The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ribault, Jean

RIBAULT,, or RIBAUT, Jean, French soldier and colonist in the New World: b. Dieppe, about 1520; d. Florida, 1565. A Huguenot, he was sent by Admiral Coligny to establish a colony of French Protestants in North America. He went out in 1656 with an advance party, with which he built a fortress at Port Royal in the present South Carolina. A garrison of 30, left by him in charge, finally mutinied and, having slain their leader, set out in a crazy vessel for France. Half famished, they were carried by an English cruiser to London. Ribault was made governor of a proposed colony in Florida in 1564 and sent out René de Laudonnière, who built Fort Caroline near the mouth of the Saint John's. In May 1565 Ribault himself with seven vessels and a force of 300 set sail for the colony, where he arrived 28 August. A Spanish expedition under Pedro Menendez de Avilès had, shortly after Ribault's arrival, begun work on intrenchments on the site of Saint Augustine, and Ribault determined on an attack before the fortifications had been completed. His ships, however, were wrecked in a hurricane, and Menendez, marching overland, captured Fort Caroline and butchered almost all whom he found there. Ribault, with most of his force, was saved, endeavored to return but was intercepted by Menendez, and with a portion of his followers were murdered. This ended the Huguenot colony in Florida. Consult Gaffard, ‘La Floride française’ (1875); Parkman, ‘Pioneers of France in the New World’ (1885).