Roanoke Island

Roanoke Island is an island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. About twelve miles long and three miles wide, the island lies between the mainland and the barrier islands, with Albemarle Sound on its north, Roanoke Sound on its east, Pamlico Sound on its south, and Croatan Sound on its west. The island contains the towns of Manteo at the northern end and Wanchese at the southern end. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is on the island.

The Lost Colony

The Roanoke Colony was the first permanent English colony in the New World (St. John's in Newfoundland was claimed in 1583 by Humphrey Gilbert but no settlement was attempted). It was founded at Roanoke Island in what was then Virginia (now North Carolina, United States).

Related Topics:
English colony - New World - St. John's in Newfoundland - Humphrey Gilbert - Virginia - North Carolina - United States

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The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh, who had received a charter for the colonization of Virginia from Queen Elizabeth I of England, specifying that Raleigh had ten years in which to establish a settlement in North America or lose his colonization rights. Raleigh and Elizabeth intended that the venture should both provide New World riches and a privateering base from which to steal from the Spanish treasure fleets. With that in mind, an expedition was sent in 1584 to explore the eastern coast of North America for an appropriate location. The expedition was led by Captains Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, who chose the Outer Banks of modern North Carolina as an ideal location from which to raid the Spanish, and proceeded to make contact with the natives. They returned to England with a report of their find, samples of the local flora and fauna, and two natives: Manteo and Wanchese.

Related Topics:
Sir Walter Raleigh - Charter - Colonization - Virginia - Elizabeth I of England - North America - New World - Privateer - Spanish - 1584 - Phillip Amadas - Arthur Barlowe - Flora - Fauna - Manteo - Wanchese

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The following spring a colonizing expedition composed solely of men, many of them veteran soldiers who had fought to establish English rule in Ireland, was sent to establish the colony. The leader of the settlement effort, Sir Richard Grenville, was assigned to further explore the area, establish the colony, and return to England with news of the venture's success. Two occurrences could have led to his deciding to postpone the effort:

Related Topics:
Ireland - Richard Grenville

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• upon arrival at the Outer Banks the lead ship struck a shoal and flooded, ruining most of the colony's food stores
• after the initial exploration of the mainland coast and native towns there, a silver cup was noticed to be missing. The chief in the last native town visited was burned in retaliation.

Despite a lack of food and this rocky start to relations with a potential neighbor, Grenville decided to leave Ralph Lane and approximately 100 men to establish the English colony at the north end of Roanoke Island, promising to return in April 1586 with more men and fresh supplies.

Related Topics:
Ralph Lane - 1586

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Unbeknownst to the English, the Outer Banks area was at the beginning of one of the worst periods of drought in 400 years. Although the natives were willing to barter some food for trinkets in the colony's early days, as the year progressed into winter the natives became more and more reluctant to trade. Lane's reaction was to procure food through threats. When threats did not work, military action was taken. Among other things, he took a local Weroance's (Wereoance = leader) son, Skikko, hostage and demanded food in recompense.

Related Topics:
Drought - Barter - Weroance - Skikko

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By April 1586, relations with the neighboring tribe had degraded to such a degree that they attacked an expedition led by Lane to explore the Roanoke River. His response was to attack the natives in their capital, where he killed their Weroance, Wingina.

Related Topics:
Roanoke River - Wingina

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April passed and there was no sign of Grenville's relief fleet. When Sir Francis Drake arrived in June, on his way home from a successful raid in the Caribbean, he offered to take the colonists back to England, which they accepted. Shortly after Drake's fleet left, Grenville and the resupply arrived. Finding the colony abandoned, Grenville decided to return to England with the bulk of his force. Fifteen men were left behind to maintain both an English presence and Raleigh's claim to Virginia.

Related Topics:
Francis Drake - Caribbean - Virginia

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Raleigh dispatched another group of colonists in 1587, this time composed of 91 men, 17 women, and 9 children led by John White, an artist and friend of Raleigh's who had accompanied the previous expeditions to Roanoke. The new colonists were tasked with picking up the fifteen men left at Roanoake and settling in the Chesapeake Bay area. Upon arrival at Roanoke, however, the fleet's navigator, Simon Fernandez, refused to transport the colony further than the Outer Banks, claiming that continuing to the bay would delay his return to England into the North Atlantic storm season, thereby risking the fleet.

Related Topics:
1587 - John White - Chesapeake Bay - Simon Fernandez - North Atlantic

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Forced to accept this reasoning, which was unveiled by Fernandez only after forty of the colony's men had already been shipped to Roanoke Island to search for the fifteen men stationed there, the Roanoke settlement was re-established. Of the fifteen men left the year before only the bones of a single man were found. The one local tribe still friendly towards the English, the Croatans on present-day Hatteras Island, reported that the men had been attacked, and the nine survivors had taken their boat and sailed up the coast.

Related Topics:
Croatan - Hatteras Island

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The settlers landed on Roanoke Island on July 22, 1587. On August 18, Governor White's daughter had the first English child born in the Americas: Virginia Dare. Before her birth, White reestablished relations with the neighboring Croatans and tried to reestablish relations with the tribes that Ralph Lane had attacked a year previously. The aggrieved tribes refused to meet with the new colonists. Shortly thereafter George Howe was killed by natives as he crabbed alone in Albemarle Sound. Knowing what had happened during Ralph Lane's tenure in the area and fearing for their lives, the colonists convinced Governor White to return to England to explain the colony's situation and ask for help. There were approximately 117 colonists, 115 men and women who made the trans-Atlantic passage and two newborn babies (including White's granddaughter) when White returned to England.

Related Topics:
July 22 - 1587 - August 18 - Virginia Dare - George Howe

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Ships leaving Roanoke as late as White's did were in danger, confirming Fernandez's claim. White's vessel barely made it back to England. Plans for a relief fleet were put off at first by the captains' refusal to sail back during the winter. The coming of the Spanish Armada led to every able ship in England being commandeered to fight off the armada, which left White with no sound vessels with which to return to Roanoke. He did manage, however, to hire two smaller vessels deemed unnecessary for the Armada defense and set out for Roanoke in the Spring of 1588. This time, White's attempt to return to Roanoke was foiled by human nature. The vessels released from defense duty were small, and the captains willing to sail them were greedy. They attempted to capture several vessels on the outward bound voyage to improve the profitability of the venture, until they were captured themselves and their cargo taken. With nothing left to deliver to the colonists, the ships returned to England.

Related Topics:
Spanish Armada - Human nature

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For reasons unknown, White was not able to raise another resupply attempt for two more years. He finally gained passage on a privateering expedition that agreed to stop off at Roanoke on the way back from the Caribbean. White returned on his granddaughter's third birthday and found the settlement deserted. He organized a search, but his men could not find any trace of the colonists. Some ninety men, seventeen women, and nine children had disappeared; there was no sign of a struggle or battle of any kind. The only clue was the word "Croatoan" carved into a tree. White took this to mean that they had moved to Croatoan Island, but was unable to search; a hurricane hit the Outer Banks and blew his fleet out to sea. By the time the storm abated the fleet was closer to England than Virginia. The fleet, running low on provisions, returned to England.

Related Topics:
Croatoan Island - Hurricane

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