- Title
- State
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-
- Date
- August 09 1958
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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State
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Norlh Carolina’s No. 1 Story
The eternal mystery of Sir Walter
Raleigh's Lost Colonists.
By WILLIAM S. POWELL
Stenc horn "The Lo»i Colony.”
Nol*i ThU a (licit flr»l appealed In "Amiri-
<>n Htrilaiic." and b icpublUbcd by tptclal
prrmlttloB.
In 1584 Raleigh was granted a pat¬
ent from the Queen to discover and
plant "new lands and Countries" for
the next "6 yccrcs and no more." He
lost no time in fitting out an expedi¬
tion under the command of Captains
Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowc
who sailed from the west of England
in April of that year. Their instruc¬
tions were to explore the coast of North
America and select a site for a colony.
They reached the present coast of
North Carolina on July 4 and sailed
northward along the coast for nearly
130 miles before entering an inlet.
After anchoring in the sound they gave
thanks to God for a safe voyage and
then took possession of the region in
the name of the Queen and for the use
of Walter Raleigh.
They found the country to be pleas¬
ant. with many cedar trees growing
up to the edge of the water. Wild
grapes were ripe in July and the re¬
port of this visit contains high praise
of their quality.
Amadas and Barlowc and their com¬
pany. a mere handful of men. spent
two months exploring the region
around them. They were charmed by
the summer beauty of the country and
thought it a veritable paradise. The
flowers and trees and fruits intrigued
them. The friendly Indians traded with
them and made them somehow under¬
stand something about the lay of the
land to the north and west of Roanoke
Island where they had made head¬
quarters. When they returned to Eng¬
land they were accompanied by two
friendly Indians. Mantco and Wan-
chcsc.
They reported to Raleigh that the
soil they had seen was the "most plen¬
tiful. swcctc, fruitfull and wholesome
of all the worldc" and that the In¬
dians were "most gentle, loving, and
faithful, voidc of all guile and treason.
and such as live after the manor of the
golden age."
On April 9. 1 5S5. a fleet of seven
small vessels bearing 108 men and the
two Indians sailed from Plymouth un¬
der command of Sir Richard Gren¬
ville. Among the group were Captain
Ralph Lane who had had military ex¬
perience in the Low Countries and in
Ireland; Philip Amadas. one of the
leaders of the previous year's expedi¬
tion; Thomas Hariot. a noted scientist
and historian; and John White, an art¬
ist whose water-color paintings of the
Indians gave most Europeans their first
knowledge of Indians when they were
published in 1590 by Theodore DeBry
as illustrations to Hariot’s account of
the English explorations in America.
These men set up headquarters at
the northern end of Roanoke Island
where Lane built a stout fort and the
"Citlic of Raleigh." a village of “de¬
cent dwelling houses." The outline of
Lane’s fort was discovered recently by
National Park Service archaeologists
and it has been reconstructed. Lane
and his men spent a year, including a
cold winter made worse by low sup¬
plies. exploring up and down the coast
and as far inland as they fell it was
safe to go. In June, having given up
hope of the arrival of an expected
supply ship, the entire company re¬
turned to England aboard the fleet of
Sir Francis Drake, who had stopped
to learn how the group was pro¬
gressing.
A supply ship sent by Raleigh ar¬
rived almost immediately after Lane’s
departure, but finding no settlers, re¬
turned to England. Two weeks later
Grenville arrived with three ships, but
after searching in vain for the men he
had left he sailed for home, leaving
fifteen men with two years' provisions
to hold the land for England.
In short order, the Indians, who by
now were beginning to resent the pres¬
ence of these white intruders, attacked
THE STATE. AuOuST 9. 1958
9
