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...