already sailed, he abandoned his plan and dispatched a single vessel with supplies to Fort San Mateo. Massacre at Matanzas Inlet Pedro Menéndez founded St. Augustine about 30 miles south of the newly-established French settlement at Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River, and acted aggressively to expel those whom he considered heretics and intruders when he learned of the existence of Fort Caroline. When the French Huguenot leader, Jean Ribault, learned of the Spanish settlement, he also decided on a swift assault and sailed south from Fort Caroline with most of his troops to search for St. Augustine. His ships were struck by a storm and most of his force was lost at sea, leaving Ribault and several hundred survivors shipwrecked with limited food and supplies several miles south of the Spanish colony. Meanwhile, Menendez marched north, overwhelmed the remaining defenders of Fort Caroline, massacred most of the French Protestants in the settlement, and left an occupying force in the rechristened Fort Mateo. Upon returning to St. Augustine, he received news that Ribault and his troops in two separate parties were stranded to the south, and he moved quickly to attack. After finding the stranded Frenchmen, he massacred them on the shore of what became known as the Matanzas River, sparing only the Catholics among the French. Aftermath The Indians, who had been particularly friendly with the French, resented the Spanish invasion and the cruelty of Menéndez, and led by their chief Saturiwa, made war upon the Spanish settlers. The latter were running short of provisions and mutinied during the absence of Menéndez, who had gone back to Cuba for relief, and who finally had to seek it from the King in person in 1567. Laudonnière and his companions, who had safely reached France, had spread exaggerated accounts of the atrocities visited by the Spanish on the unfortunate Huguenots at Fort Caroline. The French royal court took no measures to avenge them despite the nationwide outrage. This was reserved for Dominique de Gourgues, a nobleman who earlier had been taken prisoner by the Spaniards and consigned to the galleys. From this servitude he had been rescued, and finally returned to France, from where he made a profitable excursion to the South Seas. Then with the assistance of influential friends, he fitted out an expedition for Africa, from which he took a cargo of slaves to Cuba, and sold them