An Intact Chest from the1686 French Shipwreck La Belle, Matagorda Bay, Texas: Artifacts from the La Salle Colonization Expedition to the Spanish Sea
Michael Carl West
Thesis: May 2005
Chair: Hamilton
In 1995 Texas Historical Commission (THC) staff and a team of researchers
discovered a shipwreck in the mud of Matagorda Bay. Preliminary artifact
recovery included a decorated bronze cannon that identified the wreck as la
Belle, the fourth and final vessel of the ill-fated venture to found a colony on
the Texas coast by French explorer Robert Cavalier Sieur de La Salle. A full
excavation of the site was conducted in the following years. Among the items
recovered was an intact chest (Artifact No. 11500) which at the time became
known as the Belle Mystery Chest. Initial inspection revealed that the chest was
most likely a repository for various tools, but further work revealed a sundry
collection of artifacts. Subsequent artietfact analysis determined the tools to be
instruments used in a variety of occupations ranging from that of French wine
coopering to those of agricultural, military, and maritime endeavors. Historical
research primarily using the firsthand reports from the expedition's survivors
suggest the chest was first boarded in France on one of La Salle's other
ship's, l'Aimable, unloaded prior to that vessel's wrecking at the mouth of
Matagorda Bay, taken to the new settlement by way of la Belle, and eventually
returned to the ship just prior to its sinking. Records verify that La Salle
often claimed the possessions of the dead and that he ordered the ship reloaded
with his personal goods and other supplies before it sank. Along with two
artifacts with differing ownership initials and the sheer diversity of the
chest's contents, these clues suggest that the chest may have been a repository
for various utilitarian items collected by La Salle before the loss of la Belle
in January of 1686.