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The French Colony
The Expedition Begins

On July 24, 1684, La Salle and his colonists departed from La Rochelle, and began their journey to the Gulf of Mexico.  No one could foresee the great hardship and sorrow that was to befall the colonists.  

The first signs of trouble began before the ships even left port.  The King had commanded that the captain of the Joli, Sieur de Beaujeu, would have complete command of the expedition while at sea.  La Salle would have command once they were on land.  La Salle felt that he should have complete charge of the entire expedition. La Salle and Beaujeu began quarreling before the trip began, each man distrustful of the other.

The four ships set sail.  It took three months for the ships to reach Santo Domingo in the West Indies.  Many of the passengers, including LaSalle, were ill.  Though ill, La Salle wanted to stop at the port for supplies; during the night Beaujeu intentionally sailed past the port and anchored on the opposite side of the island. One of the ships was captured by pirates.  All supplies aboard this ship were now lost to the colonists.

Many colonists became disenchanted with the expedition, and some left the expedition while LaSalle recovered from his fever. In November, La Salle believed he was well enough to continue the expedition.  The remaining ships began to sail around Cuba and then headed for the coastline of Florida.  This tactic was supposed to help the men find the mouth of the Mississippi River.  In January, some believed they had spotted the Mississippi, but La Salle refused to believe it was the right river and insisted  they go on. Why La Salle did not stop and check the location is still a mystery to this day.  Some historians believed he did it on purpose, trying to sail closer to Spanish Mexico, some believe he missed it due to dense fog covering the coastal area and islands, and some believe it was due to poor maps and faulty navigational equipment.  We will never really know how or why La Salle missed the Mississippi River Delta.    

With supplies running low, a quarrelsome ship captain, and ill passengers, La Salle spotted a large bay with a river entering, and declared it was the Mississippi.  We know this area today as Matagorda Bay, near Galveston.  

While trying to put the colonists ashore, one of the ships ran aground.  The colonists worked to salvage what they could of the supplies aboard the vessel, but could not retrieve it all before night fell.  During the night a storm occurred, and scattered the cargo contents along the coast.   The colonists awoke to find Natives salvaging the supplies floating in the bay and along the shore.  Seeing the colonists, the Indians scattered and left their canoes behind.  The colonists took the canoes for their own use.  Later the Indians returned for their canoes, and ended up killing two men and wounding others.  

Beaujeu refused to unload the artillery the King had provided the colonists to set up a fort.  Many more colonists were now discouraged and decided to leave with Beaujeu on the Joli when he set sail in March of 1865.  LaSalle and the remaining colonists were left with the only the Belle, the ship that had been given to LaSalle by King Louis XIV.

Image is Map of the Texas Coast by LaSalle’s Engineer, Minet
Credit:  Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History/LaSalle Odyssey

Educational Resources Cultural Encounters "La Salle Activities"