La Belle (ship)
The hull remains of La Belle undergoing reconstruction | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| France | |
| Name | La Belle |
| Owner | Louis XIV |
| Operator | René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle |
| Builder | Honoré Mallet |
| Fate | Shipwrecked |
| Status | Hull raised and on display at the Bullock Texas State History Museum |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | barque longue |
| Tonnage | 40–45 |
| Length | 54 ft 4 in (16.56 m) |
| Beam | 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m) |
| Draft | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
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La Belle was one of Robert de La Salle's four ships when he explored the Gulf of Mexico with the ill-fated mission of starting a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1685. La Belle was wrecked in present-day Matagorda Bay the following year, dooming La Salle's Texas colony to failure. The wreckage of La Belle lay forgotten until it was discovered by a team of state archaeologists in 1995. The discovery of La Salle's flagship was regarded as one of the most important archaeological finds of the century in Texas, and a major excavation was launched by the state of Texas that, over a period of about a year, recovered the entire shipwreck and over a million artifacts.