In 1562 the French Huguenot party, headed by Coligny, made another
attempt[2] to secure themselves a refuge in the New World. Two ships
set sail under the command of Jean Ribault, a brave and experienced
seaman, destined to play a memorable and tragic part in the history of
America. Ribault does not seem to have set out with any definite
scheme of colonization, but rather, like Amidas and Barlow, to have
contented himself with preliminary exploration. In April he landed on
the coast of Florida....

After he had laid the foundations of a fort, called in honor of the
king Charlefort, Ribault returned to France. He would seem to have
been unfortunate in his choice alike of colonists and of a commander.
The settlers lived on the charity of the Indians, sharing in their
festivities, wandering from village to village and wholly doing away
with any belief in their superior wisdom and power which might yet
have possest their savage neighbors....

France was torn asunder by civil war, and had no leisure to think of
an insignificant settlement beyond the Atlantic. No supplies came to
the settlers, and they could not live forever on the bounty of their
savage neighbors. The settlers decided to return home. To do this it
was needful to build a bark with their own hands from the scanty
resources which the wilderness offered. Whatever might have been the
failings of the settlers, they certainly showed no lack of energy or
of skill in concerting means for their departure. They felled the
trees to make planks, moss served for calking, and their shirts and
bedding for sails, while their Indian friends supplied cordage. When
their bark was finished they set sail. Unluckily in their impatience
to be gone, they did not reckon what supplies they would need. The