NoClassDefFoundError com applet jdbc

Eu criei um applet usando o Eclipse:

package gui;
public class MyApplet extends JApplet {

Este applet precisa de dois jares externos: proj.jar e firebirdsql-full.jar (jdbc)

Por isso criei o HTML assim, na mesma pasta que os jars:

<APPLET CODE="gui.MyApplet.class" width="650" height="650" ARCHIVE="proj.jar,myApplet.jar,firebirdsql-full.jar">
    <a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp">Java</a>
</APPLET>

Eu também tentei mudar a ordem do jar noARCHIVE atributo.

No entanto, continuo recebendo o seguinte erro (no console java):

Exception in thread "thread applet-gui.MyApplet.class-2" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class org.firebirdsql.jdbc.FBDriver
    at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
    at db.DAO.getDBConnection(DAO.java:45)
    at db.MyDAO.initPreparedStatements(MyDAO.java:37)
    at db.MyDAO.<init>(MyDAO.java:33)
    at db.MyDAO.getInstance(MyDAO.java:27)
    at model.Controller.<init>(Controller.java:27)
    at gui.MyApplet.getJTabbedPane(MyApplet.java:81)
    at gui.MyApplet.getJContentPane(MyApplet.java:69)
    at gui.MyApplet.init(MyApplet.java:52)
    at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionRunnable.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Estou esquecendo de algo?

Editar:

De alguma forma, ao depurar isso, eu também recebi um stacktrace diferente:

Exception in thread "thread applet-gui.MyApplet.class-1" 
java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
    at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
    at db.DAO.getDBConnection(DAO.java:45)
    at db.MyDAO.initPreparedStatements(MyDAO.java:37)
    at db.MyDAO.<init>(MyDAO.java:33)
    at db.MyDAO.getInstance(MyDAO.java:27)
    at model.Controller.<init>(Controller.java:27)
    at gui.MyApplet.getJTabbedPane(MyApplet.java:81)
    at gui.MyApplet.getJContentPane(MyApplet.java:69)
    at gui.MyApplet.init(MyApplet.java:52)
    at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionRunnable.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.util.PropertyPermission FBLog4j read)
    at java.security.AccessControlContext.checkPermission(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPermission(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPropertyAccess(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.System.getProperty(Unknown Source)
    at org.firebirdsql.logging.LoggerFactory.getLogger(LoggerFactory.java:36)
    at org.firebirdsql.logging.LoggerFactory.getLogger(LoggerFactory.java:72)
    at org.firebirdsql.jdbc.FBDriver.<clinit>(FBDriver.java:63)
    ... 12 more

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