La Belle remained elusive to archaeologists until 1995, when she was found and painstakingly extracted from the muddy bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. According to this article over at Telegraph UK online, La Belle is ready to be reborn.
The hull and many artifacts - including the skeleton of one settler or sailor - were carefully removed from the Gulf. La Belle's hull was significantly in tact, and the archaeologists at Texas A & M University devised a way to preserve it in polyethylene glycol. As the Telegraph article notes, the cost of this chemical rose substantially with the cost of oil, so another preserving method needed to be found. The scientists finally hit on freeze-drying, and La Belle was packed away in "the biggest [freeze-drying] machine on the continent devoted to archaeology." (You can see a video of the process at this previous post).
Now that La Belle's hull is thoroughly and safely preserved, the plan is to rebuild the 54 foot, early frigate-type ship. She will then become the centerpiece of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.
As Jim Busheth of the Texas Historical Commission comments in the article:
When La Belle sank, that doomed La Salle's colony and opened up the door for Spain to come in and occupy Texas. People can see firsthand how history can turn on a dime.
The article does not give time frames as to the estimated completion of the project. For anyone interested in the seafaring history of Europe and the New World, however, La Belle reborn is certainly something to look forward to with eager anticipation.
Header: Painting of La Belle via Gulf Wrecks where you can see many of the artifacts from the ship
WOW. I spent a while poking around the University of Texas' web site for the La Belle, which is excellent. It is a fascinating piece of history and, especially for me (or us, Pauline?), a truly amazing archaeological investigation. Who woulda thunk to take an underwater site, build a wall around it, and treat as a land excavation? And to think they can move the nearly intact hull.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pauline for a nice maritime archaeology tickle. Think I'll have to buy the book...
PS--Where did you get the "Print/PDF" button for your posts? I'd love to add that.
Seriously, Lou; I'm as geeked about this whole project as you are. The dig itself must have been extraordinary but then, as you note, to have taken the hull virtually intact was a bit of archaeological and engineering genius. This is certainly a project to keep an eye on!
ReplyDeleteThe print/PDF buttons are from Print Friendly online. Grab them here:
http://www.printfriendly.com/button
Also, outstanding review of "Treason's Harbor" today, mate. That's a good one!
Very cool, Pauline. I'm looking forward to going and seeing it someday with you...
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. The only issue is now we'll need to go to Austin. Let's make sure we do that in the winter :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the button, and thanks for the compliment. I had some time to read and write again, because, unfortunately, the diverticulitis came back. It's responding to at-home antibiotics this time, but, man, Ciprofloxacin + Metronidazole have their own kind of suffering, and definitely don't get along with rum...
ReplyDeleteYou're always welcome, my friend. I'm sorry to hear that your illness will not leave well enough alone. I'll keep you in my thoughts; plenty of positive energy for both you and Zane.
ReplyDelete