On a frigid, stormy day in February of 1686, a small French sailing ship lost control and ran aground in Matagorda Bay. Pounded in the Texas bay by gale-force winds and storm surges, La Belle slipped beneath the water and sank to the bottom, where she would remain for centuries. More than 300 years later, Texas Historical Commission archeologists discovered La Belle's resting place. Using cutting-edge technology and scientific innovation, investigators excavated the shipwreck and salvaged from its watery grave more than a million artifacts, including bronze guns, muskets, trade beads, axes,...

In 1995, Texas Historical Commission underwater archaeologists discovered the wreck of La Salle sLa Belle, remnant of an ill-fated French attempt to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River that landed instead along today s Matagorda Bay in Texas. During 1996 1997, the Commission uncovered the ship s remains under the direction of archaeologist James E. Bruseth and employing a team of archaeologists and volunteers. Amid the shallow waters of Matagorda Bay, a steel cofferdam was constructed around the site, creating one of the most complex nautical archaeological...