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French
expedition ship LA BELLE of 1686
Scale 1 : 24,
length 95 cm, width 50 cm, height 89 cm,
More photos: of
entire ship,
of details. Click on the
photos for high resolution pictures!
Price 6000 Euro, plus transport cost
Robert Cavelier de La
Salle's expedition to the Gulf of Mexico
In 1684 -
1686 the French nobleman
Robert Cavelier de La Salle undertook an expedition to
establish a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. Due to inaccurate
maps and navigational errors he did not find the Mississippi but landed at
Matagorda Bay in Spanish Texas. One of his four ships was captured by pirates,
one ran aground on a sand bank, one returned to France - so the settlers had to
rely on their last ship, La Belle, for being their lifeline to the French
colonies on the Caribbean islands. When the La Belle ran aground in Matagorda
Bay in 1686 the ill fate of the settlement was sealed.
In 1995 the
wreckage was discovered in shallow water. In 1996 it was salvaged after erecting
a cofferdam around it. The water above the wreck was pumped out and the site
could be inspected more easily. The lower part of the hull was found remarkable intact
and many artifacts could be recovered, including three bronze cannon. The
Texas Historical
Commission's La Salle Shipwreck Project has now shifted to the conservation
phase, in which every artifact is carefully identified, cleaned and preserved.
Later on they will be on display in the Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas.
The LA BELLE model,
photos, description and dimensions
The ship
model was built to plans of Jean
Boudriot. He added information given by archives to information given by the
wreck to reconstitute the ship.
Please take your time to have a good look at
the set of photos. There are
several views of the entire ship model taken from all directions, and several
closer views of hull, deck and
rigging. If you click on a photo you will get that photo in high
resolution. Only these high resolution photographs show how much work and
handicraft ability were put in the model.
Viewing the high resolution photos: If you use Microsoft Internet
Explorer or Firefox, press F11 to minimize navigation bars and have a
larger screen with the photos. The high resolution photos are about 12
megapixel. So they are about 10 - 20 times larger than your 0.5 - 1.3
megapixel computer
screen. Most browsers by default downsize the pictures to screen
size, so you cannot see all the details of the ship models. To see the original
resolution move the mouse over the pictures and click on the magnifying
lens.
This model
of the LA BELLE is a beautiful true masterpiece, especially the woodwork of
the hull. It was built in 535 work hours. The
ship model is 1 : 24 scale.
Length is 95 cm, width 50 cm,
height 89 cm.
Price of the ship model
and transport
The price of
the model is 6000 Euro, plus transport cost.
Shipping the LA BELLE in a crate by some
package delivery company can be done. Picking up the ship with your car may be a good way, too.
The ship model was built by:
Rudolf Ferlemann, Muenster, Germany, Tel. +49 251 24220, r.ferlemann@web.de
Please contact him, if you are interested in the ship model. Mr. Ferlemann
speaks only a little English. If you feel your German is good enough or if you
could find somebody to communicate with him in German to get the details of
paying and transport right, then you should call them directly or send an email
to him. Otherwise call me (Michael Czytko, Tel. +49 2361 59757, michael.czytko@t-online.de
). I would do some translating.
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