USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -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.

Detailed explanation-2: -The French colonization of Texas began with the establishment of a fort in present-day southeastern Texas. Fort Saint Louis was established in 1685 near Arenosa Creek and Matagorda Bay by explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle.

Detailed explanation-3: -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-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.

Detailed explanation-5: -They had missed the mouth of the Mississippi and were almost 400 miles west of their intended destination! Bad luck continued. La Salle’s attempts to find the Mississippi River failed. Then the Aimable, the largest ship carrying most of his supplies, sunk in Matagorda Bay.