By Ray L. Bellande
 


BILOXI BAY COLONIAL SHIPWRECKS: MYSTERY SHIPS?
 

     The Sun Herald and The Mississippi Press in late January, 1997, announced that the Senate of Mississippi voted to appropriate $50,000 to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. This money is to fund research to determine if a sunken 18th Century vessel, located in Jackson County waters just off the shoreline of Ocean Springs, belonged to the 1698-1699 fleet of Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville. In addition, some of the money will be spent to estimate the cost to salvage the derelict, if warranted. (1,2)

     This author has researched some of the locally available French Colonial period literature to determine what could be found concerning the sunken ship or ships in Biloxi Bay. The results of this survey are presented as follows:

     By now we should all be familiar with the founding of Fort Maurepas at present day Ocean Springs by a French expeditionary force led by Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville (1661-1706). D’Iberville, A French Canadian naval officer, reconnoitered the eastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico during the fall and winter of 1698-1699, and established Fort Maurepas (1699-1702) in early April, 1699.

     This French beachhead at present day Ocean Springs did not fulfill the aspiration of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), the Minister of Finance and Marine, under King Louis XIV (1643-1715). Colbert wanted a French port on the Mexican Gulf to harass Spanish territories providing mineral wealth to that nation. (3) Fort Maurepas, called Biloxey, did assert some Gallic authority to protect the 1682 French claim, "La Louisiane," of explorer René Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687). This was especially evident when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville (1680-1768) rejected the Carolina Galley, an English corvette from Carolina, carrying Huguenot colonists up the Mississippi River. The locale of the French denial of these colonists is known as English Turn. (4) In addition to providing a base and staging area for the regional exploration of "La Louisiane," Fort de La Boulaye (1700) and Fort Louis de La Louisiane (Old Mobile-1701) were founded from Biloxey.

     By the end of the 17th Century, the European wars of Louis XIV were subsiding somewhat in Europe, and Louis Phelypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, now Minister of Marine, selected Canadian warrior and hero, Le Moyne d’Iberville, to locate the mouth of the Great River, missed by the ill-fated 1684 expedition of La Salle. Iberville was charged to fortify the Mississippi against Spanish and English incursions into the heart of North America. (5)

     The 1698-1699 Gulf expeditionary force of d’Iberville to "La Louisiane" consisted of five ships, not three, as generally reported in our local journals. These vessels were: La Badina, a thirty-two gun royal frigate which served as the flagship of d’Iberville; Le Marin, a thirty-eight gun frigate commanded by La Rochefoucault de Surgeres; Le Francois, a fifty-eight gun frigate that convoyed the smaller vessels from saint-Dominique (Haiti) under the command of Marquis Joubert de Chateaumorant et de la Bastide; Le Precieuse, a royal traversier or freighter, and Le Voyager, a smaller traversier. (6)

     It is known with a high degree of certitude that the three frigates of d’Iberville’s fleet were not able to sail without jeopardy into the Mississippi Sound because of their deep draft. They remained for the most part in or near the deep water Ship Island anchorage located on the northwest quadrant of the barrier island. Practically all of the coastal, estuarine, and river exploration by d’Iberville’s expeditionary force was conducted in the shallower draft craft, i.e., the traversiers, chaloupes, biscayennes, feloques, and birchbark canoes. Except for the traversiers, the other boats were carried aboard the larger frigates until needed. (7)

      With this background, let us examine an event that transpired at Fort Maurepas in January, 1700. Historians, for the most part, generally agree that this French outpost was located at present day Ocean Springs on the Fort Point peninsula. In particular, the fort site is proposed north of the L&N railroad bridge on the Junius Poitevent (1837-1919) estate at present day 309 Lovers Lane. (8)

      Commandant Monsier de Sauvois (c. 1671-1701), the French ensign who was appointed by d’Iberville to command the eighty odd men who remained at Fort Maurepas after his departure in May, 1699, reported in his journal on January 12, 1700, the following:

Returning from the ships of M. d’Iberville, where I have been to receive the orders, we have noticed, before having put to land, our little traversier on fire, which was impossible to extinquish, being already too advanced, besides this, there were several barrels of powder, which, in a little time have had their usual effect. This accident has been caused by two bunglers who having been to work on board, have left there a lighted fuse which has occasioned this loss; I am inconsolable, because of the need we had of it. (9)

     Inhabitants of Ocean Springs were aware of a sunken vessel in Biloxi Bay as early as the 1850s. Circa 1933, Josephine Bowen Kettler (1845-1933+), a resident of Lyman, but indigenous to the Ocean Springs area where her father, the Reverend P.P. Bowen (1799-1881), was an early Baptist minister and pioneer citizen of the village, visited the son of Junius Poitevent, Schuyler Poitevent (1875-1936), at his home, Bay View. Fort Maurepas, as previously mentioned, is believed to have been formerly located on the

     Poitevent Estate. Mr. Schuyler Poitevent lived quietly on the Bay of Biloxi with his small family. Here he wrote fiction and historical books, collected artifacts, and was a serious student of Colonial history.

Mrs. Kettler during her visit related to Poitevent her recollections of the small village of Ocean Springs where she was reared. Germane to this report is the following commentary from Mrs. Kettler:

There was a place where we children used to go pick blackberries. It was a sort of clearing where there had once been an old fort and there were lots of old 2bricks scattered about, and cannon balls, and the blackberry vines grew as high as this. They had just the biggest sort of berries. They called it in those days, "Spanish Camp."

At this point, Scullery Poitevent interrupts Mrs. Kettler and informs her that his estate is sometimes called the "Spanish Camp." Mrs. Kettler continues:

So this is the "Old Spanish Camp, is it? Well, it has changed, for in those days there were no homes here; we children when we could come to pick berries would sometimes wade on the beach, and there was an old cannon sticking breech up out there in the Bay and when the tide was out and the water low we could see it and we used to chuck at it and throw sticks and shells at it; and I guess it is out there yet. (10)

Although she was obviously unaware of preceding events that had occurred at Ocean Springs during her long absence, Mrs. Kettler’s guess about the shipwreck had been affirmed in August, 1892, when a "mystery ship" was come upon by a young oysterman, Henri Eugene Tiblier, Jr. (1866-1936), in the Bay of Biloxi, on an oyster reef known locally as "the rock pile."

The "rock pile" was located about a quarter mile in a southwest direction from the residence of retired railroad agent, Alonzo Sheldon (1832-1904). The old Sheldon home, once called "The Cedars," is now known as "Conamore. The Connor-Joachim family happily resides here today at 317-319 Lovers Lane. Coincidentally, "Conamore" is located just south of the Poitevent place. (11)

Donald L. "Pat" Connor (1912-1982), and his wife, Ethelyn MacKenzie Schaffner Connor, have long been an integral part of the efforts to preserve the history, culture, and environment of Ocean Springs. In this manner, their names are associated with the following: Fort Maurepas Society, Jackson County Tercentennial Commission, Ocean Springs Centennial Commission, Ocean Springs Genealogical Society, 1699 Historical Committee, and Societe Des Arbres.

In July, 1973, the Connors, unlike many residents on Lovers Lane, allowed archaeologists from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to conduct excavations at Conamore. Trenching was done in an attempt to locate the remains of Fort Maurepas. Although not successful in finding the fort, the archaeological survey did reveal a large feature. Radio carbon dating of charred posts from the structure indicated it to be 1755 AD, (plus or minus 55 years) in age. Several faience sherds, gun flints, and a colonial brick were discovered on the Connor property. (12) In addition, Mrs. Ethelyn Connor has three seven pound cannon balls that were found by her sons on the beach in front of her home. (13)

Shortly after the Tiblier find, The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, on September 23, 1892, reported the discovery of the sunken vessel as "A Mysterious Find." A summary of the where and what of that salvage operation, which was conducted by the Henri Tibler, Sr. (1841-1930) family on the submerged vessels follows:

The "rock pile," a good oyster reef in Biloxi Bay about a quarter mile in a southwest direction from the residence of Colonel Sheldon. Water depth twelve feet at high tide.

SHIP.

     The ship was described as approximately 55 feet in length and probably 10 feet wide. Made of oak and mahogany in a fair state of preservation. No nails were found as the vessel was built with wooden pins. Bolts used in iron work made of copper.

OBJECTS FOUND

  1. Non-indigenous stones and boulders which were probably ballasts for the vessel.

  2. Some firm brick—8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 1 3/8 inches thick.

  3. A large number of iron braces—12 feet long, 2 ¼ inches wide, and ½ inch thick.

  4. A 9 inch diameter sheave with a one inch groove and block 12 inches, also a small one. Both made from different wood used at the time. A 12 inch block eye and others about half this size. These indicate a vessel of large tonnage. 

  5. Four cannons:

    a) One 6 foot long bore with a 3 ½ inch muzzle in fair condition. "H.E. or F.O.S." are discernible and located about one foot from the vent. A small amount of powder was fired from the gun by the fisherman with no problem.

    b) One 7 foot long bore with part of the hard wood, gun carriage attached to the right side.*

    c) One 4 feet in length with a 2 ½ inch bore badly eroded by rust.

    d) Cannon balls: a 2 inch, 2 ½ inch, and 3 inch cannon ball were found.

    e) Muskets: Several muskets capable of firing a one ounce ball were found. Their locks were described as very old fashioned, the nipple and vent perfect.

    f) Gunpowder: A quantity of gunpowder in chunks located which retained its original odor.

1. Miscellaneous objects:

a) a water cask bung stopper made of several thicknesses of woolen cloth.

b) scabbard of an officer’s sword which retained much of its original shape. (14)

This same story also titled, "A Mystery Find," appeared in The Biloxi Herald on September 24, 1892, on the front page. A follow up account appeared in this Biloxi journal on October 8, 1892, which narrated the following:

Last Tuesday (October 3rd) a large crowd went over on the Agnes M to see the cannons, rocks and other curiosities that have been fished up at Ocean Springs. (15)

The schooner, Maggie, owned by Jose Suarez (1840-1912), a Spanish immigrant residing in the Bayou Porto area, served as the salvage vessel for the Tiblier operation on the "rock pile." Suarez, known as Pep, made medicines from the local herbs and sold them to his neighbors after he proved to himself that they were effective. (16)

*Today the muzzle of the former seven foot cannon is gone, probably rusted away. The tube now measures 5 feet and 2 inches.

The Maggie was built in New Orleans in 1878, by Sydney J. Anderson (1867-1917), an entrepreneur active in commerce at Vancleave and Ocean Springs. She was a coastal trading schooner of the 10.03 net tons. The dimensions of the Maggie were: Length--41 feet, beam--16.1 feet, and depth—3.8 feet. Captain Suarez purchased the vessel from Anderson in August, 1888, for $425. (17)

     Before 1931, Laville Bremer, a writer from New Orleans, came to Biloxi and wrote a small treatise, Biloxi Historical Sketch. One of his short stories, "The Iberville Cannon" corroborates the 1892 newspaper account, "A Mysterious Find." It appears from this narrative that Bremer may have interviewed Captain Tiblier before his demise in 1930. He wrote concerning the Colonial wreck off the Fort Point peninsula.

Mr. Tiblier decided to investigate the remaining wreck. For nearly two hundred years she had lain unmolested, pointing an accusing bow in the direction from which the hurricane had come. He got together an outfit and proceeded to stake out her dimensions by soundings She proved to be about sixty-five feet in length by twenty in width, and forty feet or so behind her lay a small lighter such as was used in those days. (18)

     Unfortunately, very little of the salvaged objects from the sunken ship remain today. The most visible are the four, oxidizing cannons embedded in concrete at the Villa Santa Maria on East Beach Boulevard at Bilozi. They were placed here before 1931, when the Biloxi Community House stood on this site.

     Today, Martha Tiblier Eleuterius (b. 1919) of Biloxi, the granddaughter of H., Eugene "TuTu" Tiblier, Sr., can pass on stories from her father, Numa I. Tiblier (1886-1965), and grandfather, concerning the sunken vessel. She relates that Captain Martin Van Buren Green (1842-1929) of Biloxi would sail his large catboat with tourists aboard to the Tiblier cottage on the Bay of Biloxi west of Bayou Porto. Captain Tiblier gave away most of the smaller artifacts, primarily French bricks, swords, and cannon balls, which had been brought from beneath the murky bay waters by his sons, Albert Tiblier (1869-1953) and Vital Tiblier (1875-1932), to these strangers who were naturally enamored with them. She does not remember the disposition of the yard arm brought from the sunken craft.

     Mrs. Eleuterius also tells that TuTu Tiblier would fire the cannons in his yard using the salvaged 18th Century gunpowder. She remembers a tale about another derelict vessel submerged in Biloxi Bay off Grand Bayou, north of Deer Island. Several bronze cannons are believed to have been found by a Captain Fountain and sold at New Orleans for scrap metal.

      In regard to the "rock pile" derelict, Martha T. Eleuterius says that the only other person to her knowledge to dive on the wreck was Joe Agregaard, who brought up only wood in his 1950s attempt. (19)

Another interesting facet of this story is the cannon in the yard of the Poitevent home on the Fort Point peninsula. It is generally believed that this small naval artillery gun, whose tube is 4 feet and 3 inches long, and is located in the small garden in the rear of the Junius Poitevent estate at 321 Lovers Lane, was also taken off the "rock pile." A collection of twelve cannon balls, ranging in diameter from 3 inches to 4 ½ inches are set in a cement block adjacent to the cannon. (20)

Anecdotal family history states that the weapon was set up in the Poitevent garden in 1892, and fired in celebration of the results of the 1896 presidential election. The resulting explosion caused windows in the Poitevent home to shatter. They were replaced by new panes brought from New Orleans. (21)

The theory most often proposed by historians as to the origin of the sunken vessel on the "rock pile" in Biloxi Bay is that it was a victim of the Hurricane of September, 1722. Jean-Baptiste Bernard de la Harpe, a French soldier who served in the Louisiana Colony from1718 until 1723, kept a journal during his tenure here. He wrote on September 11, 1722:

A hurricane began in the morning which lasted until the 16th. The winds came from the southeast passing to the south and then to the southwest. The hurricane caused the destruction of beans, corn and more than 8,000 quarts of rice ready to be harvested. It destroyed most of the houses in New Orleans with the exception of a warehouse built by M. Pauger. The warehouse of Fort Louis (present day Biloxi) containing a large quantity of supplies, was overturned to the great satisfaction of its keepers. The accident freed them from rendering their accounts.

The Espiduel, three freighters, and almost all of the boats, launches, and piroques perished. The Neptune and the Santo-Cristo, which had been repaired according to the orders of the commissioners, were entirely put out of service. A large supply of artillery, lead, and meats which had been for a long time in a pincre, were lost near old Biloxi (Ocean Springs). The French had neglected to unload the ship for more than a year. They were also worried about the three ships anchored at Ship Island and the Dromadaire, which had been sent to New Orleans loaded with a supply of pine wood, which would have cost the company more than 100,000 livres. (22)

Bremer (1931) suggests that the "terrible equinoctial storm" of 1723 (sic) as the cause of the sinking of the "rock pile" boat. He obviously acquired anecdotal history at Biloxi when describing the disposition of several vessels believed to have been victims of the 1722 storm.

Bremer wrote:

The largest of the vessels that went down lay in the sound between Deer Island and what is now Ocean Springs. The smallest lay near the mouth of Bayou Bosard* on the east shore of the Bay, and the one from which these cannons were removed lay farther in, northeast from the Louisville and Nashville railroad bridge about sixteen hundred feet from shore in a fathom of water.

Salvage work had been attempted on the larger of the three which yielded some eight foot iron cannons, a small bronze cannon, pig lead and little else.

The smallest had long since disappeared and become only a memory among the older people. It had been made of mahogany and its valuable boards were gradually made use of. (23)

The most recent investigation, that this writer is aware, of the "rock pile" site, north of the CSX Railroad bridge off Lovers Lane, occurred in December, 1972. Gulf South Research Institute of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, under contract to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, ran a magnetometer survey across a two-acre, rectangular site recommended by Dr. Charles Eleuterius, a physical oceanographer, at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs. Dr. Eleuterius is the great grandson of Captain H. Eugene Tiblier who salvaged artifacts from the wreck in 1892.

Jack C. Hudson, Historical Site Archeologist, with the consulting firm, reported to Elbert R. Hillard, Director of the Mississippi Department of Archieves and History, that a plot of the magnetometer survey data demonstrated many areas of high intensity readings in the northwest quadrant of the survey area. This is the location that Dr. Eleuterius predicted where the sunken vessel would lie, prior to the geophysical survey. (24)

Hudon (1973) speculated that if the sunken vessel in Biloxi Bay was preserved in the silt as anticipated, it would be to his knowledge, "the earliest intact colonial ship extant." This hope no longer exists for Mississippi as in late January, 1977, archaeologists of the Texas Historical Commission recovered two 800 pound bronze cannons from La Belle in Matagorda Bay on the lower Texas coast. The weapons bear the crests of Louis XIV and Le Comte de Vermandois, Admiral of France from 1669-1683. (25)

La Belle, a small six-gun frigate of 50 foot length, was part of LaSalle’s ill-fated 1684 expedition to locate the Gulf outlet of the Mississippi River and fortify it. This vessel appears to be similar in size and style to the one on the "rock pile" off Ocean Springs.

*The location of Bayou Bosard is uncertain to the author as this nomenclature is not in current use.

The Texas marine excavation cost over $1 million. A twin-walled, oval cofferdam was built to investigate La Belle. The protective structure let workers pump out the 12 foot deep water which overlies the sunken vessel. (26)

From the current historical and anecdotal information available, it would appear that there are several small-medium sized vessels of the early Louisiana French Colonial Period (1699-1724) located in the mud and silt-laden bottom of Biloxi Bay. Were these "mystery ships" associated with the 1698-1699 expeditionary flotilla of d’Iberville, victims of the 1722 Hurricane, or neither? Stay tuned, someday we should find out what $50,000 worth of taxpayers’ money will buy from the research and scientific efforts of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Page Two  ~ Page Three

 

REFERENCES

 

          1.       Sun Herald, "Senate votes $50,000 for ship," January 27, 1997, p. 1-C.

2.     Mississippi Press, "Historians hope to link sunken boat to d’Iberville," January 27, 1997, p. 8-A.

3.    Dunbar Rowland, The History of Mississippi, The Heart of the South, Volume 1, (S.J. Clarke Publishing Company: Chicago-Jackson: 1925) , p. 126.

4.     Charles J. Dufour, Ten Flags in the Wind, (Harper & Row: New York-1967) pp. 48-49.

5.     Ibid., p. 35.

6.     Carl A Brasseaux, A Comparative View of FrenchLouisiana, 1699 and 1762, The Journals of Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and Jean-Jacques-Blaise d’Abbadie, (Center For Louisiana Studies, USL: Lafayette, Louisiana-1981) pp. 5-7.

7.    Mississippi Coast History & Genealogical Society, "Iberville’s Boats", Volume 32, NO. 1, PP. 5-6.

          8.      Peter J. Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, (reprint Heritage Books Inc., :Bowie, Maryland-1991), pp. 45-46.

          9.      Jay Higginbotham, The Journal of Sauvole, (Colonial Books: Mobile, Alabama), p. 41.

        10.    Schuyler Poitevent, Broken Pot, (unpublished manuscript: Mississippi Department of Archives & History, Poitevent Collection), Chapter 7- "Biloxi Bay."

        11.    Ray L. Bellande, Ocean Springs, The Way We Were: 1900-1950, (Ocean Springs Rotary Club: Ocean Springs, Mississippi-1996, p. 93.

        12.    Elbert R. Hillliard, "The Establishment of the Fort Maurepas Historical Site: A Report From The Board of Trustees of the Department of Archives and History," January, 1974, pp. 6-7.

         13.    Personal Communication: Ethelyn Connor to Ray L. Bellande-July, 1992.

14.     Pascagoula Democrat Star. "A Mysterious Find," September 23, 1892, p.2, c. 3.

Biloxi Herald, "Local Happenings," October 8, 1892, p.4, c. 4.

16.     Personal Communication : Martha T. Eleuterius to Ray L. Bellande-February, 1997.

17.     Hancock County, Mississippi Land Deed Book D, pp. 273-276.

18.     Laville Bremer, Biloxi Historical Sketch, (General Printing Company: New Orleans-1931), p. 34.

19.     Personal Communication: Martha T. Eleuterius to Ray L. Bellande-February, 1997.

20.     Personal Observation: Measurements and sketches made by Ray L. Bellande-February, 1997.

21.     Daily Herald, "A Developed Beautiful Garden," May 5, 1970, p. 15.

22.     Jean-Baptiste Bernard de la Harpe, The Historic Journal of the Establishment of the French in Louisiana, (University of Southwestern Louisiana: 1971, pp. 214-215.

23.     Laville Bremer, Biloxi Historical Sketch, (General Printing Company: New Orleans-1931, p. 34.

24.     Gulf South Research Institute, "Field Report and Magnetometer Survey Analysis-Biloxi Bay, Mississippi," January 12, 1973. 3.

25.     Ibid., p.2

26.     Sun Herald, "Bronze cannons retrieved from LaSalle shipwreck,’ February 2, 1997, p. A-2.

                                                                                                                

Others

The Daily Herald, "Vessel that may have belonged to D'Iberville rests on bottom of Back Bay of Biloxi---cannon from vessel decay in Biloxi yard", March 4, 1922, p. 8.

Ray L. Bellande
PO Box 617
Ocean Springs,
MS 39566-0617
228-424-6041

February 9, 1997.
 

Page 3