French Wreck St. Antoine in 1710 around Dauphin island, AL

[MichaelB]

In doing some research this weekend I came across the following info:

One of the ships expected to bring a plethora of supplies was the ship called St. Antoine. Commanded by St.-Maurice of St.-Malo, she gracefully bore a figurehead on her bow a wooden figure of St.-Antoine. Perhaps tiring of the saints involved the sailors irreverently dislodged the figure, tied a stone around its neck and tossed it into the sea. But a few hours later, just as the ship was nearing Daupin Island, a storm blew up and a disastrous shipwreck gave St.-Antoine his revenge.

Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Regards.

MichaelB

 

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[MichaelB]

Thanks so much.

I have found a second text that mentions the same wreck. One says it was coming to assist Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (thus the name Bienville Square in downtown Mobile), the other says Bienville was about to send the ship off for additional supplies.

MichaelB

 

[MichaelB]

WOW,great info. I think you found it.

I talked to some old timers who say she has been drug clean on the surface from the big Gulf shrimp boats but that no one has ever dug down deep. I am trying to narrow down the GPS coordinates but most of these guys know it is "over here a piece and then turn east and go until the poiant lines up with the sun" and so forth.

Thanks again.

MichaelB

 

[mariner]

TR,

Bravo on getting MichaelB information about his wreck, and providing that intro, which is very interesting. I have family in La Rochelle and Rouen and know how steeped that area is in maritime history.

Mariner

 

[jeff k]

Mariner... TR is the same researcher who said the Deliverance was sold back to the French.

Here's an article by Greg Stemm that you should find interesting if you haven't already seen it.

http://www.shipwreck.net/gsarticle08.html

 

[ScubaDude]

Michael,
What are the prospects for getting permits in Alabama? Thats one of the states that seems to stay off the radar as far as treasure hunting news.

Brad

 

[mariner]

TR,

I had asked in an earlier posting if you could clarify your source of information about the re-sale of the Deliverance to its original French owners (plus others). You have gone pretty far in what you have told us about it. Can you not clarify the source of the information? Is it the papers in Canada to which SSR made reference in their court filing (the Williams or Williamson papers, I seem to recall)? It seems odd to me that, if they exist, SSR did not present them in court.

Some of us find difficulty in accepting that the British wopuld have sold the ship back to France at a time of war. This is not to say that the Deliverance was necessarily a war ship, but a good proportion of the war effort then (as now) was about hurting your opponent commercially. Thus the attacks on commercial vessels in the Atlantic during WWII.

Come on, show us what you've got!


Jeff,

Interesting article by Greg, probably written at a time when he already knew that he would be talking to the British Government about the Sussex. I have been waiting for Odyssey to show their hand in respect of a Spanish wreck in US or international waters. I am sure they must have come across some of them.

Incidentally, I think TR has done some pretty good research, and has been generous in sharing it with other members of this Forum. Credit where credit is due.

Mariner

 

[jeff k]

Here's another link for anybody interested in doing research in the Spanish archives.

http://shipwreck.net/glossary.html

 

[MichaelB]

Great info from all, again thanks.

The following site mentions finding the French vessel Belone that sank on 4/1/1725. Their description of the wreck is consistant with what I have been told by old time shrimpers. I wonder if NUMA is incorrect on their ID?

http://www.numa.net/expeditions/survey_of_civil_war_ships.html

I was also able to get a copy of two reports:

Archaeologocal Testing of the Confederate Obstructions, Mobile Harbor, 1985

Underwater Archaeological investigations Mobile Bay Ship Channel, 1986.

Unfortunately the first report stopped the survey right before it got to Dauphin Island. The second report concentrated on Civil War wrecks but they did record two anomilies West of the SHip Channel and West of the point of Little Sand Island. It appears no follow up was done on these readings.

Best Regards,

MichaelB