This translation of an eyewitness account by a major participant offers valuable information about all three attempts to establish a French colony on the south Atlantic coast of North America. Rene Laudonniere's account of the three attempts by France to colonize what is now the United States is uniquely valuable becausehe played a major role in each of the ventures-first, in 1562, as second in command during the founding of the ill-fated Charlesport, then as commander for the establishment of Fort Caroline on Florida's St. Johns River in 1564, and finally