The Lost Colony of Roanoke

by Fullam, Brandon

  At about the same time that Amadas and Barlowe set sail for the New World, Raleigh turned to his friend Richard Hakluyt, writer and geographer, to further advance his colonization endeavors with the queen. Hakluyt immediately went to work on a treatise known by its abbreviated title, A Discourse of Western Planting. The Discourse, written “at the requeste and direction of the righte worshipfull Mr. Walter Raghly, nowe Knight,” and “before the comynge home of his twoo barkes,” was a twenty-chapter promotional piece advocating the numerous benefits likely to result from the initial Amadas-Barlowe reconnaissance voyage and future colonization enterprises. The Discourse concluded with “A note of some thinges to be prepared for the voyadge,” quite an understatement since the “note” consisted of a remarkably exhaustive listing of every imaginable item to be brought as well as the numerous skills and occupations required for such a venture.

  The Discourse was written primarily to obtain Queen Elizabeth’s financial support for Raleigh’s colonization efforts, to assure the queen regarding England’s legitimate right to colonize the New World, and to outline the many rewards England would reap from colonization. The topic of finding the Northwest Passage was brought up again, but was far outweighed in importance by the benefits of colonization. Hakluyt spent most of his twenty chapters claiming that Raleigh’s efforts would “yelde unto us all the commodities of Europe, Affrica and Asia; limit … the kinge of Spaines domynions … [and] … bringe Kinge Phillippe from his highe throne”; and “be greately for thinlargemente of the gospell of Christe.” The Northwest Passage was not mentioned until Chapter 17: “by these colonies the north west passage to Cathaio and China may easely, quickly, and perfectly be searched oute.”10 By 1584 it was clear that England’s focus had changed from the Northwest Passage to colonization. Inspired by Hakluyt’s Discourse as well as the reports from the Amadas-Barlowe reconnaissance that returned in September, Queen Elizabeth and her Principal Secretary of State, Francis Walsingham, supplied two ships for Raleigh’s 1585 colonization venture.11

  On April 9, 1585, a seven-vessel fleet departed to establish Raleigh’s first permanent colony in what the English now called “Virginia” in honor of their monarch, the “Virgin Queen” Elizabeth.

  … we departed from Plymmouth, our Fleete consisting of the number of seuen sailes, to wit, the Tyger, of the burden of seuen score tunnes, a Flie-boat called the Roe-bucke, of the like burden, the Lyon of a hundred tunnes or thereabouts, the Elizabeth, of fiftie tunnes, and the Dorothie, a small barke: whereunto were also adioyned for speedy seruices, two small pinnesses.12

  The all-male colony was essentially intended to be fortified base from which exploratory ventures could be launched into the areas surrounding Roanoke. It was most likely hoped that the base could eventually be used as a stopover for English privateers. The expedition was led by Sir Richard Grenville, who commanded the flagship Tyger, with Simon Fernandez as master pilot. Fernandez had piloted the Amadas-Barlowe reconnaissance the previous year and would also serve as master pilot on the 1587 voyage which transported what would come to be known as the Lost Colony. Other notables on the 1585 voyage included Ralph Lane, “Generall” of the soldiers; Thomas Harriot, the brilliant mathematician, astronomer, and translator, who—with the help of Manteo—constructed a phonetic alphabet for the Algonquian language; and John White, artist and cartographer, who would become governor of the ill-fated Lost Colony the following year. Wanchese and Manteo, the two native Algonquians who had traveled to England with Amadas and Barlowe, also returned to their homeland.

  The exploratory nature of the new colony was immediately evident when, on June 26, they anchored for three weeks at Wokokon before proceeding to Roanoke. During that time Grenville, Lane, and a contingent of men in three vessels explored Pamlico Sound and visited a number of native Indian villages, including Pomeiok, Aquascogoc, and Secota, and “were well entertained there of the Sauages.”13 Unfortunately, an incident occurred at Aquascogoc which would begin to unravel whatever amicable relations had been established during the Amadas-Barlowe reconnaissance. On July 16 the English discovered that a silver cup was missing and apparently had last been seen three days earlier at Aquascogoc. The English returned, demanded the cup, and when it was not produced, “wee burnt, and spoyled their corne, and Towne, all the people being fled.”14

  The activities conducted by the English during this three week period are revealing in several respects. First of all the fact that Grenville delayed his arrival at Roanoke that long and spent a full week exploring mainland locations across Pamlico Sound suggests that he may have been instructed to investigate alternative settlement locations. Grenville knew that he would be returning the following spring with more colonists, and Raleigh may have already realized, from the post-voyage reports of Amadas and Barlowe, that a better—or maybe an additional—settlement location was needed. Roanoke was an inadequate location for a growing, permanent colony or military base which would require a better harbor. This consideration would be of particular relevance in 1587.

  The episode at Aquascogoc speaks volumes about the English attitude toward the native tribes. Hakluyt had explained in his 1584 Discourse that the English would win over the natives “with discretion and myldenes,” and he devoted an entire chapter condemning the terrible cruelties afflicted upon the native people by the Spanish in the West Indies. As he wrote, “So many and so monstrous have bene the Spanishe cruelties, suche straunge slaughters and murders of those peaceable, lowly, milde, and gentle people, together with the spoiles of townes….”15 The harsh treatment of the Indians at Aquascogoc would indicate that “discretion and myldenes” were in short supply among the English. On the other side, the Indians witnessed, probably for the first time, what the English were capable of. Burning the village, an act specifically denounced by Hakluyt as one of the Spanish atrocities, was a severe penalty to pay for the alleged theft of a cup. An additional consequence, one which the English may not have recognized, was the fact that the last planting for the native Indians had already occurred in June, so when the English “spoyled their corne” they may have unwittingly ruined the remaining year’s harvest. News of this incident was undoubtedly relayed to Wingina and probably contributed to the growing suspicions about these newcomers who were about to establish a settlement and construct a fort at Roanoke. To add insult to injury, after having ruined the corn supply at Aquascogoc, the English then turned to Wingina’s tribe to provide corn for the colony, a demand which further strained Anglo-native relations.

  It is also interesting that Philip Amadas, who was recorded as “Admirall of the countrey” in 1585, was the man who was responsible for the retribution at Aquascogoc. As recorded in one account, Grenville sent “one of our boates with the Admirall … to Aquascogoc, to demaund a siluer cup which one of the Sauages had stollen from vs.” The treatment of the Indians at Aquascogoc seems at odds with Barlowe’s description of a native “people most gentle, louing, and faithfull, voide of all guile and treason, and such as liue after the maner of the golden age.” It also makes one wonder if the English-Indian relations described in Barlowe’s account of the 1584 reconnaissance were actually as uniformly amicable as it would have its readers believe.

  On August 25 Grenville left Lane and more than 100 men at Roanoke and sailed for England, promising to return by the following Easter with fresh supplies, equipment, and additional colonists. Lane’s account is difficult to follow chronologically, but he must have quickly undertaken the construction of the fort and begun to explore the area for the precious metals, copper, and pearls which the English hoped to find. “Our discouerie,” Lane wrote, “hath beene extended from the Island of Roanoak, (the same hauing bene the place of our settlement or habitation) into the South, into the North, into the Northwest, and into the West.”16 They explored as far as Secota to the south, but decided to postpone any further discovery in that area until Grenville’s return in the spring. To the northwest they ventured as far as “Chawanook distant from Roanoak
about 130. Miles” and “it selfe is the greatest Prouince and Seigniorie lying vpon that Riuer.” Lane’s most favorable assessment was reserved for the exploration to the north:

  … the Territorie and soyle of the Chesepians (being distant fifteene miles from the shore) was for pleasantnes of seat, for temperature of Climate, for fertilitie of soyle and for the commoditie of the Sea, besides multitude of Beares (being an excellent good victuall) with great woods of Sassafras, and Wallnut trees, is not to be excelled by any other whatsoeuer.17

  Lane was immediately intrigued, however, by what the Chowanoke king, Menatonon, told him about the Moratico (Roanoke) River to the west. Far up the Moratico there was said to be a place called Chaunis Temoatan, where “a marueilous and most strange Minerall” called “Wassador” could be found. This mineral was most likely copper, but Lane was told, “is very soft, and pale: they say that they take the saide mettall out of a riuer that falleth very swift from the rockes and hils,” and he may have thought it could be gold. Lane hoped that the Moratico would lead to “the discouery of a good Mine, by the goodnesse of God, or a passage to the South-sea, or some way to it,” an indication that finding an all-water passage to the Orient, albeit much farther south than Newfoundland, was still considered feasible. It was during his unsuccessful quest up the Moratico River in 1586 that, according to Lane, he and his party were attacked and then nearly starved to death as the result of a plot arranged by Wingina. On the return trip down the Moratico Lane and his men were forced to cook and eat their two mastiffs, after which “wee had nothing in the world to eate but pottage of Sassafras leaues.”18

  Lane’s relations with the natives, uneasy at best and marked by growing suspicions and distrust, would have repercussions for the 1587 colony. Aside from Manteo, who proved to be an enduring and trustworthy friend to the English, only Ensenore, Wingina’s aged father, and Granganimeo, Wingina’s brother who had welcomed Amadas and Barlowe the previous year, recommended cooperation with Lane’s Englishmen. Ensenore’s deference, however, was derived from his belief that the English were servants of God and had come back from the dead with the capability of killing their enemies with sickness and other means “being 100 miles from any of vs.” As Harriot explained it:

  There could at no time happen any strange sicknesse, losses, hurts, or any other crosse vnto them, but that they would impute to vs the cause or meanes thereof, for offending or not pleasing vs…. There was no towne where wee had any subtle deuise practised against vs, wee leauing it vnpunished or not reuenged … but that within a few dayes after our departure from euery such Towne, the people began to die very fast, and many in short space, in some Townes about twentie, in some fourtie, and in one sixe score, which in trueth was very many in respect of their numbers. This happened in no place that we could learne, but where we had bin, where they vsed some practise against vs, and after such time. The disease also was so strange, that they neither knewe what it was, nor how to cure it, the like by report of the oldest men in the Countrey neuer happened before, time out of minde.19

  Some authors have referred to the friendly relations that Lane had established with Menatonon, the king of the Chowanokes, and his son, Skiko, but that is somewhat misleading. The cooperation Lane received from the Chowanokes was only accomplished through coercion and threats. Lane had seized both Menatonon and Skiko, and, “hauing dismissed Menatonon vpon a ransome agreed for,” he sent “his best beloued sonne prisoner” to Roanoke where he “kept me companie in an handlocke.” At one point Skiko attempted to escape and Lane “laid him in the bylboes [leg shackles], threatening to cut off his head.”20

  Relations took a dramatic turn for the worse in April of 1586, by which time both Granganimeo and Ensenore had died. Wingina changed his name to Pemisapan, a significant event, and was openly hostile to the English. Wingina’s name change, as historian Karen Kupperman noted, announced his intention to form an alliance against the English, just as Opechancanough would do before the assault by the Powhatans on the Virginia settlers in 1622.21 Wanchese, too, who had quickly abandoned the English upon his return to Roanoke with Manteo, was specifically named by Lane as one of “our great enemies about Pemisapan” who “were in hand againe to put their old practises in vse against vs.”

  According to Lane, Pemisapan had organized a great conspiracy involving a number of tribes to destroy the English at Roanoke. Among the conspiring tribes Lane mentioned “the Mandoaks, who were a great people, with the Chesepians and their friends to the number of 700,” a probable gross exaggeration. Nevertheless, the conspiracy seems to have been widespread and is an indication of the extent and depth of the hostility that existed toward the English by the spring of 1586. The plan was apparently to surprise Lane first, “the instant whereof they would haue knocked out my braines,” followed by “certaine of his fellowes, for M. Heriots: so for all the rest of our better sort.”22 However Lane struck first, at Dasamonguepeuk, before the conspiracy could be executed by Pemisapan. Shouting the signal “Christ our victory,” Lane’s force attacked the village, and during the course of battle one of his men, Edward Nugent, chased down and beheaded Pemisapan.

  About a week later, in early June of 1586, Sir Francis Drake arrived at Roanoke with a large fleet after his successful raids of the Spanish possessions at Santo Domingo, Cartagena de Indias, and San Augustín. By this time Lane had become disillusioned about colonization at Roanoke in particular, and Virginia in general. This was illustrated by the stark contrast between his letter to Hakluyt and “another gentleman,” written “from the New Fort in Virginia, this third of September, 1585,” and his comments in early April following his exploration of the Moratico River. In the former, Lane wrote effusively about the many wonders of Virginia:

  The goodliest soyle vnder the cope of heauen … sweete trees … sortes of Apothecarie drugs … flaxe … one kind like silke…. Maiz … and the climate so wholsome, that wee had not one sicke since we touched the land here…. If Virginia had but horses and kine … being inhabited with English, no realme in Christendome were comparable to it…. And sundry other rich commodities, that no parts of the world, be they West or East Indies, haue, here wee finde great abundance of…. The people naturally are most curteous.23

  Contrast this with his offhand comment in April that the “healthfullest climate, and … most fertile soyle … and Sassafras, and many other rootes and gummes” do not in themselves justify colonization in Virginia. Unless “either of the two aboue” was discovered—a passage to the South Sea or the mine at Chaunis Temoatan—all those commodities “otherwise of themselues will not be worth fetching.”24

  It is little wonder, then, that Lane did not insist on preserving the colony at Roanoke when Drake arrived in June. Drake had offered to provide two or three ships for Lane’s use while he awaited Grenville’s return with supplies and colonists, but in the end it was clear that everyone wanted to return to England. As Lane put it, “considering the case that we stood in, the weaknesse of our company, the small number of the same,” he accepted Drake’s offer to transport the entire colony back to England. On June 19 the fleet set sail, and Manteo, who had proven to be a loyal friend to the English, returned once again to England.

  Drake’s account of this evacuation generally corroborates Lane’s, but adds a detail not mentioned by Lane about two of his men who were left behind. (Note—parentheticals contain insertions by the editor due to torn margins in the original document):

  Then we sailed along the coast of the land until we came to the place where those men did live that Sir Walter Raleigh had sent thither to inhabit the year before. (Mr. Lane) and others, as soon as they saw us, (thin)king we had been a new supply (came from the) shore, and tarried certain days, and (afterwards we carried) thence all those men with us except two (who had gone furt)her into the country and the wind gre(w so that) we could not stay for them.25

  Not long after Lane abandoned Roanoke, Grenville arrived belatedly with three ships, supplies, and additional coloni
sts. Finding the fort deserted, he searched the area but found no trace of the colony. In order to retain possession of “Virginia” for Raleigh, Grenville “landed fifteene men in the Isle of Roanoak, furnished plentifully with all maner of prouisions for two yeeres, and so departed for England.”26 It is interesting to note that the published account of the Grenville supply voyage was obviously written sometime after Grenville’s and Drake’s return to England, since it spoke disparagingly of Lane’s dealings with the Indians. Regarding the evacuation by Drake it stated, “for feare they [Lane’s colonists] should be left behinde they left all things confusedly, as if they had bene chased from thence by a mighty army: and no doubt so they were; for the hand of God came vpon them for the cruelty and outrages committed by some of them against the natiue inhabitants of that countrey.”27

  There is another account of Grenville’s attempt to resupply Lane’s colony, and that was provided by Pedro Diaz, a Spaniard who had been captured by Grenville the previous year and was pressed into service aboard the Tyger. Although Diaz was not permitted to go ashore, he reported in a deposition taken a few years later in Havana that Grenville left eighteen men, as opposed to the fifteen mentioned in Hakluyt.28

  In the end, the Grenville-Lane colonization attempt accomplished none of its immediate goals. No permanent base of any significance was established, and no precious metals or valuable commodities were found. Furthermore, the English had alienated virtually all of the native Algonquians except for Manteo and his small coastal tribe at Croatoan. On the positive side, John White and Thomas Harriot did produce important maps and charts of the area, and White provided Elizabethan England with the first views of America through his many sketches and watercolors.