USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -First was the excavation in 1996–97 of La Salle’s ill-fated ship La Belle that sank in Matagorda Bay in 1686. La Belle is one of the most important shipwrecks ever discovered in North America.

Detailed explanation-2: -La Belle is considered to be one of the most important shipwrecks ever found in North America. It was one of four ships under the command of the famed explorer La Salle, and the 300 settlers on board the ships were to colonize the Gulf Coast area and expand French influence in the New World.

Detailed explanation-3: -La Salle’s doomed expedition was beset by problems from its outset, but the final nail in the coffin was the sinking of La Belle, the last ship he had, in 12 feet of water in Matagorda Bay along the Texas coast. For three centuries, the ship remained mired in muck within 1, 000 feet of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Detailed explanation-4: -He had located the mouth of Mississippi River in 1682, and was coming back to build a colony there to hold for France what later became the Louisiana Territory. In January 1685, three of his ships, Le Joly, l’Aimable, and La Belle, sailed into the Gulf of Mexico and entered Matagorda Bay along the Texas coast.