Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, January 26, 1999

Spanish ships pass our coast in search for French colony

by Jim Bradshaw

About a year before he was captured, he said, he had sailed from France as part of a fleet carrying 250 people and all of the supplies necessary to put down a colony at a place called "Micipipi." They had arrived at Saint-Domingue in October 1864, but not before the Spanish had captured a ketch carrying most of the French supplies. The expedition was forced to remain at Saint-Domingue for two months to recoup what was lost.

During those two months, Thomas said, he gave up on the expedition, jumped ship, and signed on with the pirates. He didn't know where the Micipipi was, and didn't know whether La Salle had ever reached it.

The Spanish pressed: "Where is the Micipipi?"

Thomas told them what he knew: La Salle had found it after a long search. He'd made his way to a large river, then returned to France, where the king had given him the title of marquis and made him viceroy of the country he had discovered. Thomas said he had heard that La Salle left a number of men on the large river, and that he planned to conquer some rich mines not far from it. All of this, Thomas said, had been told to him by one of La Salle's servants.

The Spanish pressed harder, but Thomas didn't know anything more. Several other prisoners off the pirate ship had no more details, but they did convince the Spanish viceroy at Veracruz, the Marqués de Laguna, that there was a French settlement somewhere on the northern Gulf coast, and that it was on land that had been claimed by Spain.

Spanish officials reacted quickly. They decided that the Micipipi emptied into the Gulf through a bay called Espiritu Santo. This natural port, in the hands of the French, would be "injurious to all America." Spanish ships from the ports of Spain would be at risk from the French intruders. Spanish officials in both North America and in Europe agreed that quick action was needed "to pluck out the thorn which has been thrust into the heart of America." They agreed that Spain had to find this French outpost and do something about it.

But there was one problem: Spain had all but ignored the northern Gulf coast for a century. They didn't have even a foggy idea of where to begin looking for La Salle's settlement.

They dug out old maps and found only one river leading from New France to the Gulf, Rio del Espiritu Santo. They figured it to be midway between Florida and Mexico, and an ideal base for Frenchmen who might want to attack the treasure fleets.

Spanish officials in Mexico thought the mouth of the river was closer to Havana than to Veracruz, and suggested that the first search be made from Cuba. Two pilots from Veracruz Juan Enriquez Borroto and Antonio Romero, left on Nov. 21, 1685, for Havana. They supposedly knew the Gulf coast and would be able to guide the search. They arrived in Cuba on Dec. 3, and the bureaucratic wheels of New Spain began to turn.

There wasn't a government ship in Havana that was up to the task of searching for the Mississippi, so the government chartered the Neustra Señora de la Concepción y San Joseph, a private ship. She needed some repairs before setting out, and the expedition was delayed until Jan. 3, 1686.

She sailed with detailed instructions to study every nook and cranny where white men might settle. The ship reached the Florida coast on Jan. 17 and began to sail to the west. In early February, it reached Pensacola Bay, where the ship's officers questioned Indians about the whereabouts of the Frenchmen. Nobody knew anything. The Spanish sailed on to Mobile Bay and questioned the Indians there. These Indians also knew nothing about the Frenchmen.

On March 4, the explorers found a large river emptying into the Gulf, but trees and driftwood choked its mouth. They named it Rio de la Palizada and christened a nearby landmark Cabo de Lodo, Cape Mud. They were at the mouth of the Mississippi River, but did not recognize it. They believed the Mississippi emptied into Espiritu Santo Bay, but there was no bay here, and a river blocked by debris could hardly be the one La Salle would choose. The Spanish sailed on to the west.

Food ran low after a storm drove the Nuestra Señora far out into the Gulf, and the explorers were forced to give up the search and sail directly for Veracruz. They got there on March 13, 70 days after leaving Havana. A large part of the Gulf coast had been rediscovered and re-explored, but they found no trace of a French settlement or of the elusive Espiritu Santo Bay.

Shortly after the ship reached Veracruz, two overland expeditions were sent out from Mexico to look for La Salle's colony. Neither turned up a trace of the French settlement.

Once again, the Spanish were about to give up the search when they heard yet another report that the French were, indeed, settled in the Gulf coast.

In May 1686, French pirates attacked the presidio at St. Augustine in Florida. Some of them were taken prisoner by the Spanish, including the leader, Nicolas Brigaut. He made a "confession" before he was executed, hoping to save his neck. The Spanish listened to what he had to say, then executed him anyway.

Brigaut said, among other things, that the French had established a fortified settlement on the Mississippi River. He said the town was about 40 leagues above the mouth of the river, was garrisoned by 300 soldiers, and protected by 12 cannons.

In June, after hearing Brigaut's tale, the commandant at St. Augustine, decided to send an expedition to the west to look for the Frenchmen. He thought that even if he didn't find the French the expedition would strengthen the Spanish claim to unoccupied territory between Florida and Mexico. Marcos Delgado, a veteran soldier, was picked as the leader of the expedition. He was told to carefully explore "all provinces, lakes, rivers, and bays between Florida and Mexico."

Delgado left Apalachee on Aug. 29, 1686, with 13 soldiers and 40 Indians. They explored for two months, traveling as far west as Mobile Bay. They found no Frenchmen.

Another coastal expedition left Veracruz on Christmas Day, 1686. Two small boats, Nuestra Señora del Rosario and Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, captained by Martin de Rivas and Antonio de Iritarte, respectively, sailed slowly toward the east, keeping close to the coast. On March 30, 1687, while they were exploring the mouth of a river, which they named Rio de las Flores, River of the Flowers, they came upon the wreckage of a French ship. A few days later, on April 4, they reached a large bay not too far from Rio de las Flores. They named it San Bernardo Bay. They were at Matagorda, where La Salle had made his settlement.

Not far from the bay's entrance, they found a derelict ship which still bore the French coat of arms, a few barrels of powder, and some guns. The Spaniards guessed that the ship belonged to La Salle's settlement, but they never suspected that the settlement was only five miles away. They thought the area was too low and swampy for anyone in his right mind to try to settle there.

They sailed from San Bernardo Bay all the way to the Rio de la Palizada, the Mississippi, looking for the settlement. They found no place that they thought was suitable for a settlement.

The whole coast had now been surveyed, from Florida to Mexico. One voyage from the west and one from the east had reached the shores of Acadiana, but neither found cause to come ashore.