Model boat

Model of Cavelier de La Salle’s ship La Belle (1684). On July 24, 1684, after convincing King Louis XIV of France to establish a French colony in Louisiana, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687) left La Rochelle with a flotilla of four vessels, including La Belle. Attacked by Spanish privateers, poor charts, shallow waters, tropical storms… the expedition turned into a disaster. La Belle finally sank in 1686, more than 600 kilometers west of the mouth of the Mississippi.