The wreck of the Belle, the ruin of La Salle /

Historical archeologists discovered in 1995 the remains of the Belle, a sunken ship from the colonizing venture led by the Sieur de La Salle during the mid 1680s along the present-day western Gulf coast. Subsequent extensive archaeological excavations of both this ship and La Salle's nearby settlement on land have unearthed a plethora of artifacts that have geometrically increased historical knowledge about the first European expedition to settle what is now Texas. The Texas Historical Commission, which is overseeing this ongoing archeological project, commissioned Weddle, a highly respected historian of colonial Texas, to write this volume as a comprehensive narrative history of the La Salle expedition, with special attention given to the wreck of the Belle. This scholarly and meticulously researched book presents an airtight narrative of the expedition and the reasons for its eventual failure. The author faults inadequate and erratic leadership on La Salle's part as the major reason why this colonizing expedition failed. Weddle also believes that the sinking of the Belle and the loss of its cargo, which occurred near the settlement site, was the major cause of the colony's collapse. General and undergraduate collections and above. L. T. Cummins Austin College

Weddle, author of two other tracts on La Salle's adventures, makes use of evidence from the recent (1995) discovery of the wreck of the Belle, one of four vessels brought to America in La Salle's last, ill-fated venture. La Salle, who would have made a great "spin-meister" in our times, never quite got things right, despite his single-minded quests and his self-adulation (his final landing spot was considerably west--in Texas, actually--of where he thought he was). That single-mindedness was what enraged many of his more mortal cohorts and eventually caused one of them to plot and carry out his murder. Likewise, while acknowledging La Salle's bravery and stamina in navigating the Mississippi for the first time from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, the author is scathing in his final judgment of the celebrated explorer, stating that "he failed on all counts: as fur trader, explorer, military leader, and colonizer. Most of all . . . as a human being." Numerous illustrations of the artifacts salvaged from the Belle round out this instructive volume. --Allen Weakland