In 1562 Jean Ribaut with a band of French Hugenots, landed near St. Augustine and then at the mouth of the St. Johns river which he called the River of Man and on behalf of France claimed the land which lie described as the “fairest, most fruitful and pleasant of all the world,” but he made his settlement on a hill near what is now Beaufort, South Carolina. In 1564 Rene de Laudonniere with another party of Hugenots established Ft. Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns but the colony did not prosper and in 1565 Laudonniere was about to return to France when (on August 28) he was reinforced by Ribaut and about 300 men from France. On the same day that Ribaut landed, a Spanish expedition arrived in the Bay of St. Augustine. It tvas commanded by Peter Menendez de Aviles, one of whose aims was to destroy the Hugenot settlement. This he did, putting to death almost the entire garrison at Ft. Caroline (not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans) on September 20, 1565. The ships of Ribaut were soon afterward beached near Matanzas inlet; he and most of his followers surrendered to Menendez and were executed. 30