The 1995 crew of the La Salle Shipwreck Project assembled around the bronze 4-pounder cannon discovered in the hold of the ship La Belle. Florida State University graduate students Chuck Meide and David Ball (first two on the left) were among the crew of archaeologists assembled by the Texas Historical Commission.

In 1684, the famous French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle led an expedition to the New World to found a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. He missed Louisiana and ended up in Matagorda Bay, Texas. La Salle lost all of his ships and the colony ended in total failure. La Salle last ship was La Belle, a shallow drafted barque longue which ran aground during a squall in 1686

In the summer of 1995, the Texas Historical Commission implemented a magnetic survey of Matagorda Bay in an attempt to locate La Salle's ships and other submerged cultural resources. The survey crew included two graduate students from Florida State University, Dave Ball and Chuck Meide. Florida State University also supplied diving and technical support for the project. It was an FSU magnetometer that located the wreck of La Belle, and an FSU diver that discovered the six-foot long, 793 pound highly decorated bronze cannon that immediately brought national attention to the project. The 1995 test excavation uncovered over 5 meters of intact hull, as well as a multitude of well-preserved artifacts, including lead shot, fragments of rope, a pair of navigational dividers, a sword handle, several intact ceramics, pewter plates, and a multitude of trade goods such as bronze rings, pins, hawk's bells and glass beads.

In 1996, the Texas Historical Commission implemented the multi-million dollar La Salle Shipwreck Project. The THC had a cofferdam constructed around the shipwreck. This massive structure lets archaeologists pump out the water from the site and excavate as if on land. Archaeologists, including one FSU student, were in the field since July 1996, and continued to make world-class discoveries until the project end in May 1997. Most of La Belle's hull, 51 feet long and 14 feet wide, survived intact. Notable finds from the 1996-1997 season include over 600,000 glass beads, a naval gun carriage, a swivel gun, boxes of muskets, personal items, and trade goods, over 86 intact and semi-intact casks, several hundred feet of anchor rope, leather shoes, bottles, pewter plates and porringers, a beautiful wood and bronze crucifix, and, in the very bottom of the hull, two more bronze cannon.

By the beginning of February 1997 the hull was completely emptied of cultural material. Texas Historical Commission archaeologists then disassembled the hull remains on site and, piece by piece, recovered them for conservation at Texas A&M University, and eventual display. The excavation and recovery phase of the project was finally completed at the end of April, 1997. The cofferdam was removed in the following months.

The Texas Historical Commission maintains an excellent web page that provides regular updates on the La Salle Shipwreck Project. Texas A&M University's Conservation Research Laboratory has been contracted by the Texas Historical Commission to conserve the artifacts from La Belle, and their web page provides current information about this aspect of the project.