The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 207
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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De Bellisle on the Texas Coast
Clavi6 rudely and to show ill temper towards him. It
was very sad for a man who had rendered such a
valuable service, but one could not expect anything
else from such a bad character. One had to have pa-
tience, hoping nevertheless to obtain justice at the first
occasion, but I believe that he met the same fate as
almost all who were on board and that he died a cruel
death, as I will tell hereafter.
Being out of danger from that source [the Channel],
we sailed for Louisiana, where we arrived twenty days
later." In the morning before daybreak, the pilots saw
land and told the Captain to take the draft. This Cap-
tain gave the order to sail on and said that it was
not necessary yet.
He had but finished saying it, when the ship struck
something several times with a terrific force. Every-
one believed that we were lost. Yet the ship did not
split open, because it was entirely new. It shipped
much more water than usual. We turned around im-
mediately in order to run towards the open sea. This
accident passed and daylight arrived. Sailors were sent
up to see if they could discover land; they did see
it. We ran towards land to a certain distance. After
awhile the water was not deep enough and we turned
again a little towards the open sea until we had four
or five fathoms, always with land in sight. The officers
and marines of this ship were supposed to land at a
distance of more than a hundred leagues east of the
Louisiana River [Mississippi].7 Yet we were more
than a hundred leagues west of it," as you will see
hereafter. This mistake was made because we sailed
all the time towards the west, thinking every moment
to see the mouth of the Louisiana River, for which
we were looking. We sailed so far in this direction
that finally the coast ran towards the southwest and
imperceptibly towards the south. The pilots, looking
at their charts, recognized their stupidity and realized
that the Louisiana coast ran east and west and that
sailing southwest or almost south as we were doing,
we were approaching Vera Cruz.9 They told this im-
mediately to the Captain, saying that without any
longer delay we should change direction and sail to-
6The distance from the west mouth of the Old Bahama Channel to St.
Joseph Island off the Texas coast, where they saw land, is over a thou-
sand miles.
TDe Bellisle meant Mobile or Biloxi.
"In sea leagues this would be about 345 miles, which is not so far off.
9They were still about 600 miles from Vera Cruz.207
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/227/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.