During the last years of the Santa Elena colony while the Spanish were massacring the French another country planted a settlement in what is now Carolina on Roanoke Island in modern day North Carolina. The first English colony in North America is better known as the Lost Colony
The English briefly claimed St John’s Newfoundland in 1583 under the royal prerogative of Elizabeth I but the leader of the expedition, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was lost at sea on the return voyage near the Azores.
Sir Humphrey was the half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh and cousin of Sir Richard Grenville. Both men were instrumental in founding the Roanoke colony.
In 1578, Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to explore and colonize territories "unclaimed by Christian kingdoms"The terms of the charter granted by the Queen were vague, though Gilbert understood it to give him rights to all territory north of Spanish FL
The charter was later divided and Sir Walter Raleigh was awarded the lands to the south where the fabled Northwest Passage was believed to be located. At the time it was thought the Outer Banks and Inner Banks of NC were islands and the Pacific Ocean was not far away.
Raleigh's charter, issued on March 25, 1584, specified that he needed to establish a colony by 1591, or lose his right to colonization.He was to "discover, search, find out, and view such remote heathen and barbarous Lands, Countries, and territories ... to have, hold, occupy
And enjoy. Plans were made to settle near what was believed to be the Northwest Passage. The group was to explore the area and try to find out how large the “islands” were behind the Outer Banks
The Amadas Barlowe expedition set sail in 1584 to explore the area and establish friendly relationships with the natives. Two natives Wanchese and Manteo accompanied the sailors back to England and reports described the land as a garden of Eden
In 1585 Ralph Lane led a group to North Carolina’s coast and settled on Roanoke Island. This settlement was troubled from the beginning by bad relations with the natives and lack of supplies. While waiting on a delayed supply mission from England Lane made the decision to
Abandon the colony and returned to England with Sir Francis Drake. A small group of men were left to protect Raleigh’s claim. Soon plans were made to establish a larger settlement.
In 1587 approximately 115 people set sail to establish the Cittie of Raleigh. The colonists were mostly middle class Londoners and their families. At the time their was no organized military force. The expedition landed on Croatoan Island and a smaller group headed across the
Sound to Roanoke to consult with the 15 men left by Grenville. Ominously the fort had been dismantled and the houses were overgrown with melons. Shortly after George Howe was killed by the natives while searching for crabs alone on the Albemarle Sound.
White dispatched men to re-establish relations with the Croatan, with the help of Manteo. The Croatan described how a coalition of mainland tribes, led by Wanchese, had attacked Grenville's detachment.The colonists attempted to negotiate a truce through the Croatan
But it was unsuccessful. On August 9, White led a pre-emptive strike on Dasamongueponke, but the enemy (fearing reprisal for the death of Howe) had withdrawn from the village, and the English accidentally attacked Croatan looters. Manteo again smoothed relations between the
colonists and the Croatan.For his service to the colony, Manteo was baptized and named "Lord of Roanoke and Dasamongueponke".
On August 18, 1587, Eleanor Dare gave birth to a daughter, christened "Virginia" in honor of being "the first Christian born in Virginia". Records indicate Margery Harvye gave birth shortly thereafter, although nothing else is known about her child.
Soon it became clear the colony was running low on supplies. By the time the fleet was preparing to return to England, the colonists had decided to relocate 50 miles up Albemarle Sound.The colonists persuaded Governor White to return to England to explain the colony's desperate
Situation and ask for help. White agreed to leave his daughter and newborn granddaughter Virginia Dare and sail for home. August 27th 1587 would be the last time anyone from the Lost Colony was seen by the English.
After a difficult journey, White returned to England on November 5, 1587. By this time reports of the Spanish Armada mobilizing for an attack had reached London, and Queen Elizabeth had prohibited any able ship from leaving England so that they might participate in the battle.
Eventually, Raleigh arranged passage for White on a expedition organized by John Watts. The fleet of six ships would spend the summer of 1590 raiding Spanish outposts in the Caribbean, but the flagship Hopewell and the Moonlight would split off to take White to his colony
White discovered the colony abandoned with no sign of life. The letters CRO were carved into a tree. The word Croatoan was carved onto a post. White believed this was a sign the colonists had relocated to Croatoan Island since they hadn’t left the cross pattee a distress code
Within the palisade, the search party found that houses had been dismantled, and anything that could be carried had been removed. Several large trunks belonging to White had been dug up and looted. None of the colony's boats could be found along the shore.
The party returned to the ship that evening, and plans were made to return to Croatoan the following day. However, h the ships anchor cable snapped, leaving the ship with only one working cable and anchor. There was no choice but to return to England.
In the next thread we will look at some of the well known and lesser known theories of what happened to the lost colony.
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