In 1717, the French began erecting Fort Crèvecoeur on this site within Spanish domain. On February 8, 1718, Jean-Baptiste Lémoyne de Bienville, acting Governor of Louisiana, dispatched his brother, Lémoyne de Châteagué, to complete the fort. By May 12, the French occupied St. Joseph's Bay, and Châteagué reported to Bienville that the stockaded Fort Crèvecoeur, with four bastions, had been completed and garrisoned on the mainland opposite St. Joseph Point. At the same time, Jean Pedro Matamoros de Ysla, Governor of Spanish Florida at Pensacola, protested this usurpation, asserting that St. Joseph's Bay belonged to Spain by earlier discovery and previous settlement. The French Colonial Council then unanimously decided to burn Fort Crèvecoeur and abandon St. Joseph's Bay. On August 20, Spanish Captain Joseph Primo De Rivera reported to the Spanish governorship at St. Augustine that the French had retired from their invasion, whereupon Rivera was ordered to command St. Joseph's Bay. By March 10, 1719, Don Gregorio de Salinas Varona had been transferred to the Spanish governorship of St. Joseph's Bay.