Over 450 years ago, a three-masted ship sank in a hurricane off the coast of Florida, taking with it France's hopes of colonizing the peninsula.
La Trinite is supposedly a "sunken military craft." I Photo: The British Library Wikimedia Commons
Since the discovery of the wreckage of "La Trinite" in 2016, it has been at the center of a legal battle between a US treasure hunter and the French government, with Paris recently claiming a decisive victory, as officials hope, Sebastien Blanc reported for the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A 24-page judgment, delivered on September 29 by US Magistrate Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee, delved into the distant and largely forgotten era of "French Florida" when a colony was established there by French Huguenots in the mid-16th century.
The colony's short existence, and Florida's long history under Spanish rule, may have been the direct result of the sinking of La Trinite and the squadron of ships commanded by Capt. Jean Ribault, sent by Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, leader of the French Protestant group.
The ship was also involved in conflicts arising from the ongoing dispute between French Protestants and the Catholic Crown of Spain, explained France’s US lawyer Jim Goold.
He stated that upon leaving Fort Caroline (the French colony in Florida, where the US city of Jacksonville now stands), Ribault "informed the French commander of the fort that he was going to attack the Spanish."
Goold successfully argued that "France has presented sufficient uncontested evidence to establish that La Trinite sank while on military non-commercial service, meaning La Trinite is a 'sunken military craft,'" according to Judge Winsor's ruling.
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