Part one of a four part series on the lost colony of Roanoke.
England
began to sail over the Atlantic Ocean to the seemingly obscure New World during
the late sixteenth century. Exploration and colonization of Virginia began in 1578,
when Queen Elizabeth gave Sir Humphrey Gilbert a patent to colonize America. Nearly
a decade later in 1587 the first English colony in America is established on
Roanoke Island and ended in total disaster, the disappearance of the entire
colony. The colony
of Roanoke vanished from the English map in 1590; the reason was that the
population from the colony assimilated into the surrounding Indian communities because
England was more preoccupied with Spain and showed little support for the
American colony.
Sir Humphrey
Gilbert originally proposed the idea of a northwest passage to the oriental
coast over the northern tip of America in 1566. He believed that, “if England
secured such a route, she would establish herself as a major commercial power
and eventually come to rival Spain’s rapidly growing overseas empire.”[i] Spain
was a powerful nation that was gaining enormous wealth from the West Indies and
Central America. The threat from Spain grew over the next few years and finally
in 1578 Gilbert was granted an exclusive patent by Queen Elizabeth to discover
and colonize American lands not yet inhabited by Spain.[ii]
He must plant a new colony within six years or he would lose his right to
colonize the New World.
Just a few months
after the patent was granted, Gilbert formed a fleet to sail over the Atlantic
Ocean. The voyage was a failure and Gilbert quickly returned to England. A few
years later he dispatched a small frigate led by mariner Simon Fernandez on a
reconnaissance mission in 1580. Fernandez was previously a Spanish navigator
who turned rogue and lived as a pirate until he was arrested by England and
agreed to serve the crown as a navigator in exchange for his freedom. After his
release he aided Gilbert and, later, Sir Walter Raleigh on their attempts to
reach America and he was an essential cog to the American expeditions for the
next decade.[iii]
The voyage was a
success, with Fernandez traveling along the North American coast and returning
before the end of summer. This trip strengthened Gilbert’s resolve and he was
determined to attempt to reach America before his exclusive patent expired.[iv]
In early 1583 he embarked with a fleet of five ships to America.
Throughout the
voyage sickness and dissention spread through the sailors, and it led to
several of the ships sailing home early. When one of the ships sank off the
coast of Nova Scotia the expedition began to sail back to England, failing to
establish a potential shoreline to build a fort and colony on. On the way home
the ships ran through a furious storm and the ship Sir Humphrey Gilbert resided
on sank. The captain of the voyages flagship, the Golden Hind, recorded this
horror: “For in that moment, the frigate was devoured and swallowed up of the
sea.”[v]
Gilbert was, as Queen Elizabeth notably said, “a man noted of not good hap
[fortune] by seas.”[vi]
Queen
Elizabeth transferred the patent in 1584 to the newly knighted Sir Walter
Raleigh.[vii]
The patent demanded he establish a colony or he would lose the right of
colonization in America, the same circumstance Sir Humphrey Gilbert was under.
For the next year Raleigh turned his quarters at Durham House into a station
for mariners, promoters and scholars. Richard Hakluyt, John White, Thomas
Hariot, Simon Fernandez and others were recruited to draft plans for sailing to
America and establishing a colony.[viii]
During this time the general location of the colony was decided on. Raleigh
wanted a colony that was far north of Florida and the Spanish garrisons located
in the region and he selected the Chesapeake Bay because of Fernandez’s familiarity
with the region.
In less
then a year the first voyage to Virginia commenced. It was a small
reconnaissance mission consisting of two ships and several skilled men and
soldiers. Most importantly it had the scientist Thomas Hariot and artist John
White on board and was led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe with Simon
Fernandez navigating. The exact plan for the expedition was never given, but
the primary reasons were to locate a suitable site for the future colony, make
contact with the local natives and to take extensive notes of the area. [ix]
The
expedition sailed to America and landed on the island of Hattaras, which is
located on the outer banks of Pamlico Sound. They proclaimed the land as
property of the English crown. The land was fertile and seemingly untouched
with cedar, pine, cypress and sassafras trees covering the land. [x]
They slowly began to explore the region with Hariot taking extensive notes of
everything he encountered and White drawing renderings of the natives, fauna
and wildlife.
Three
days after landing first contact was made with the native Indians as three
Indians approached the ships because of their curiosity. These Algonquian
Indians were from the town of Pomeiooc, which Granganimeo was the weroance, or chief.[xi]
The following day fifty more Indians came to the English and began to barter
and welcome the visitors. This included Granganimeo as well. Over the following
weeks relations were peaceful and often included Indians visiting on board the
English ships. Arthur Barlowe observed that the Indians behavior was as
“mannerly and civil as any of Europe.”[xii]
That
was the warmest reception the English received from the natives as when they
ventured to Roanoke Island, Arthur Barlowe and Thomas Hariot were initially
greeted with hostilities from Indians on the island, but they began to welcome
them after they showed trade goods and offered them. Conversely, Philip Amadas
and Simon Fernandez sailed a pinnacle to the northern shore of Albemarle Sound
and had a skirmish with the native Indians. The Secotans and Weapemeoc Indians
killed a small number of the English, sending a clear message that not all the natives
were welcoming.[xiii]
[i]James
Horn, A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of
Roanoke (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 8.
[ii]Richard
Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations Voiages and Discoveries of the English
Nation (Cambridge, 1965),
135-37.
[iii]Lee
Miller, Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony (New York:
Penguin, 2000), 171.
[iv]David
B. Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke (University of N. Carolina Press, 1985),
7.
[v]Richard
Hakluyt, Principall Navigations
(Cambridge, 1965), 296.
[vi]Kenneth
Andrews, Trade, Plunder and Settlement (Cambridge, 1984), 194-97.
[vii]Karen
Ordahl Kupperman, Roanoke: The Abandoned
Colony (United States: Barnes & Noble, 1993), 12.
[viii]David
B. Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke (University of N. Carolina Press, 1985),
7-9, 45-46.
[ix]James
Horn, A Kingdom Strange (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 41.
[x]Ibid,
43.
[xi]Thomas
Hariot, A Briefe and True Report of the
New Found Land of Virginia (New York: Dover, 1972), 46.
[xii]David
B. Quinn, The Roanoke Voyages 1584-1590
(New York: Dover, 1991), 101-104.
[xiii]James
Horn, A Kingdom Strange (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 54.
