Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, January 26, 1999

Religion, riches prompt attempt at settlement

by Jim Bradshaw

This was well before the British thought about trying to settle at Jamestown, and some historians think that if a hurricane had not hit exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, the entire Atlantic seaboard, from Labrador to Florida, might have been settled under the fleur de lis of France rather than the flag of England.

In 1562, France was being torn apart by religious wars, and the Huguenots were losing, and badly. That's why a group of them decided to flee their persecutors and establish a colony in the New World. The sponsor of the French expedition was Gaspard de Coligny, who bore the lofty title of Admiral of France.

Coligny was a patriotic Frenchman, but also an ardent Huguenot -- loyalties that could be at loggerheads. He wanted to serve both his country and his religion, and he also wanted to get rich. He thought the New World might hold the key to each of his three ambitions and, even better, that they might be accomplished at the expense of rival Spain.

It was not hard to convince the French Court that colonies in the New World would build both the king's prestige and his bank account. The king had only to look at the gold and silver flowing into Spain and Portugal over the last half-century And, as a bonus, Coligny's plan to settle in the New World would also relieve France of some unwanted Protestants.

The settlement expedition was commanded by Jean Ribault of Dieppe, a staunch Protestant and a tested seaman.. He sailed from France on Feb. 18, 1562. His three ships carried 150 men and two smaller boats. They arrived off Florida on April 30, at a place they named French Cape. Ribault then turned to the north and sailed up the Atlantic coast.

On May 1, the expedition reached the mouth of a large river on the Florida peninsula just north of where St. Augustine is today. As the explorers lowered small boats to go ashore, they saw Indians running along the beach, beckoning them to land. The Indians hid when the Frenchmen came ashore, but then overcame their initial fear, crept forward and sat down amid the white men. And the white men got excited.

As the historian Francis Parkman tells it:

"Above all it (became) plain to their excited fancy that the country was rich in gold and silver, tortoises and pearls. One of these last as big as an acorn hung from the neck of an Indian who stood near their boats. They gathered, too ... that the wonderful land of Cabala , with its seven cities and untold riches, was but twenty days journey by water. In truth, it was two thousand miles westward, and its wealth was a fable."

Ribault named this Florida river la riviere de Mai (The River of May, now called the St. Johns), explored it for two days, planted a stone pillar at its mouth, then sailed north again. On May 27, he came to a small bay surrounded by flat sandy shores. He named the place Port Royal and settled in to stay. The settlement was about where Savannah, Ga., is today. Ribault began a fort on a stream he called the Chenonceaux, which we know as the Savannah River today. He named the fort Charlesfort, stocked it with food and ammunition, and, leaving behind 30 of his companions, sailed for France, promising to return in six months with more colonists and supplies.

At first, the tiny band left at Port Royal went about its business, finishing the fort, killing game for provisions. But the settlers were soon distracted by tales of gold and adventure. They visited five Indian villages and were fed and entertained at each one. The Indians regularly brought supplies to Charlesfort and the colonist came to depend upon them. But there was not enough Indian largesse to go around, and the white men were soon near starvation.

The Frenchmen heard of two rich tribes to the south and set off to find them. They found one village near today's Savannah, Ga., and again they feasted and were given boatloads of vegetables and corn. But the storehouse at Charlesfort burned just after the precious supplies and been put inside it. The Indians gave them more food.

But the Frenchmen wanted gold and they began to grumble when they couldn't find any. Grumbling soon turned to rebellion. Their leader, Albert de la Pierria, was murdered after he had a drummer boy hanged and threatened to exile another man to a nearby been his island where he would die of exposure. De la Pierria was replaced by Nicolas Barre, who returned peace to the band of settlers, but who could do little about its hunger and homesickness.

In a scene reminiscent of the Narváez expedition, these French settlers felled trees and built a ship, caulking its seams with moss and pitch boiled from pine trees, sewing together shirts and bedding for sails. They laid in what provisions they could, gave the rest of their supplies to the Indians, and set sail for home. But the breeze and their provisions both ran out when they were halfway across the Atlantic. They were forced to eat their leather vests, then their shoes. Some died.

They prayed for wind. It came in a gale, tossing and battering the little boat. Somehow, she stayed together, but the men were tossed about and battered.

Parkman tells us that when, finally, a British ship rescued them, one of the French, a man named LeClere, was missing. It had been his misfortune to lose a fatal toss of the dice, and he had been killed and eaten to keep the others alive.

Meanwhile, Spanish officials in the New World heard of the French visit to the Atlantic shore and sent a force from Havana under Don Hernando de Manrique de Rojas to drive out the intruders. He found the abandoned Charlesfort, destroyed it and captured a young Frenchman, Guillaume Rouffi, who had decided to stay with the Indians rather than risk the Atlantic crossing.

Manrique took Rouffi to Havana and reported to the Spanish authorities there that the fort had been destroyed.

Ribault meanwhile, had fared little better than the garrison he'd left behind. When he arrived in France, he found the country once again locked in civil war and his sponsor, Coligny, out of favor. When the Protestant city of Dieppe fell to the Catholic king, Ribault escaped to England where he published an account of his voyage and had an audience with Queen Elizabeth, who was becoming interested in a New World venture of her own.

Ribault planned an expedition with some Englishmen but, when he attempted to leave the country, he was arrested and held in prison for about a year.