The Battalion
Page 3
Wednesday • February 26, 1997
Exploring La Salle’s
|ong-lost treasures
Story by Shea Wiggins
Photographs by Pat James
'oar ships sailed the ocean to create a French civilization in the New World
in the 17th century. Rene Robert Cavalier, sieur de La Salle, led the expedi
tion on a search for the Mississippi Valley.
xfHrates captured the St. Francoise in Santo Domingo, and L'aimiable (The Friend-
y) ran aground off the Texas coast. Many fearful colonists, trepid in the wilderness
Jf North America, sailed back to France on a third ship, Le Joli (The folly).
mWhile La Salle ardently searched for the Mississippi on foot, the last ship, La Belle,
lunk in a desperate attempt by the remaining colonists to reach Fort St. Louis.
in January 1686, the La Belle re-emerged in July 1995 in Matagora
Bay, off the coast of Texas.
m
IHjlpI
I
Above right: The jawbone of a man was
found near the wreckage of the La Belle.
Far right: This sword hilt was found in the
wreckage of the La Belle.
Above: A researcher displays a 1 7th-century
hand grenade.
Behind story: This spoon was recovered
from the La Belle.
Texas A&M conservation experts
from the University’s Nautical Ar
chaeology Program were given a
hands-on opportunity to analyze, in
terpret and feel the remains of La
Salle’s expedition.
Dr. Donny Hamilton, head of the
Nautical Archaeology Program, said
A&M contracted with the Texas Histor
ical Commission to conserve the arti
facts from the La Belle and eight iron
cannons found four months ago near
Victoria. The cannons were lost when
Fort St. Louis was abandoned.
Some of the artifacts found includ
ed coils, wire, barrels of axes, tools,
mirrors, bells, 17th century lancets,
ceramic pots and beads for trade with
the Indians.
French visitors to the lab identi
fied French pottery obtained from
the La Belle.
“The most interesting item — al
though it is not an artifact — recovered
from the wreck is a skeleton vvith^fie
brain still preserved within^: crani
um,” Hamilton said. “TTps is the
time I have seen thij, in an excavation.
Hamilton said Workers buiJra dam
around the sl|ip, like aAToughnut,
which was filled with gravel. The water
was pumped ouP§Tthe middle, to be
able to excavate the ship as though it
were on dry land.
“I have never seen a shipwreck that
had as much material on it as this ship,”
Hamilton said. “It had everything on
board to create a French settlement.”
Hamilton has also excavated a
1692 sunken city in Port Royal, Ja
maica, and a 1300 B.C. shipwreck^
the coast of Turkey.
Advanced technological/ tech
niques are being applied to ^uftifacts in
the Archeology Preservation Research
Laboratory by Wayne S^fnith, a re
search scientist for Texas A&M.
Hamilton estimates the conserva
tion process will take up t^t five years.
Jason Barrett, a researchassistant In
the A&M Conservcilion Research Labo
ratory and an anthropology graduate
student, said they are workingwith new
conservation technic
“Wekeep everyming in water,” Bar
rett jiaid. “This keeps the materials from
fwn. We are just beginning
the conservation process.”
^ ^Barrett said he is fascinated by the
Ipnesigns of the bronze cannons, as well
as ceramic pots discovered.
“The ceramic fire pots were filled
with combustibles,” Barrett said.
“They are metal, round cannonball
shapes which have a fuse in them. I
had no idea about the antiquity of
grenades. It is interesting to see the
technologies of war then.”
Peter Fix, a research assistant in the
A&M Conservation Research Laborato-
ry and anarylnppology graduate stu-
dent/photographs^irt ifacts as they are
shipped to the lab.
“There are over IP,000 different lot
numbers for the site,” Fix said. “Some
lot numbers haveoifly a couple of arti
facts, and some have 100,000 or more.”
Fix said he is Interested in the ship
itself, as a container of the artifacts.
‘T am immersed in all ofthem (the
artifacts)” ije said. “1 like the history
of the apeneology of seafaring...the
skeletarrs, cannons, or fragments of
caskets, barrels...all play an integral
ft in understanding.”
Fix said another series of photos
will be shot after the artifacts are
conserved.
Jon Faucher, a research assistant
and an anthropology graduate student,
read a collection of rare books regard
ing early 18th century French ship
builders and journals of the historical
accounts of the expedition.
“After the project started, I became
very interested in the background in
formation,” Faucher said. “I read all of
the historical documents. I am not nec
essarily obsessed, but something very
close to it.”
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