Charlesfort, also known as Santa Elena, was a French settlement founded in 1562 in modern day South Carolina. Here, K.R.T.Quirion tells us about the troubled settlement – and the terrible journey that many of the settlers made back to France.
You can read K.R.T.Quirion’s past articles on telegraphy in the US Civil War (here) and a secret US Cold War facility in Greenland (here).
Oil painting of Admiral Jean Ribault, who led the expedition to set-up Charlesfort, by Calvin Bryant. Source: Calvin Bryant, Florida. Available here.
During the early part of the 16th century, Spain had grown wealthy and powerful through its exploits in Central and South America. By the mid-century their European rivals wanted a piece of the action. The French were among the first to join the colonial land grab. An expedition to North America was organized by Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and led by the French explorer Jean Ribault. Ribault and his men landed at the mouth of the St. John’s River in northern Florida in 1562. There they constructed a monument claiming the territory for the French crown. They soon moved north into present-day South Carolina where they began construction of a fort at Port Royal. Charlesfort would be one of the first European settlements in North America, established three years before the Spanish colony at Saint Augustine. Ribault oversaw the design before returning to Europe for supplies. In his absence, he left Captain Albert de la Pierria in command of the fort and a garrison of twenty-seven men.
Starting the settlement
Initially, the settlement prospered. With a temperate climate and an abundance of surrounding wildlife, Ribault had described Port Royal as “one of the goodliest, best, and fruitfullest countreys that ever was scene.”[1] Expecting to be resupplied by Europe, the colonists at Charlesfort made no efforts to live off the land. Unfortunately, in their absence, the Wars of Religion had exploded across Europe and Ribault had been imprisoned in the Tower of London where he would remain for two years. At first, good relations with the local Native American tribes compensated for the colonists lack of foresight. By the fall of 1562, the overtaxed supplies of Native American began to thin and they retreated into the Carolina woods to avoid the colonists. To make matters worse, a fire at Charlesfort consumed almost the entire remaining store of supplies.[2]
Ribault had left Charlesfort under the command of the experienced soldier Albert de la Pierria. Unfortunately for the colonists, Captain Pierria turned out to be a rather cruel disciplinarian. As the situation at Charlesfort grew dire, Pierria’s punishments became increasingly severe. He ordered one colonist hung for a small infraction and banished a soldier named La Chère to anearby island for an unrecorded misdemeanor. La Chère was promised food and water but when Captain Pierria reneged, the garrison turned on him. The remaining soldiers mutinied, executed Pierria and rescued their stranded compatriot. Ribault had promised to return within six months. That had come and gone. Now, leaderless and out of supplies, the remaining colonists resolved to build a ship and return to Europe.
The crossing back to France
The distance from Port Royal, South Carolina to Le Havre, France is approximately 3,500 miles. It was a long and dangerous crossing for skilled sailors who knew the route. The men of Charlesfort knew little about sailing, less about boat building, and almost nothing about the voyage they were planning. Construction of the ship proceeded with whatever materials they could scavenge. Seams were caulked with pine resin and Spanish moss, and sails were sewn together in a patchwork using old clothing and bed sheets.[3] After completing their ramshackle vessel, one of the younger men, Guillaume Rouffi, decided his chances of survival were greater if he stayed behind rather than attempt the crossing in such a ship. As it turns out, Rouffi was right.
In all the annals of sea voyages, there is nothing quite like the Charlesfort crossing. As they started out to sea the weather was calm, so calm that it greatly hindered their speed. After three weeks on the ocean, they had only sailed twenty-five leagues, which is equal to about 86 miles. Realizing that the crossing would be longer and more complicated than they had initially anticipated the men set about rationing their limited supplies. Each man was allocated twelve grains of corn per day. Even with this rationing, their supplies were soon used up. As starvation set in they took to eating their shoes and leather coats for food. When their fresh water ran dry, they drank seawater - and some even drank their own urine. [4]
To make matters worse, the boat began to leak so badly that they had to continually bail out the water to keep it from sinking. The leak was made worse when they sailed into a powerful storm which badly damaged one side of the boat. The men then gave up bailing out the water and resolved themselves to drowning. One resolute man assured his compatriots that if they only fought on for three more days they would reach the shores of France. This encouraged them such that they steeled themselves and pressed on against the storm.
The end of the journey
After three days they still had not sighted land. Despair began to set in again. With nothing left aboard to eat, starvation began claiming the crew. A few died before they agreed amongst themselves to do the unthinkable. Ribault’s second-in-command, Rene de Laudonniére interviewed the survivors of the voyage and recorded their horrific story.
“Wherefore in this extreme despair certain among them made this motion that it was better that one man should die, [than] that so many men should perish: they agreed therefore that one should die to sustain the others. Which thing was executed in the person of Le Chère of whom we have spoken heretofore, whose flesh was divided equally among his fellows: a thing so pitiful to recite, that my pen is loath to write it.” [5]
Before they were forced to resort to cannibalism a second time, one of the crew sighted land. They were intercepted by an English ship which happened to have a Frenchman from Ribault’s original company aboard. He identified his former crewmates despite their pitiful state and ensured that they were well treated.
Back on the other side of the Atlantic, Guillaume Rouffi, who had elected to take his chances alone, continued to live at Charlesfort. He remained the fort’s sole garrison and France’s only representative in the New World for over a year. Finally, the Spanish sent Don Hernando de Manrigue de Rojas to root out their rivals. Rojas sailed to the Carolinas and razed the garrison at Charlesfort. Rouffi was captured and brought to Havana, thus ending one of the first European colonial efforts in North America.
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[1] Harris, Sherwood, “The Tragic Dream of Jean Ribaut,” American Heritage, Vol. 14 Issue 16, (16 Oct. 1963), https://www.americanheritage.com/tragic-dream-jean-ribaut.
[2] Saraceni, Jessica E, “Charlesfort Identified,” Archaeology Magazine Archive, Archaeological Institute of America, (1996), archive.archaeology.org/9609/newsbriefs/charlesfort.html.
[3] Laudonniere, Rene, “Three Voyages”, University of Alabama Press, (2001), 48.
[4] Laudonniere, “Three Voyages”, 49.
[5] Id, 50.
