DISASTROUS ATTEMPTS IN FLORIDA 99 



Tbeu the French explored the coast further, until they 

 reached the channel of Port Royal, off" the coast of what Port Royai 

 is now South Carolina. Entering the harbour, ''one of 

 the largest and fain?st of the greatest havens of the 

 world," Ribault decided here to lay the foundations of his 

 colony. The site of a fort was chosen not fai- from the 

 Beaufort of to-day, and Charlesfort was the name given chariesfort 

 in honour of the boy King who had lately come to the 

 throne of France. When the work was under way, Ribault 

 left a number of his men to garrison the little fort, and 

 returned to France, to report his findings and secure 

 larger supplies of men and means for the colony. He 

 reached Dieppe only five months from the day of sailing. 

 But diu'iug this brief interval France had been plunged 

 into civil war by the unprovoked assault which the Duke 

 of Guise had made upon a Protestant assembly in a town 

 of Champagne, and the cold-blooded slaughter of a half 

 a hundred inoffensive persons. In the midst of such 

 troublous times it was impossible to get either men or 

 money for Florida, and Ribault followed his old leader, 

 Admiral Coligny, into the field for the Protestants. Thus 

 the small body of men at Charlesfort was left to its fate. 



Things had gone from bad to worse with them after 

 Ribault' s departure. Albert, their leader, developed into 

 a harsh tyrant, and was finally killed on account of his 

 cruelty. Famine stared them in the face, thoughts of 9?'°"7 . 



•^ . ' o Abandoned 



home filled their hearts, and they resolved to forsake 

 their life of dreary monotony and escape from their prison 

 at all hazards. After infinite toil they constructed a 

 rude ship, fitting her with sails made from their shirts 

 and their bedding, and set forth on their long journey 

 across the Atlantic. A long stretch of calm exhausted 

 their supplies, and fierce gales racked their rude craft 

 until she leaked at every seam. Many died from thirst 

 and exhaustion, while others were barely able to sustain 

 life by chewing upon their shoes and leather doublets. 

 After a series of indescribable privations and sufferings 



