Shipwreck Blog: La Belle, Matagorda, Texas

The ship of 17th-century French explorer/coloniser Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle.

Marine archaeologists are using a freeze-dry process to preserve the ship.

Apparently the colony that La Salle founded wasn't much of a sucess:

His team established a colony near Matagorda Bay, but it was ravaged by disease, rattlesnakes and Indians. Three years later, La Salle led a handful of survivors inland in search of the Mississippi. The explorer didn't make it out of Texas; he was murdered by his own men.

The Indians were probably Karankawa, who were native to the area and had a reputation for cannibalism, although this is disputed.