Week in Review: March 24-30

This week was our next to the last week in Rockport, Texas before we start our trek north. (We leave here Monday, April 8.) We have a bittersweet feeling about leaving; we’ve come to really enjoy this area and have made plans to come back to Rockport next fall, for 6 months. We’ve made some good friends while we’ve been here, as well, and they’ll be back, too.

We had sunshine all week, with variable cloudiness and temperatures from the mid-60s to the high 70s. A light breeze has kept us comfortable without the need for air conditioning.

Sunday we attended the First Baptist Church of Rockport, where they presented David Clydesdale’s, “The Borrowed Tomb.” The music and drama were well done, although it was interesting to hear the actors with Southern Texas accents! We do miss our church in Federal Way, however: the music, the creativity, and the teaching. (Pastor Scott Jones at the Rockport Church is almost as good as you, Don and Billy!)

First Baptist Church of Rockport

We spent the week enjoying the sunshine, warm weather, and friends we’ve made throughout our time here. Many will be leaving over the next couple of weeks, heading back to their homes and families. We rode our bicycles around the park every day, due to Dick’s inability to walk much, at least until his foot heals. Even after a visit to the doctor, he’s convinced it’s plantar fasciitis, and plans to heal himself with orthotics. We’ll see…

Wednesday we took time to visit the Maritime Museum in downtown Rockport. The Texas Maritime Museum has been educating visitors about the rich maritime history of Texas for over 20 years, from exploration and settlement, to boat/shipbuilding, to sports and commercial fishing, and the search for offshore oil and gas. 

It was interesting to learn of the LaSalle Odyssey, which tells the story of Robert LaSalle’s French expedition to Texas in 1684. King Louis IV’s program of colonial expansion included a claim to the Louisiana Territory which would encompass about 1/3 of the U.S. as we know it today. As we learned, LaSalle’s efforts on behalf the king were long on aspirations and short on lasting results. Thanks to his misfortunes, and a remarkable series of events, the Texas Historical Commission archeologists discovered one of the most sought-after shipwrecks in maritime history, his flagship LaBelle, in Matagorda Bay.

 

Photos above and below are scale models of LaBelle.

“The Belle remained mired in mud for 310 years, untouched but not forgotten. After years of unsuccessful searching, archeologists from the Texas Historical Commission (THC) finally found the prize in 1995. The crew discovered one of the Belle's cannons, an elaborately inscribed gun that confirmed the age and identity of the wreck. Properly excavating the shipwreck would require one of the most extraordinary engineering feats ever associated with an archeological excavation in Texas or anywhere else in the world. In 1996, at a cost of over $2 million, a double-walled cofferdam was built around the sunken ship. This allowed THC archeologists to pump out the wreck site and excavate the Belle almost as if they were on dry land.

The nine-month excavation yielded equally astonishing results: gooey gray mud had encased the Belle and sealed its contents from the air. Most of the ship's stores—wooden boxes jammed with trade goods, tools to support a variety of trades, muskets and munitions, yards of rope, cannons, dishes, and more—were found in remarkably good condition. Here, for the first time, was an intact 17th-century French colonizing kit containing everything needed to establish a colony in the New World.

The LaBelle, as she lay buried in mud.

 Even the ship's hull and timbers were intact—though water-logged and fragile—still looking very much like they did when La Salle last saw them. The timbers still bore the original numbers carved into each piece to aid the ship's builders in assembling the Belle…The quantities of astonishingly well-preserved artifacts and the ship itself represent a far more valuable and informative treasure than gold bars and silver coins.

Actual ropes and complete skeleton of a French sailor
found embedded in the muddy hull of LaBelle.

The THC's unprecedented excavation was completed in 1997…but the discoveries from La Belle did not end in Matagorda Bay. The thousands of recovered artifacts, dozens of wooden chests and barrels, and the complete set of ship’s timbers were brought to the Texas A&M Conservation Research Laboratory, where a painstaking process of cleaning, documentation, and preservation was undertaken. (A complete human skeleton was also found, completely undisturbed.)...Over a period of nine years, enormous concretions of artifacts and other remains were picked apart, conserved, analyzed, and identified, an undertaking tantamount to a second “excavation” of the shipwreck...

To date, more than one million artifacts from the Belle have been conserved and catalogued, and many of these objects are now on display in Texas museums. The ship's hull has been reassembled in a giant vat filled with water and a stabilizing compound that is gradually replacing the water and hardening the wet wood. The reconstructed Belle ultimately will be on display for public viewing in the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.” http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/

Discovered in 1995, the LaBelle is being excavated in something called a “cofferdam.”   The cofferdam would effectively hold back the waters while archeologists carefully dug the shipwreck, thus enabling the crew to excavate the site and constantly safeguard the remains.

An aerial view of the cofferdam.

Inside the cofferdam, as the excavation is beginning.

 ”Nearly six months were spent building the enormous structure. Two concentric walls of interlocking steel sheet piling, each measuring roughly 57 feet long and 3 feet wide, were driven 40 feet down into the bed of the bay to encircle the shipwreck. Sand—tons of it—was then poured into the 33-foot gap between the pilings to form the wall of the coffer dam, a composite barrier intended to keep the seawater out. Once the building had been drained, however, a steady flow of leaks began. Sump pumps were set up in the bottom of the cofferdam to constantly drain water out and keep the work area reasonably dry. Screening stations and a small office were set up on the cofferdam wall. The whole structure was then covered over with a roof to provide shelter for the crews and protect the exposed wreck. The cofferdam was complete.” http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/

For those of you who will be visiting this area of Texas, please make plans to see this incredible exhibit. It’s worth the time.

Thursday afternoon we went to see “Olympus Has Fallen.” When the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist (Korean) mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger disaster. Starring Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler, this is worth seeing. Exciting. Preposterous. Possible?

Friday was a day like every other day here in paradise. Sunshine, temperatures in the 70s, yada-yada-yada…  Seventeen ladies from the RV park went to lunch as a final hurrah, to the China Buffet—all you can eat for $6.80. What a feast! Everything from the usual Asian fare was available, and then some. We ate, and ate, and ate, and… What a fun time. Many of these ladies will be back next year, so there will be more times like this to look forward to, I’m sure.

That evening Dick and I went to the Good Friday and communion service at the Baptist church. These services are always such good somber reminders of what Jesus did for us at Calvary. We saw a bumper sticker earlier in the week that read, “If you can get to heaven by good works, why did Jesus have to die?”  Here’s why: our dear savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in obedience to His Father and in His unfathomable Love for us took ALL our sins upon Himself (on the cross) so we could be FREE from guilt and condemnation. Made right with God Almighty and prepared for eternity with Him. We don’t need to work for this gift—it’s free! Amen!

Who doesn't like pancakes for breakfast? Dick purchased "all you can eat pancakes" tickets at Whataburger, benefiting the American Cancer Society, for $3.00 each. So, that's what we did Saturday morning. No cooking for me! Actually, they were pretty good!

Later that day we attended a “wine and hors d’oeuvres” get together at the clubhouse, with all those RVers still here in the park. About 40 of us attended, with all sorts of appetizers available. I brought cheese and pastry wrapped (and baked) green olives--what a hit! A bit time consuming to make, but boy are they good! Live music was performed by a local gal, Janelle Reneaux. She sang to back-up tapes, but man, is she good! When not singing, she’s the head chef at a Alice Fays, a local restaurant.

Hope your week was all you hoped it would be. A special “Happy Birthday with love” goes out to our niece MacKenzie, who turned 12 on Saturday.

Blessings to you, and lots of hugs,

Dick and Gail