During the initial diving operations, a prop-wash blower (metal pipe fitted over the propeller to deflect its force down to the seafloor) was used, ostensibly to improve water visibility by forcing surface water down towards the bottom. It was later decided by the archaeologists that the blower should be turned off as it was visibly damaging the delicate material of the cargo remains. It is not known exactly how much sediment covered the shipwreck at the time of its discovery because the prop-wash blower was deployed before sending divers down. The first team of divers reported feeling musket balls on the seafloor along with loose fragments of wood moving in the current created by the blower. These materials strongly suggested that this was indeed a shipwreck site. During the second dive, archaeologist Chuck Meide discovered a bronze cannon which, when subsequently recovered, proved that this shipwreck was indeed that of "La Belle". The cannon was ornately decorated, and bore the crest of King Louis and the Count of Vermandois, the Admiral of France. An illegitimate son of Louis XIV, Vermandois served as Admiral of the French fleet until his death in 1683, meaning the cannon would have been cast no later than 1683, the time when La Salle was preparing for his voyage. This was considered strong circumstantial evidence that the ship was "La Belle". A serial number on the gun (and two others found in 1997) was later matched in a French archival record discovered by Dr. John de Bry with the numbers of four bronze cannons that had been loaded onto "La Belle", providing definitive proof of the wreck's identity.