Newly restored 300 year old French ship goes on display

The restored remains of a French colonial ship that sank off the coast of Texas more than 300 years ago is finally ready to go on public display.

Sunk in 1686, 54-foot-long oak frigate named La Belle was supposed to be carrying French colonists to the Mississippi Delta. However, bad maps led them more than 400 miles away, along the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

The ship’s recovered and restored hull will soon go on display at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.

“When excavated, the archaeological site was found full of merchandise — everything requisite to form a colony and establish trade — knives, axe heads, pottery, tiny glass beads, bottles and brass pins,” Peter Fix, a watercraft conservator at Texas A&M University, said in the news release. “Personal items including clothing, combs, and even a signet ring were found, and also weaponry such as long guns, lead shot, sword parts and three bronze cannons.”

Ship could have changed history

The La Belle carried an expedition led by famed French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle. Had the ship reached its destination, it would have further cemented the French foothold on the New World and changed the course of history.

La Salle was able to establish Fort St. Louis near the site of the shipwreck, about 100 miles southwest of present-day Houston. The fort convinced Spain to increase their presence in the region.

The keel and other huge structural pieces of the vessel that look like old railroad ties were uncovered in 1995 by Texas Historical Commission archaeologists. Scientists built a dam around the location, pumped the water out, and retrieved the mostly-intact hull, which had been conserved in up to 6 feet of mud.

In 2012, 600 pieces of the ship were delivered to Texas A&M, where the wood was kept at 60 degrees below zero in the world’s biggest archaeological freeze-dryer to eliminate over 300 years of moisture.

La Salle was the first European to travel the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico, declaring the river and its tributaries French territory in 1682.

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Image credit: Texas A&M

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