reloaded the La Belle with much of the remaining supplies. He took 50 men, plus the La Belle's crew of 27 sailors, leaving behind 34 men, women, and children. The bulk of the men traveled with La Salle in canoes, while the La Belle followed further off the coast. Several of the men, including the captain of the La Belle, Canil Maraud, died on this expedition from eating prickly pear. Soon after, the Karankawa killed a small group of the men, including the new captain of La Belle, former pilot Eli Richaud, who had camped on the shore at night. In January 1686, La Salle left the ship from Fort Saint Louis. La Salle took 20 men with him to travel overland to reach the Mississippi, leaving Pierre Tessier, the former second in command of the La Belle, in charge of the ship. After three months of searching overland, La Salle's group returned, but were unable to find the La Belle where they had left her and were forced to walk back to the fort. Loss While La Salle was gone, the ship began to run low of drinking water. Tessier sent the five best sailors ashore in the La Belles only longboat to search for water. The men were seen struggling against a strong wind to return to the ship as night fell, and were presumed lost when the longboat never arrived at the ship. The remaining sailors drank wine in place of water, but the alcohol further dehydrated them, and several died. Tessier finally decided that the ship must return to Fort Saint Louis for more supplies. As they got underway, a cold front blew in. Since the remaining crewmembers were unskilled, they were unable to keep control of the ship, and because they had lost their second anchor, there was no way to stop the ship from drifting in the wind. Within a short amount of time, the La Belle had run aground at the southern end of the bay, approximately a quarter of a mile (400 m) from shore. When the storm had abated, the men built a raft from planks and barrels and sent two men to shore. The raft broke up in the waves, and both men drowned. After making a second, more solid, raft, the others were able to make it safely to shore. Over the next few days they returned to the