Folk Figure. The last surviving crewman of the La Belle, a ship in the fleet of French Captain Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. The La Belle went down in Matagorda Bay, north of what is now Corpus Christi. Preserved under an anaerobic layer of silt, the ship was excavated in 1995 and only one crewman was found aboard. Though nicknamed "Dead Bob" by excavators, a mug engraved "C Barange" was found just next to his hand, thus providing a more accurate name for the sailor who was estimated to be about forty years of age. The remarkably complete preservation of the La Belle was a sensation in the archaeological world, and "Dead Bob" has come to embody the spirit and peril associated with seventeenth-century sailors in the New World. On February 3, 2004, he was given a state funeral in the exclusive Texas State Cemetery with the French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, in attendence.∼Unknown Seaman of LaSalle's ship "La Belle" which sank in Matagorda Bay TexasBuried in the Texas State Cemetery on February 3, 2004. The 17th Century sailor's skeletal remains were discovered during the 1996 excavation of French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle's ship the Belle in Matagorda Bay. His identity unknown, the sailor was given the nickname 'Dead Bob'. A drinking cup, was found near his body,it was inscribed "C. Barange," which might have been his name.
Folk Figure. The last surviving crewman of the La Belle, a ship in the fleet of French Captain Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. The La Belle went down in Matagorda Bay, north of what is now Corpus Christi. Preserved under an anaerobic layer of silt, the ship was excavated in 1995 and only one crewman was found aboard. Though nicknamed "Dead Bob" by excavators, a mug engraved "C Barange" was found just next to his hand, thus providing a more accurate name for the sailor who was estimated to be about forty years of age. The remarkably complete preservation of the La Belle was a sensation in the archaeological world, and "Dead Bob" has come to embody the spirit and peril associated with seventeenth-century sailors in the New World. On February 3, 2004, he was given a state funeral in the exclusive Texas State Cemetery with the French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, in attendence.∼Unknown Seaman of LaSalle's ship "La Belle" which sank in Matagorda Bay TexasBuried in the Texas State Cemetery on February 3, 2004. The 17th Century sailor's skeletal remains were discovered during the 1996 excavation of French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle's ship the Belle in Matagorda Bay. His identity unknown, the sailor was given the nickname 'Dead Bob'. A drinking cup, was found near his body,it was inscribed "C. Barange," which might have been his name.
Bio by: Stuthehistoryguy
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