Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Le Juste

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville was born at Ville-Marie, now Montreal on July 16,1661.   He became a sailor at an early age and took part in many expeditions for the French crown of Louis XIV. He defeated a British Squadron in Hudson Bay on September 5, 1697  resulting in France taking the Hudson Bay Trading post at York Factory.  

 d’Iberville explored the Gulf coast and the lower Mississippi Valley area founding a French colony in Louisiana.  In 1706, he captured the Caribbean island of Nevis from the British, taking the main stronghold of Fort Charles. He then went to Havana in hopes of obtaining reinforcements from the Spanish but contracted yellow fever and died at Havana on July 9, 1706.   

d’Iberville reamains as an important French Canadian explorer and monuments to him may be found in Ottawa, Montreal, Mobile Alabama,  and Havana Cuba.  The photo on the right is in Havana  and stands close to Castillo de la Punta where the Santísima Trinidad has been constructed for the new maritime museum at La Fuerza.

d'Iberville's ship that he sailed to Cuba was called Le Juste. She was built at Le Havre in 1692 by Etienne Salicon and Philippe Conchois. She carried seven officers, 370 men and 62 canons. With the assistance of Le Musée de la Marine in Paris, we were able to obtain documentation on this ship. With the assistance from the Embassy of Canada in Havana, two Cuban artisans Yosniel and Yosnardy Bouza were commissioned to construct a replica museum model of Le Juste for presentation to the people of Cuba and the new maritime museum at La Fuerza. This presentation will occur on Jan 15, 2009.