Three Voyages

Introduction

Introduction AN EXPEDITION sent by the French to the New World in 1562 explored a portion of the Florida coast and established the short-lived Charlesfort settlement in present-day South Carolina. This voyage was followed in 1564 by the enterprise that resulted in the founding of Fort Caroline, on the shore of Florida's St. Johns River. Then in 1565 a third French expedition came across the Ocean Sea to reinforce the tenuous foothold on the St. Johns. A man was present on each of these three occasions. He came as the second-in-command on the Charlesfort voyage, then commanded the force that established Fort Caroline, and fiQally welcomed the additional men sent to strengthen that colony. That man was Rene Laudonniere, and his destiny also called for his witnessing the tragic denouement of the early French effort to secure a permanent place under the New World sun. Upon his return to Europe, Laudonniere wrote an account of his participation in the aborted expeditions, which he presumably entitled "Three Voyages." A new translation of this French narrative, placed in context with contemporary events and with other French, English, and Spanish narratives about these voyages , is presented in this book. The late distinguished historian Rembert Wallace Patrick encouraged the endeavor; and Luis Arana, able historian for the National Park Service, made it possible by his substantial and scholarly guidance. The French expedition of 1562 was led by Jean Ribault.1 Born about 1520, Ribault held reputation as the ablest French navigator of his time. In the 1540s, Henry VIII and Edward VI of England xiii had employed him as a consultant in navigational matters,2 and in 1559 he had briefly represented French interests in Scotland. Gaspard de Coligny, admiral of France, had chosen him for the command.3 The expedition struck Florida's coast on April 30, 1562. Coasting northward, Ribault discovered the St. Johns River next day in the morning and named it the River of May. The following day he erected a stone column on a hill near the river's mouth. Engraved with the king's arms, it was meant to show French possession. Ribault then sailed north along the coast, passing nine rivers or inlets and naming most of them after rivers in France, until he reached today's Port Royal Sound.4 To hold the sound, Ribault built Charlesfort, which he named in honor of Charles IX of France. He also erected there another column to indicate French possession of the country. Promising to return within six months, Ribault sailed for France in June. But within short order, the fort's storeroom burned down, food became scarce, dissension broke out in the small garrison, and Charlesfort was doomed. At last the soldiers built a boat and returned to Europe.s Since the beginning of the 1500s, the French had been active in exploring and attempting to settle in the New World. Possibly since 1503 Breton fishermen regularly worked offthe present-day Labrador coast, which they had called the Land of the Bretons and regarded as an appurtenance of France's Brittany. Then, Francis I commissioned Giovanni Verrazano to go to the New World, and the latter reach~d North America's coast near 34° latitude in 1524, explored it northward to 50°, and named it New France. Moreover, France financed Jacques Cartier's visit to the Newfoundland coast in 1534, and the discovery and exploration of the St. Lawrence River and building of a fort on the estuary of St. Charles River in 1535-36. In the latter trip, Cartier held two ceremonies of taking possession, in one of which he raised a cross and the arms of France over the fort.6 Attempts to settle the discovered land had followed. Cartier established Charlesbourg Royal, four miles up the St. Lawrence River, in 1541. The following year, as Cartier left for France to report on the apparent wealth of the country, the Lord of Roberval took charge of the settlement. Upon his appointment as lieutenant general of Canada, an unknown country, wags in the French court had dubbed Roberval "king of Canada" and xiv Introduction his wife "queen of Nowhere." The term nowhere was prophetic, for Roberval abandoned the St. Lawrence River settlement in 1543, after changing its name to France-Roy, exploring the river as Cartier had done, and failing to discover the expected material wealth of the land.7...