Activity Sheet

Name ____________________

La Salle's Adventure
by Kitty Henderson, Senior Project Assistant/Educational Coordinator
Regional and International Heritage Programs, Texas Historical Commission

(Note: round your answers to the nearest whole number)

1. La Salle sailed from La Rochelle, France, to the New World by way of Santo Domingo. If he left on August 1, 1684, and arrived in Santo Domingo on September 27, how many days did he travel?

2. If he set sail from Santo Domingo on November 25, 1684, and arrived on the Gulf coast on January 1, 1685, how many days did he sail?

3. How many days in total did it take La Salle and his crew to sail from France to the Gulf?

4. Using the answer from question #3, if La Salle's expedition traveled 5000 nautical miles in ______ days, how far did they travel each day?

5. Using the number of nautical miles you figured in question #4, if La Salle and his crew were able to sail for only 10 hours each day because of the wind, how many knots (nautical miles per hour) were the ships traveling?

6. Today, travel by airplane is much faster than travel by ship. If you took a trip of 5000 miles by air and averaged 625 miles per hour, how many hours would the trip take?

Answers

1. 58 days. August has 31 days and he traveled 27 days in September.
2. 36 days. He traveled 5 days in November and December has 31 days.
3. 94. 58 plus 36 equals 94.
4. 53 nautical miles. 5000 divided by 94 equals 53.
5. 5. 53 divided by 10 equals 5.3.
6. 8. 5000 divided by 625 equals 8.

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