Passenger Testimonies

Jacques Grollet

I am an experienced sailor and sailed on board the L’Aimable as part of the crew. Most of the other crewmen were not experienced sailors like I am. They were simply young men with nothing to do and were hanging around the seaport. Some were recruited dishonestly or were trapped by officers getting paid for each new recruit they brought aboard. .

My work included hoisting and lowering the sails as the wind changed or we changed direction. I also mended tears and rips in the sails, stood watch, looking for pirates, weather changes, and obstacles in the water. I helped to drop the anchor and I caulked the planks so that the ship wouldn’t leak. I mended nets, scrubbed the deck, fetched supplies, and kept the decks picked up and the ropes straightened.

I marched with La Salle in 1686 on yet another attempt to find the Mississippi River and during the expedition, I deserted La Salle, living among the Tejas and Cenis tribes for a year.

I later returned to Fort St. Louis, discovering it burned and all the people dead with arrows through them. I buried fourteen people.