The discovery of La Belle
In 1685, the French explorer Robert de La Salle embarked on an ambitious mission to establish a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Among his fleet of four ships was La Belle, a vessel that would become a significant piece of maritime history. However, the expedition met with misfortune, and La Belle was wrecked in what is now known as Matagorda Bay in 1686.
For over three centuries, La Belle lay hidden beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It wasn’t until 1995 that this historical treasure was rediscovered by archaeologists. The ship was carefully brought to the surface and painstakingly reconstructed, finding its new home in the Bullock Museum.
Today, visitors to the Texas Maritime Museum can marvel at several artifacts from La Belle, as well as a large-scale model of the ship prominently displayed in the main gallery. But the story of how La Belle was found is just as fascinating as the ship itself.
The tale begins in 1985 when historian Robert Weddle received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This funding supported his work on the book Spanish Sea: The Gulf of Mexico in North American Discovery, 1500–1685. The grant allowed Weddle to conduct extensive research in Spanish archives across Seville, Moguer, Madrid, and Simancas.
It was in Madrid that Weddle made a crucial discovery. He unearthed the journal of Juan Enríquez Barroto, a pilot who had participated in a Spanish expedition searching for La Salle’s Texas colony. In 1687, Enríquez’s team had entered Matagorda Bay and stumbled upon the remains of La Belle.
What made Enríquez’s account particularly valuable were his incredibly precise coordinates for the wreck site. He had used celestial navigation to determine latitude and dead reckoning for longitude. These coordinates proved so accurate that in 1995, marine archaeologist J. Barto Arnold III and his team of divers located one of La Belle’s cannons on their very first dive.
This remarkable find not only led to the recovery of the La Belle wreck but also cemented Robert Weddle’s reputation. He is now recognized as the foremost American scholar on René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the French explorer who led the ill-fated expedition.
The discovery and subsequent excavation of La Belle have provided invaluable insights into 17th-century maritime technology, French colonial ambitions, and the challenges faced by early explorers in the Gulf of Mexico. It serves as a tangible link to a pivotal moment in North American history, when European powers were vying for control of the continent.
Visitors to the Texas Maritime Museum now have the opportunity to connect with this fascinating piece of history. Through the artifacts and the model of La Belle on display, they can gain a deeper understanding of the perils and promise of early maritime exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
The story of the La Belle wreck reminds us that history is often hidden just beneath the surface, waiting to be uncovered by dedicated researchers and archaeologists. It’s a testament to the power of historical scholarship and the enduring allure of maritime mysteries.
Visit the Texas Maritime Museum at 1202 Navigation Circle, the museum is open 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Thanks to a generous donation, admission to the Texas Maritime Museum is free to the public.
Information for this article is sourced from TSHA Online, article written by Donald E Chipman.
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/weddle-robert-samuel-bob
