Brest harbour in the 17th century, from Horizon Canada, vol 2, p. 131

«  If all goes as planned, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who sailed out of the Brest harbour at the end of October last year (1698), will prove to the Spaniards France firmly intends to maintain a presence in the Mississippi area.

Having given the issue much thought, our King, His Majesty Louis the XIVth, now endorses the objectives put forth by the higher civil servants of New France. Which is to say that henceforth, France will do her utmost to check the proliferation of British trading posts in the territories she has explored.

We have been informed d'Iberville made a stopover in Saint-Domingue and then set a course for the Gulf of Mexico en route to the great Mississippi river. Before his departure, he suggested that, no sooner would he know for a fact that he was navigating the river where Cavelier De la Salle left signs of his passage, he would have a temporary fort built there. To the best of our knowledge, construction may have begun in the Biloxi area.

England and Spain alike will have no choice but to perceive the fort as an emblem of the French presence in America. »