17. Early French Voyages, 1524-36.--The first French expedition to America was led by an Italian named Verrazano (Ver-rä-tsä'-no), but he sailed in the service of Francis I, King of France. He made his voyage in 1524 and sailed along the coast from the Cape Fear River to Nova Scotia. He entered New York harbor and spent two weeks in Newport harbor. He reported that the country was "as pleasant as it is possible to conceive." The next French expedition was led by a Frenchman named Cartier (Kar'-tya'). In 1534 he visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 1535 he sailed up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal. But before he could get out of the river again the ice formed about his ships. He and his crew had to pass the winter there. They suffered terribly, and twenty-four of them perished of cold and sickness. In the spring of 1536 the survivors returned to France.
Ribault explores the Carolina coasts, 1562.
French colonists in Carolina. Explorers, 149-156.
18. The French in Carolina, 1562.--The French next explored the shores of the Carolinas. Ribault (Re'-bo') was the name of their commander. Sailing southward from Carolina, he discovered a beautiful river and called it the River of May. But we know it by its Spanish name of St. Johns. He left a few men on the Carolina coast and returned to France. A year or more these men remained. Then wearying of their life in the wilderness, they built a crazy boat with sails of shirts and sheets and steered for France. Soon their water gave out and then their food. Finally, almost dead, they were rescued by an English ship.
French colonists in Florida.
19. The French in Florida, 1564-65.--While these Frenchmen were slowly drifting across the Atlantic, a great French expedition was sailing to Carolina. Finding Ribault's men gone, the new colony was planted on the banks of the River of May. Soon the settlers ate up all the food they had brought with them. Then they bought food from the Indians, giving them toys and old clothes in exchange. Some of the colonists rebelled. They seized a vessel and sailed away to plunder the Spaniards in the West Indies. They told the Spaniards of the colony on the River of May, and the Spaniards resolved to destroy it.
Spaniards and Frenchmen.
End of the French settlement, 1565. Explorers, 159-166.
20. The Spaniards in Florida, 1565.--For this purpose the Spaniards sent out an expedition under Menendez (Ma-nen'-deth). He sailed to the River of May and found Ribault there with a French fleet. So he turned southward, and going ashore founded St. Augustine. Ribault followed, but a terrible storm drove his whole fleet ashore south of St. Augustine. Menendez then marched over land to the French colony. He surprised the colonists and killed nearly all of them. Then going back to St. Augustine, he found Ribault and his shipwrecked sailors and killed nearly all of them. In this way ended the French attempts to found a colony in Carolina and Florida. But St. Augustine remained, and is to-day the oldest town on the mainland of the United States.