of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and overcorrecting for the currents. Instead, they landed at Matagorda Bay in Spanish Texas in early 1685, 400 miles (644 km) west of the Mississippi.

Although La Belle was able to easily navigate the pass into the Bay, the Aimable was grounded on a sandbar. A bad storm prevented them from recovering more than food, cannons, powder, and a small amount of the merchandise from the ship, and by March 7 it had sunk. Beajeu, having fulfilled his mission in escorting them, returned to France aboard the Joly in mid-March, leaving La Belle the only ship available to the remaining settlers.

La Salle chose to establish Fort Saint Louis on a bluff overlooking Garcitas Creek, 50 miles (80 km) from their initial campsite. With their permanent camp established, the colonists took several short trips within the next few months to further explore their surroundings. At the end of October La Salle decided to undertake a longer expedition and reloaded the Belle with much of the remaining supplies. He took 50 men, plus the Belle's crew of 27 sailors, leaving behind 34 men, women, and children. The bulk of the men traveled with La Salle in canoes, while the Belle followed further off the coast. Several of the men, including the captain of the Belle, Canil Maraud, died on this expedition from eating prickly pear. Soon after, Karankawa killed a small group of the men, including the new captain of the Belle, former pilot Eli Richaud, who had camped on the shore at night. In January 1686, La Salle left the ship 30 miles (48 km) from Fort Saint Louis. La Salle took 20 men with him to travel overland to reach the Mississippi, leaving Pierre Tessier, the former second in command of the Belle, in charge of the ship. After three months of searching overland, La Salle's group returned, but were unable to find the Belle where they had left her and were forced to walk back to the fort.