Joutel (1713)

Joutel, Henri (1640?-1735). Journal historique du dernier voyage que feu M. de la Salle fit dans le golfe de Mexique [...]. Paris: Estienne Robinot, 1713.

In Rouen, France, in the spring of 1684, Henri Joutel became part of history without realizing it: "When Monsieur de la Salle was making preparations for his last voyage to North America, I was in Rouen, our common place of birth, and I had just left the army after 16 to 17 years of service. Monsieur de la Salle's reputation, the greatness of his undertaking, the curiosity natural to man, my knowledge of his parents and even of the expedition members from this city easily persuaded me to join, and I was accepted as a volunteer."

Journal historique, written by Joutel, begins in July 1684 with La Salle's departure for America and ends in December 1688 with Joutel's return to France. His aim in publishing his account was to show that, contrary to popular belief at the time, La Salle had not succeeded in finding the mouth of the Mississippi during his final voyage and that the credit for its discovery belonged to Iberville instead.

One of the few survivors of La Salle's ill-fated expedition, Joutel did not, however, write in a vengeful spirit against his former leader nor, for that matter, to glorify him. He was content to narrate the facts, often day by day, and to describe the area he had covered. Charlevoix, who knew Joutel personally, left us the following brief description: "a very honest man, and the only one in La Salle's troop on whom the celebrated voyager could count." Joutel had in fact been La Salle's close assistant until La Salle's murder, and had narrowly escaped being murdered himself.

In 1698 Joutel received an offer to accompany Iberville on his expedition to found a settlement in Louisiana, but he refused to run new risks.

Homepage

Previous      Next

Previous      Next