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Voyage of Doom
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Program Overview
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NOVA follows a team of archeologists that excavates the wreck of
La Belle in Texas' Matagorda Bay. In 1685 French explorer
Rene Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, sailed the ship from his
native France to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi
River.
The program:
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recounts La Salle's career as an explorer and describes his
four-ship expedition to the New World.
describes the problem of excavating in silty water. -
shows steel cofferdam construction and removal of most of the
water inside.
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reviews the use of a
stadia—a telescopic instrument used to measure
distances—to map the site and its artifacts.
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shows artifacts found, including wooden containers, rope, pewter
and ceramic items, and weapons carried in the ship's hold.
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examines a human skeleton and illustrates forensic techniques
used to determine age and gender and reconstruct facial
features.
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speculates how the ship sank and La Salle's final attempts to
locate and claim the mouth of the Mississippi River.
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