This story came from my Paternal Grandfather and my dad kept his school book which mentioned Simon. With a surname like Ferdinando, it would have been interesting to find your name in print!

Simon Ferdinando plays a part of our family folklore but just how likely is it that Simon Ferdinando could be related or perhaps the founder of the UK Ferdinando dynasty? Spoiler Alert!!! Highly unlikely but the story is interesting nonetheless so let’s have a look:

Introduction

I have reproduced the known articles about Simon that members of the family have provided for me. Amongst these are the voyage up the Orinoco River (Red Crosse River) and the discovery and colonisation of Roanoke Island (there are two articles). Roanoke 1, Roanoke 2.

Perhaps I imagined it or remember it differently but I was under the impression that Simon was a local or a native of the Americas as opposed to being English or perhaps European continental.

So what do you think? Have you got any more information that I can add here or do you know something that may throw some light on where the family folklore came from? Please let me know. In the meantime, enjoy the articles and, of course, the speculation.

Red Crosse River

Sir Walter Raleigh’s Voyage to Guiana, edited by Sir R. Schomburgk, and printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1848

On 6 February 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh left England with the object of exploring the country of Guiana, and with his “owne shippe and a small barke of Captaine Crosses onely” he arrived at Trinidad on 22 March. Here he met with Spaniards who “vaunted of Guiana and of the riches thereof.”

Hearing that the Spanish officer in command of the garrison was one Berreo who, the year before, had treacherously ambushed and killed eight English sailors, he made a surprise attack, routed the garrison and captured Berreo. He was then joined by two more ships from England, and immediately set sail for the mainland; from Berreo he obtained more information about Guiana (which then included what are now the countries of Venezuela and the three Guianas) and then told Berreo of his in­tention to visit the country, whereat Berreo was “stricken into a great melancholic” and vainly tried to dissuade him.

Reaching the westerly outlets of the Orinoco, after failing to find an entrance for his ships he anchored them and proceeded to grope for a way into the river in open boats. It is at this point that we will take up the narrative in the words (and spelling) of his own account entitled “The Discoverie of Guiana,” which is regarded as one of the most brilliant descriptions of adventure and travel of the many that appeared in the great days of Queen Elizabeth.

but this it chanced that entring into a river (which bicause it had no name we called the river of the Red crosse, ourselves being the first Christians that ever came therein) the 22 of May we were rowing up the same, we espied a smal Canoa with three Indians, which (by the swiftness of my barge, rowing with eight oares) I over-tooke ere they could crosse the river, the rest of the people shadowed under the thicke wood gazed on with a doubtfull conceit what might befall those three which we had taken: But when they perceived that we offered them no violence, neither entred their Canoa with any of ours, nor took out of the Canoa any of theirs, they then began to shew themselves on the banks side, and offred to traffique with us for such things as they had. … As we abode there a while, our Indian Pilot called Ferdinando would needs go ashore to their village to fetch some fruites, and to drinke of their artificiall wines, and also to see the place and to know the Lord of it against another time, and tooke with him a brother of his which he had with him in the journey: when they came to the village of these people, the Lord of the Hand offred to lay hands on them, purposing to have slaine them both, yeelding for reason that this Indian of ours had brought a strange nation into their territorie to spoyle and destroy them: But the Pilot being quicke and of a disposed body slipt their fingers, and ran into the woods, and his brother being the better footman of the two, recovered the creekes mouth, where we stated in our barge, crying out that his brother was slaine, with that we set hands on one of them that was next us, a very old man, and brought him into the barge, assuring him that if we had not our Pilot againe, we would presently cut off his head.

This old man being resolved that he should paie the losse of the other, cried out to those in the woods to save Ferdinando our Pilot, but they followed him not-withstanding, and hunted after him upon the foote with their Deere dogs, and with so maine a crie that all .If the woods eckoed with the shoute they made, but at last this poore chased Indian recovered the river side, and got upon a tree, and as we were coasting, leaped down and swam to the barge haife dead with feare;

but our good hap was, that we kept the other old Indian, which we handfasted to redeeme our Pilot withall, for being naturall of those rivers, we assured ourselves he knew the way better than any stranger could, and indeed, but for this chance I thinke we had never founde the way either to Guiana, or back to our ships: for Ferdinando after a few dates knew nothing at all, nor which way to turn, yea and many times the old man himseife was in great doubt which river to take. Those people which dwell in these broken Hands and drowned lands are generally called Tiuitiuas, there are of them two sorts, the one called Ciawani, and the other Waraweete.                  •            ^:

The great river of Orenoque. or Baraquan hath nine branches which fall out on the north side of his owne maine mouth; on the south side it hath seven other fallings into the sea, so it desemboketh by 16 armes in al, between Hands and broken ground, but the Hands are verie great, manie of them as bigge as the Isle of Wight and bigger, and many lesse: from the first branch on the north to the last of the south it is at lest 100 leagues, so as the rivers mouth is no lesse than 300 miles wide at his entrance into the sea, which I take to be farre bigger than that of the Amazones: al those that inhabite in the mouth of this river upon the severall north branches are these Tiuitiuas, of which there are two chief e Lords which have continuallwarres one with the other. …    i

These Tiuitiuas¹ are a verie goodlie ‘people and verie ¹ Now ca.Ued.Waraus.—ED. : .

valiant, arid have the most manlie speech and most deliberate that ever I heard of what nation soever. In the summer they have houses on the ground as in other places: In the winter they dwell upon the trees, where they build very artificiall townes and villages: for betweene May and September the river of Orenoke riseth thirtie foote upright, and then are those Hands overflowen twentie foote high above the levell of the ‘ ground, saving some few raised grounds in the middle of them: and for this cause they are enforced to live in this maner.

After we departed from the port of these Ciawam, we passed up the river with the flood, and ancored the ebbe, and in this sort we went onward. The third date that we entred the river our Galley came on ground, and stuck so fast, as we thought that even there our discovery had ended, and that we must have left 60 of our men to have inhabited like rookes upon the trees with those nations: but the next morning, after we had cast out all her ballast, with tugging and bawling to and fro, we got her afloate, and went on: At fower dates ende wee fell into as goodlie a river as ever I beheld, which was called the great Amana, which ran more directlie without windings and turnings than the other. 

Here they lost the tides and consequently had to row hard against a very strong stream. Raleigh was mistaken as to the name of the river; it was the Manamo or Macareo, the Amana being another river. (See Map).

When three dates more were overgone, our companies began to despaire, the weather being extreame hot, the river bordered with verie high trees that kept away the aire, and the currant against us every day stronger than other. . . . The farther we went on (our victuall decreasing and the aire breeding great fatntnes) we grew weaker and weaker when we had most need of strength and abilitie, for howerlie the river ran more violently than other against us, and the barge, wherries, and ships bote of Captaine afford, and Captain Calfield, had spent all their provisions, so as wee were brought into despaire and discomfort, had we not perswaded all the companie that it was but onlie one dates work more to attaine the lande where we should be releeved of all we wanted, and if we returned that we were sure to starve by the way, and that the worlde would also laugh us to scorn. On the banks of these rivers were divers sorts of fruits good to eate, flowers and trees of that varietie as were sufficient to make ten volumes of herbals, we releeved our selves manie times with the fruits of the countrey, and sometimes with foule and fish: we sawe birds of all colours, some carnation, some crimson, orenge tawny, purple, greene, watched, and of all other sorts both simple and mixt, as it was unto us a great good passing of the time to beholde them, besides the reliefe we found by killing some store of them with our fouling peeces, without which, having little or no bread and lesse drink, but onely the thick and troubled water of the river, we had been in a very hard case.

Our old Pilot of the Ciawani (whom, as I said before we tooke to redeeme Ferdinando) told us that if we would enter a branch of the river on the right hand with our barge and wherries, and leave the Galley at ancor the while in the great river, he would bring us to a towne of the Arwacas where we should find store of bread, hens, fish, and of the countrey wine, and per” swaded us that departing from the Galley at noone, we might returne ere night. I was very glad to heare

this speech, and presently tooke my barge, with eight musketiers, Captain Gijfoyds wherrie, with himseife and foure musketiers, and Captaine Calfield whith his wherrie and as manie, and so we entred the mouth of this river, and bicause we were perswaded that it was so neere, we tooke no victuall with us at all; when we had rowed three howers, we marvelled we sawe no signe of any dwelling, and asked the Pilot where the town was, he told us a little farther: after three howers more the Sun being almost set, we began to suspect that he led us that waie to betraie us, for he confessed that those Spaniards which fled from Trinedado, and also those that remained with Carapana in Emeria, were ioyned togither in some village upon that river.

But when it grew towardes night, and we demaunding where the place was, he tolde us but fower reaches more; when we had rowed fower and fower, we saw no signe, and our poore men even hart broken, and tired, were ready to give up the ghost; for we had now come from the Galley near forty miles.

At the last we determined to hang the Pilot, and if we had well knowen the way backe again e by night, he had surely gone, but our owne necessities pleaded sufficiently for his safetie: for it was as darke as pitch, and the river began so to narrow it seife, and the trees to hang over from side to side, as we were driven with arming swordes to cut a passage thorow those branches that covered the water.

We were very desirous to finde this towne hoping of a feast, bicause we made but a short breakfast aboord the Galley in the morning, and it was now eight a clock at night, and our stomacks began to gnaw apace; but whether it was best to returne or go on, we began to doubt, suspecting treason in the Pilot more and more;

but the poore old Indian ever assured us that it was but a little farther, and but this one turning, and that turning, and at last about one a clocke after midnight we saw a light and rowing towards it we heard the dogs of the village. 

When we landed we found few people, for the Lord of that place was gone with divers Canoas above 400 miles of, upon a journey towards the head of the Orenoque to trade for gold. … In his house we had good store of bread, fish, hens, and Indian drinke, and so rested that night, and in the morning after we had traded with such of his people as came down, we returned towards our Galley, and brought with-us some quantity of bread, fish, and hens.

On both sides of this river, we passed the most beauti-full countrie that ever mine eies beheld: and whereas all that we had seen before was nothing but woods, prickles, bushes, and thornes, heere we beheld plaines of twenty miles in length, the grasse short and greene, and in divers parts groves of trees by themselves, as if they had been by all the art and labour in the world so made of purpose: and stil as we rowed, the Deere came downe feeding by the waters side, as if they had been used to a keepers call. Upon this river there were great store of fowie, and of many sorts; we saw in it divers sorts of strange fishes, and of marvellous bignes, but for Lagartos (alligators) it exceeded, for there were thousands of those uglie serpents, and the people call it for the abundance of them the river of Lagartos, in their language. I had a Negro a very proper young fellow, that leaping out of the Galley to swim in the mouth of this river, was in all our sights taken and devoured with one of these Lagartos. In the mean while our companies in the Galley thought we had beene

all lost (for we promised to retume before night) and sent the Lions Whelp ships bote with Captaine Whiddon to follow us up the river, but the next day after we had rowed up and downe some fower score miles we returned, and went on our way up the great river. . . . The 15 day we discovered a farre off the mountaines of Guiana to our great joy, and towards the evening had a slent of a northerly winde that blew very strong, which brought us in sight of the great river of Orenoque, out of which this river descended wherein we were.

They now reached the main stream of the Orinoco River, where they turned westwards and went some hundred and twenty miles upstream, in the country now called Venezuela, to Port Morequito, now San Miguel. There they remained some days collecting information about the country and the prospects of gold until, with the starting of the rains the river began to rise; and his party com­plaining of the dirty state to which they were reduced after a month’s absence from their ships, Raleigh decided to return.

On their return journey, they went down another outlet of the Orinoco farther to the eastward, the Capuri, and had some difficulty in finding the ships. However, they reached them in safety and sailed for home.

Raleigh eventually met his death on the scaffold in 1618, shortly after his return from a second and very unsuccessful and tragic expedition to the Orinoco, in which his son was killed in a skirmish with the Spaniards.

Roanoke Island – Part 1

The story of Roanoke Island is one that I remember from School – they don’t teach History like they used to!  I remember getting ribbed about Simon Ferdinando but not taking too much notice at the time.  However, I am much indebted to Steven, Nicola and Mavis Ferdinando for providing me with the impetus to provide this information on the website as it is part of “family folklore” and so reproduced hereunder are parts of that history.

I am not absolutely sure whether this actually makes for part of our history, an interesting aside, wild speculation or “just a good story” so I will leave it here for you to “make up your own mind”.

Exploration of Roanoke Island, 1584

On April 27, 1584, Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe left the west of England in two barks “well furnished with men and victuals,” to explore the North American coast for Sir Walter Raleigh. Among the company of explorers was the enigmatic Simon Ferdinando, formerly the master of the ship Falcon under the captaincy of Raleigh, but also known as the “man” of the Queen’s Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham. Ferdinando had sailed to the coast of America and back in 3 months’ time in 1579. His knowledge of navigation was to make him a key figure in many of the Roanoke Island enterprises.

The party of explorers landed on July 13, 1584, on the North Carolina coast, about 7 leagues above Roanoke Island, and took possession of the country for Queen Elizabeth “as rightful Queene” with the further proviso that the land was to be for the use of Sir Walter Raleigh, according to the Queen’s charter. Despite the passing of more than 350 years, Barlowe’s description of the country is still basically true, if pardonably exuberant. They found it “very sandie and low toward the waters side, but so full of grapes {scuppernongs } as the very beating and surge of the Sea overflowed them, of which we found such plentie, as well there as in all places else, both on the sand and on the greene soil on the hils, as in the plaines, as well on every little shrubbe, as also climing towards the tops of high Cedars, that I thinke in all the world the like abundance is not to be found.”

From their landing place they proceeded along the seashore toward the “toppes of those hilles next adjoining” (perhaps the big Nags Head Dunes or hills in the Nags Head woods), from the summit of which they beheld the sea on both sides and came to realize that they were on a barrier island. After admiring the scene, they discharged an arquebus shot, whereupon “a flocke of Cranes (the most part white) arose . . . with such a cry redoubled by many ecchoes, as if an armie of men had showted all together.” On the fourth day they were visited by Granganimeo, brother of Wingina, chief of the Roanoke Island Indians. After a short period of trading, Barlowe and seven others went by boat to Roanoke Island at the north end of which they found a palisaded Indian village. Here they were entertained with primitive but hospitable Indian ceremony. The Indians appeared “gentle, loving, and faithfull.” The explorers described Roanoke Island as “a most pleasant and fertile ground, replenished with goodly Cedars, and divers other sweete woods, full of Corrants {grapes}, flaxe, and many other notable commodities.” Game and fish were to be had in abundance.

The picture that Amadas and Barlowe took back to Sir Walter Raleigh was a rosy one, for they had seen Roanoke Island in midsummer. The Indians were generous, because at this season of the year they had plenty of everything in contrast to the scarcity of their winter fare; and the white man was new to them, though they had heard of others wrecked on the coast years before. Two Indians, Wanchese and Manteo, were brought back to England by Amadas and Barlowe that Raleigh might learn, first hand, the character of the coastal Indians. Queen Elizabeth appears to have been pleased by the western exploit, for she called the new possession Virginia, perhaps at the suggestion of Raleigh, chief lord of the new territory, whose poetic gift and courtly tact would prompt him thus to memorialize the virgin queen.

Raleigh’s First Colony, 1585-86

The next spring, Raleigh sent a colony of 108 persons to Roanoke Island. The expedition, commanded by Raleigh’s cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, sailed from Plymouth, England, on April 9, 1585, in seven ships, the largest of which was of 140 tons’ burthen. Included in the group of ship captains and colonists were Philip Amadas and Simon Ferdinando of the expedition of the previous year; Thomas Cavendish, then on his first great voyage but destined to be the third circumnavigator of the globe; Grenville’s half-brother, John Arundell, and brother-in-law, John Stukeley; and other Raleigh cousins and connections, among them Richard Gilbert, a Courtenay, a Prideaux, Ralph Lane, and Anthony Rowse, a friend of Drake’s. There were an artist, or illustrator, John White; a scientist, named Thomas Hariot; and, among the humbler folk, an Irishman, Darby Glande or Glaven. The two Indians, Wanchese and Manteo, returned to America on this voyage.

The Voyage 

The route chosen lay via the Canaries and the Spanish West Indies. They anchored at “Moskito Bay” in the Island of “St. Johns” (Puerto Rico), May 12, where they constructed a fort, set up a forge to make nails, and built a pinnace to replace one lost in a storm. They left Puerto Rico toward the end of May after burning the fort and surrounding woods and after seizing two Spanish frigates. Just before departing, Ralph Lane raided “Roxo bay” in one of the captured frigates, built a fort, and seized a supply of salt.

These bellicose activities of the English in Puerto Rico illustrate the fact that England and Spain were virtually at war at that time. Indeed, the war was to become an actuality within 3 years. In the meantime, the English were engaged in what would be called today a “cold war”– pin-pricking the Spaniard in the West Indies and about to settle on the American mainland at a spot sufficiently close to Spanish Florida to constitute both an economic and a military threat to Spain. Growth of the English colony would circumscribe Spain’s own colonial effort; at the same time, the location chosen for the English colony was close enough to serve as a base of operations against Spanish new world shipping. That both possibilities were uppermost in the minds of Raleigh and Grenville and their supporters at court is obvious. One of the weaknesses of their colonial program was their persistent thought that privateering operations against Spanish shipping should, or could, be made to pay the cost of English colonial effort.

The first part of June found the English banqueting the uneasy Spanish Governor at Isabella on the Island of Hispaniola (Haiti). To impress the Governor, Grenville treated him to a sumptuous meal served “all in plate” to the “sound of trumpets and consort of musicke.” The Governor entertained in turn and, subsequently, the English traded with the Spaniards for commodities that would be needed in their colonial settlement: “horses, mares, kine, buls, goates, swine, sheepe, bull-hides, sugar, ginger,” etc. From the Spanish accounts of Grenville’s actions in Puerto Rico and Haiti are gained some interesting personal glimpses. The officers and persons of distinction in the expedition were served upon silver plate which was chased and gilt. Wanchese and Manteo had learned to speak English, and the illustrator, John White, was already engaged in drawing pictures of strange plants and objects.

The Establishment of the Colony 

An island south of Cape Hatteras, now known as Ocracoke, was reached on June 26. The remainder of the month and most of July were spent in exploring the coastal islands and the adjacent mainland. During one of these expeditions, Grenville sought to strike terror into the hearts of the Indians by burning the Indian village of Aquascogok in retaliation for the theft of a silver cup stolen by one of the Indians. Not until July 27 did Grenville anchor at Hatoraske, off the barrier island, a short distance southeast of Roanoke Island. Here at a break in the barrier reef, almost due east of the southern tip of Roanoke Island, Simon Ferdinando discovered a port, named Port Ferdinando in his honour and considered the best port along that stretch of coast.

A colony was established on the “North end” of Roanoke Island, and Ralph Lane was made Governor. From Port Ferdinando, and later from Roanoke Island, letters were written by Lane to Secretary Walsingham informing him of the successful founding of the colony. Still another letter was written to Sir Philip Sidney, son-in-law of Walsingham, who was interested in Western discovery. A letter to Richard Hakluyt, geographer and historian, written by Lane from the settlement on Roanoke Island indicated that the Governor of Virginia was impressed by the “huge and unknowen greatnesse” of the American continent. He added that if Virginia only had horses and cows in some reasonable proportion and were inhabited by Englishmen, no realm in Christendom would be comparable to it. The Indians, he said naively, were “courteous, and very desirous to have clothes,” but valued red copper above everything else. Wingina, chief of the Roanoke Island Indians, had received the white men hospitably and had cooperated with them in the initial phases of the founding of the settlement. This is clear from Grenville’s account as well as Lane’s.

Grenville lingered a short while after the founding of the settlement, then returned to England for supplies. On the way home he captured a richly laden Spanish ship, which must have repaid him handsomely for his western trip. On his arrival in England, he too reported to Walsingham, thus acknowledging the interest of the Queen and emphasizing the semi national character of the Virginian enterprise.

Lane built a fort called “The new Fort in Virginia,” where the present Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is situated and where the remains of a fort were still visible as late as 1896. The fort was located near the shore on the east side of Roanoke Island between the “North Point” of the north end of the Island and a “creek.” The mouth of the so-called creek was big enough to serve as the anchorage for small boats (Shallow Bag Bay, known as late as 1716 as “Town Creek”).

Lane’s fort on Roanoke Island resembled in some noteworthy respects the fort which he had built on St. Johns Island, Puerto Rico, in May 1585, when he seized the salt supply. Both forts seem to have been roughly shaped like a star built on a square with the bastions constructed on the sides of the square instead of at the corners, as was common in later fortifications. Copies of the plans of these forts may be seen in the Fort Raleigh museum.

The dwelling houses of the early colonists were near the fort, which was too small to enclose them. They were described by the colonists themselves as “decent dwelling houses” or “cottages” and must have been at least a story and a half or two stories high, because we have a reference to the “neather roomes of them.” The roofs were thatched, as we learn from Ralph Lane’s statement that the Indians by night “would have beset my house, and put fire in the reedes that the same was covered with.” The chimneys and the foundations may have been of brick, because Darby Glande later testified that “as soon as they had disembarked {at Roanoke} they began to make brick and fabric for a fort and houses.” Pieces of brick were reported found at the fort site as late as 1860, and recent archaeological work at the fort turned up a few brickbats, possibly of the Elizabethan period.

Thomas Hariot remarked that though stone was not found on the island, there was good clay for making bricks, and lime could be made from nearby deposits of oyster shells in the same manner that lime was made “in the Isles of Tenet and Shepy, and also in divers other places of England.” However, as no evidence of the extensive use of brick has yet been found, it is perhaps safe to assume that the chief building material was rough boards. It has already been noted that they had a forge which they could set up to make nails. Richard Hakluyt, in his Discourse of Western Planting, written at the request of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, about 1 year before the colony sailed, had recommended as “things to be prepared for the voyadge” that any colonial expedition should include “men experte in the arte of fortification,” “makers of spades and shovells,” “shipwrights,” “millwrights, to make milles for spedy and cheape sawing of timber and boardes for trade, and first traficque of suertie,” “millwrights, for corne milles,” “Sawyers for common use,” “Carpinters, for buildinges,” “Brick makers,” “Tile makers,” “Lyme makers,” “Bricklayers,” “Tilers,” “Thatchers with reedes, rushes, broome, or strawe,” “Rough Masons,” “Carpinters,” and “Lathmakers.” The presumption therefore is that typical English thatched cottages and houses, such as were found in rural Elizabethan England, were built at Roanoke. (The log cabin appears to have been introduced into America about 50 years later by the Swedes and Finns on the Delaware.) The Roanoke cottages were presumably well built. The skilled labour of the expedition had been able to construct a seaworthy pinnace at Puerto Rico in less than a month’s time.

Life in the Colony 

At first, relations with the Indians continued friendly, though the Englishmen had their detractors in the Council of the Indian Chief. The aborigines planted crops and made fish traps for the Englishmen. With rare foresight, the colonists also induced Chief Wingina (who had changed his name to Pemisapan) to put into simultaneous cultivation his lands both on Roanoke Island and on the mainland at Dasamonquepeuc in order that the Indians might have no excuse for not being able to supply the colony if need arose. The coast was explored by the English as far south as Secotan (about 80 miles) and as far north as the Chesapeake (about 130 miles). Thomas Hariot collected data on plants, animals, and minerals for his New Found Land of Virginia. John White made the inimitable water-colour drawings of the Indians, the animal and plant life of Roanoke Island, and the coast, which have been engraved many times. The much rarer facsimile reproductions of these drawings in colour may be seen in the Fort Raleigh museum. These paintings are the first artistic productions of Englishmen in America. The colonists also learned to smoke tobacco, using for this purpose Indian pipes or other pipes of their own modelled on the Indian pipes.

How closely the personnel of the first colony conformed to the standard suggested by Hakluyt in 1584 is not known; but historical documents indicate that there were men expert in fortification and that there were brick makers, carpenters, and thatchers. Also the names of all of the colonists are known, if not their trades. Some were gentlemen, cousins of Raleigh and Grenville, as the names indicate. Hariot says that some were city dwellers “of a nice bringing up” who soon became miserable without their soft beds and dainty food. Others were excellent soldiers, as Lane testified of Captain Stafford; and there were the humbler folk, of whom Darby Glande was perhaps representative, though he was Irish and appears to have been forced to accompany the expedition. On the whole, they gave the appearance more of a military expedition than a colony. They were dependent upon the Indians and upon England for both food and supplies. Many of their basic commodities, such as salt, horses, and cattle, had been obtained in the first instance by trade, or by force, from the Spaniards in the West Indies. There appear to have been no women among them to give permanence to the settlement.

Grenville’s deplorable action in burning the village of Aquascogok was indicative of the fact that the high-spirited Englishmen of that day could not live on even terms with the natives. In the lean period between the planting of crops in the spring and the expected summer harvest, English relations with the Indians grew strained and finally reached the point at which no further supplies could be had from them. Once the colonists and Indians were at odds, the fish traps began to be robbed or destroyed. Food became scarce, and Lane was forced to send groups of settlers to the barrier islands along the coast to live on oysters and other shell fish and to look for passing ships. Master Prideaux and 10 men were sent to Hatoraske Island for this purpose, while Captain Stafford and 20 men went to Croatoan Island, south of Cape Hatteras. (Croatoan Island is a sixteenth-century name, not to be confused with modern Croatan Sound area.) Sixteen or twenty others were sent at intervals to the mainland to live on oysters and native foods.

By June 1, 1586, the colonists were at open war with the Indians, and many of the latter were slain in the struggles that ensued both on Roanoke Island and on the mainland at Dasamonquepeuc. Pemisapan was among those who were killed in the fighting.

Abandonment of the Colony 

Meanwhile, Grenville was delayed in leaving England for the supply of the Roanoke colony. This placed the colonists in a desperate predicament. Such was the state of affairs at Roanoke Island when, on June 9, 1586, Captain Stafford brought news of the fact that Sir Francis Drake was off the coast with a mighty fleet of 23 ships. Richly laden with booty from his attack on the Spanish West Indies and Florida, Drake’s fleet anchored next day partly in the port near Roanoke Island (probably Port Ferdinando) and partly in a “wilde roade” at sea 2 miles from the shore. Second in command to Drake on this expedition was Capt. Christopher Carleill, Secretary Walsingham’s stepson and son-in-law, who had been interested in American exploration since 1574. Lane and some of his company went on board Drake’s flagship, and Drake made them a generous offer. He would give them a ship, one or two pinnaces, a number of smaller boats, and sufficient ship masters, sailors, and supplies to afford another month’s stay at Roanoke and a return voyage to England, or he would give them all immediate return passage to England with his fleet. To Lane’s credit it must be said that he was loath to give up the Roanoke Island project. He accepted the first offer, and the ship was turned over to him; but before the supplies could be made ready, a storm arose and the ship was blown out to sea and did not return. The fleet suffered other losses in this storm, but Drake remained open handed. He offered Lane supplies as before and another ship, but since this vessel was much too large to be kept in Lane’s only harbour, its acceptance, and dependence on it, involved a great risk.

This fact, the troubled state of Europe and America, making war with Spain now practically inevitable, and the unaccountable delay in the arrival of Grenville’s supply fleet caused Lane to ask for passage to England. When Drake sailed, on June 18, he carried the colonists home with him.

Grenville’s 15 Men 

Shortly after Drake and the colonists had sailed, a supply ship sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh arrived at Hatoraske and after searching in vain for the colonists returned to England. About a fortnight after Raleigh’s ship had left, Grenville arrived with three ships and likewise searched in vain for the colonists. Grenville found the places of colonial settlement desolate, but being “unwilling to loose the possession of the country which Englishmen had so long held,” he left 15 men on Roanoke Island, fully provisioned for 2 years, to hold the country for the Queen while he returned to England.

The Lost Colony of 1587

In the year 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh organized another colonial expedition consisting of 150 persons. Its truer colonizing character was evidenced by the significant facts that, unlike the expedition of 1585, this one included women and children, and the men were called “planters.” Its government was also less military, since the direction of the enterprise in Virginia was to be in the hands of a syndicate of sub patentees–a governor and 12 assistants whom Raleigh incorporated as the “Governor and Assistants of the Citie of Ralegh in Virginia.”

The new arrangement indicated that colonization was becoming less of a one-man venture and more of a corporate or business enterprise, anticipating in a certain degree the later English companies that were to found successful colonies in Virginia and New England. Exactly what inducements Raleigh offered to the planters are not known. His terms were probably liberal, however, because Hariot, writing in February 1587, paid tribute to Raleigh’s generosity, saying that the least that he had granted had been 500 acres of land to each man willing to go to America. Those contributing money or supplies, as well as their person, probably stood to receive more. From the list of names that has come down to us, it would appear that at least 10 of the planters took their wives with them. Ambrose Viccars and Arnold Archard brought not only their wives but one child each, Ambrose Viccars and Thomas Archard. Altogether there were at least 17 women and 9 children in the group that arrived safely in Virginia.

In still another respect, this second colonial expedition seemed to anticipate the later Jamestown settlement. Raleigh had directed, in writing, that the fort and colony be established in the Chesapeake Bay area where a better port could be had and where conditions for settlement were considered to be more favourable.

The fleet, consisting of three ships, sailed from Plymouth for Virginia on May 8. Continuity with the previous expeditions was afforded in the persons of the Governor, John White, who was to make in all five trips to Virginia, Simon Ferdinando, Captain Stafford, Darby Glande, the Irishman, and perhaps others. The route, as in 1585, lay via “Moskito Bay” in Puerto Rico. Here Darby Glande was left behind, or escaped, and lived to testify regarding the first Roanoke Island colony before the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine some years later. The expedition sailed along the coast of Haiti, even passing by “Isabella” where Grenville had traded with the Spaniards for cattle and other necessities in 1585, but this time there was no trading, possibly because of the precarious relations between England and Spain, now on the eve of open war. Whatever the reason for this failure to take in supplies in Haiti, it constituted a certain handicap for the colony of 1587.

The Second Colony Established at Roanoke. 

The two leading ships of the expedition reached Hatoraske on July 22, 1587, and the third ship on July 25. Meanwhile, on the 22d, Governor White and a small group of planters had gone to Roanoke Island with the intention of conferring with the 15 men left there by Grenville the preceding year. On reaching the place where the men had been left, they found only the bones of one of them who had been killed by the Indians. There was no sign of the others.

The next day Governor White and his party “walked to the North end of the island, where Master Ralfe Lane had his forte, with sundry necessary and decent dwelling houses made by his men about it the yeere before.” Here it was hoped some sign of Grenville’s men would be discovered. They found the fort razed “but all the houses standing unhurt, saving that the neather rooms of them, and also of the forte, were overgrown with Melons of divers sortes, and Deere within them, feeding on those Melons.” All hope of finding Grenville’s men then vanished.

For reasons which are obscure, but perhaps because the season was late, it was decided to settle again at Roanoke Island rather than go on to the Chesapeake Bay country. Those houses found standing were repaired and “newe cottages” were built. The Indians proved to be more hostile than formerly, and George Howe, one of the assistants, was killed by the Indians soon after the landing. Through the intercession of the Indian Manteo, who had relatives on the barrier island of Croatoan, friendly relations with the Croatoan Indians were re-established, but the others remained aloof. The remnants of the Roanoke Island Indians dwelling at Dasamonquepeuc were accused by the Croatoan Indians of killing Grenville’s men as well as George Howe. Hence, on August 8, Governor White, with Captain Stafford and 24 men, suddenly attacked the town of Dasamonquepeuc with fire and sword. It was a blunder. The Roanoke Indians had already fled. In their place were the friendly Croatoan Indians who had heard of the flight of the other Indians and had come over to take whatever corn and fruit might have been left behind. Thanks to Manteo, the Croatoan Indians forgave the Englishmen, or pretended to do so.

On August 13, complying with Raleigh’s instructions, Manteo was christened and declared Lord of Roanoke and Dasamonquepeuc as a reward for his many services. Five days later, Governor White’s daughter, Eleanor, wife of Ananias Dare, gave birth to a daughter, who was named Virginia because she was the first child of English parentage to be born in the New World. Another child was born to Dyonis and Margery Harvie shortly afterwards. On the 27th, Governor White, at the earnest entreaty of the “planters in Virginia,” sailed homeward with the fleet to obtain supplies for the colony.

Governor White’s Return to England 

With Governor White’s departure on the 27th, the history of events in the colony becomes a tragic mystery which one can only seek to explain. There had been talk of moving the colony 50 miles inland, and White had arranged for appropriate indications of their whereabouts if they removed from Roanoke Island before his return. However, White could not return as soon as expected because of the outbreak of war with Spain. The year 1588 was the Armada year. Sir Richard Grenville, who was preparing a new fleet to go to Virginia, was ordered to make his ships available to the English Navy for service against the Armada. Both Raleigh and Grenville were assigned tasks connected with the national defence and could give little thought to Virginian enterprises. At length, the Queen’s Privy Council gave Grenville permission to use on the intended Virginian voyage two small ships not required for service against Spain. White sailed with these on April 28, but they were small, poorly equipped, and poorly provisioned. Partly because of these circumstances and perhaps partly because of their own folly in running after Spanish treasure ships, they were unable to reach Virginia in the war-torn sea. Thus, while Grenville’s large warships contributed to the defeat of the Armada, the Roanoke Island colony was doomed for the lack of them.

Although the Armada was defeated in the summer of 1588, the Anglo-Spanish battle of the Atlantic continued for several years. It was the intention of Spain to carry on the war not only against England by means of the Armada but also to seek out the English colony in the New World and destroy it at about the same time. In the latter part of June 1588, the Spanish Governor at St. Augustine sent a packet boat northward to locate the English colony preparatory to an early attack on it. After reconnoitring Chesapeake Bay, the packet boat, with the pilot Vincente Gonzalez in command and with Juan Menendez Marques nephew of the Governor on board, came somewhat by chance to Port Ferdinando. Here they found evidence of a harbour and of English occupation. They departed hurriedly to St. Augustine to report their discovery. They clearly thought the harbour still in use at the time of their visit; but the projected attack, at first postponed and later thought to be unnecessary because of the weakness of the fort and settlement, seems never to have been made. At least that is the conclusion to be drawn from available Spanish documents.

On March 7, 1589, Raleigh deeded his interest in the Virginian enterprise, except a fifth part of all gold and silver ore, to a group of London merchants and adventurers and to Governor White and nine other gentlemen, “Late of London.” At least seven of them were planters whom White had left in Virginia, such as Ananias Dare, his son-in-law and father of Virginia Dare. Others included in the group were Richard Hakluyt and Thomas Smythe, later known as Sir Thomas Smythe.

The months slipped by, but Governor White and the London merchants seemed to have been unable to get a fleet organized for the relief and strengthening of the colony. In March 1590, Raleigh endeavoured to assist White, through influence at court, when the latter learned that Master John Wattes, of London, was being hampered by a governmental staying order in his effort to clear a fleet of privateers for the West Indies. The scheme appears to have been that Raleigh, acting as middleman, would gain clearance for the ships and, in return, colonists and their furniture would be transported to Virginia. The plan went awry. Governor White sailed on March 20, 1590, for America, but without the accompanying planters and supplies. Indeed, his status was not much better than that of a passenger on one of Wattes’ ships, who had limited court influence at home.

After operating for months in the West Indies, the Wattes expedition anchored on the night of August 12 at the northeast end of the island of Croatoan. If White had only known then the clue to the colonists’ whereabouts that he was to learn 6 days later, he would have asked for a search of that island! But he had no way of knowing the promise that “Croatoan” held. After taking soundings, the fleet weighed anchor on August 13 and arrived at Hatoraske toward the evening of the 15th.

Attempts to find the Lost Colony 

As the ships anchored at Hatoraske, smoke was seen rising on Roanoke Island, giving hope that the colonists were still alive. On the morning of the 16th, Governor White, Captain Cooke, Captain Spicer, and a small company set forth in two boats for Roanoke Island. En route they saw another column of smoke rising southwest of “Kindrikers mountes.” There are no mountains on this coast, except the great sand dunes. Perhaps the smoke was coming from the general area occupied today by the Nags Head dunes. They decided to investigate this latter smoke column first. It was a wearisome task that consumed the whole day and led to nothing, since no human beings were at the scene of the woods fire.

The next day, August 17, they prepared to go to Roanoke Island. Captain Spicer and six other men were drowned in the treacherous inlet when their boat capsized. Despite this unfortunate occurrence, White was able to proceed with the search. They put off again in two boats, but before they could reach the place of settlement it was so dark that they overshot their mark by a quarter of a mile. On the north end of the island they saw a light and rowed toward it. Anchoring opposite it in the darkness, they blew a trumpet and sang familiar English tunes and songs, but received no answer. In the morning they landed on the north end of the island and found only the grass and sundry rotten trees burning. From this point they went through the woods to that part of the island directly opposite Dasamonquepeuc on the mainland, west of the north end of Roanoke Island, and from there they returned by the water’s edge round about the north point of the island until they came to the place where the colony had been left by Governor White. From the description just given of White’s itinerary, this place must have been near the shore on the north end of the island on the east side, i. e., at or near the present Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. In the course of the long walk along the shore, nothing of interest was seen except footprints which two or three natives had made in the sand during the night.

As they climbed the sandy bank toward the settlement area, they found CRO carved in Roman letters on a tree at the brow of the hill. Going from there to the site of the dwelling houses, they found all of the houses taken down and the area strongly enclosed with a palisade of tree trunks, with curtains and flankers “very Fort-like.” One of the chief trees, or posts, had the bark peeled off, and carved on it in capital letters was the word CROATOAN, but without the Maltese cross or sign of distress that White had asked the settlers to use in such messages in the event of enforced departure from Roanoke Island. On entering the palisade, they found iron and other heavy objects thrown about and almost overgrown with grass, signifying that the place had been abandoned for some time.

From the fort and settlement area, White proceeded again along the shore southward to the “point of the creek” (i. e., the point of Shallow Bag Bay or, as it was called in 1716, “Town Creek”), which had been fortified with “Falkons and small Ordinance” and where the small boats of the colony were habitually kept, but could find no sign of any of these things. Then, on returning to the fort and settlement area, White searched for certain chests and personal effects which he had secretly buried in 1587. The Indians had discovered the hiding place, had rifled the chests, torn the covers off the books, and left the pictures and maps to be spoiled by rain. Considering that Gov. John White was probably John White the artist and illustrator of the expedition of 1585-86, one can imagine his feelings on seeing his maps and pictures irretrievably ruined. However, according to his own words he was cheered at the thought that, as indicated by the word CROATOAN on the palisade post, “a certaine token,” his daughter, granddaughter Virginia Dare, and the colonists would be found at Croatoan Island, where Manteo was born and where the Indians had been friendly to the English.

As stormy weather was brewing, White and his little group returned in haste to the harbour where their ships were at anchor. Next day they agreed to go to Croatoan Island to look for the colonists but the weather would not permit. They planned to go to the West Indies instead, where they would have taken on fresh water and ultimately have returned to Croatoan. However, the elements willed otherwise and they were blown toward the Azores. From Flores in this group, they made their way to England.

Governor White could not finance another expedition to America himself, and Raleigh, although enjoying a large income at times, spent lavishly. Some of the money and energy that might have gone into the Virginian enterprise, Raleigh expended, during 1587-1602, in colonizing estates which he had received in Ireland. The Virginian enterprise would have required a prince’s purse, but Raleigh was not a prince. Walsingham died in 1590, a blow to Raleigh. In July 1592, Raleigh was disgraced and imprisoned for marrying Elizabeth Throckmorton without the Queen’s knowledge or consent. White, therefore, accepted the facts with resignation. His last recorded words, dated February 4, 1593, are: “And wanting my wishes, I leave off from prosecuting that whereunto I would to God my wealth were answerable to my will.”

As late as 1602, Raleigh was still seeking in vain for his lost colony. In that year he sent out an expedition under Samuel Mace, who reached land some “40 leagues to the so-westward of Hatarask,” presumably at or near Croatoan Island. Here they engaged in trading with the Indians along the coast. They probably did not look as diligently as they should have for the lost colonists, because they alleged that the weather made their intended search unsafe. On August 21, 1602, in a letter to Sir Robert Cecil, Raleigh expressed his undying faith in the overseas English Empire which he had attempted to establish, saying, “. . . I shall yet live to see it an English Nation.” The memory of the Lost Roanoke Colony by that time had become an imperishable English tradition. After the establishment of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia in 1607, the Virginia colonists evidenced an almost constant interest in trying to learn from the Indians the whereabouts of the Roanoke settlers. However, the hearsay data they collected were never sufficiently concrete to be of any real assistance in locating Raleigh’s men, and the answer remains a mystery to this day.

Connecting Links with Jamestown and New England

Following his marriage to Elizabeth Throckmorton, which displeased the Queen, Raleigh remained out of favour until after the capture of Cadiz, in 1596, in which he had participated. Upon the accession of King James I, in 1603, he again lost favour at Court and on July 16, 1603, was imprisoned in the Tower of London on the charge of having conspired to place Arabella Stuart on the throne instead of James. At the trial in November, Raleigh, along with Lords Cobham and Grey, was convicted and condemned to death. The lives of all three were dramatically spared at the last minute, but the conviction and sentence of death against Raleigh were allowed to stand and he remained in prison in the Tower until 1616.

One consequence of the conviction of Raleigh was the loss of any rights that he might still have had under the patent of 1584 giving him the sole right to colonize the vast territory called Virginia. The patent had obligated him to settle Virginia within 6 years but so long as the mystery of the Lost Colonists remained unsolved, Raleigh could allege that his colonists might be living somewhere in Virginia and that in consequence his rights under the Charter of Queen Elizabeth were still in force. These claims he asserted as late as 1603. In fact, the abolition of Raleigh’s claims appears to have been one of the outstanding consequences of the Cobham plot trails. Because his patent was now clearly lost and because of his imprisonment, Raleigh was unable to participate in the movement that culminated in the settlement of Virginia in 1607. Yet this movement, and the movement to settle New England, had close ties with him. Among the leading spirits behind the later successful Virginian enterprise were Richard Hakluyt and Sir Thomas Smythe, two of those to whom Raleigh had deeded his interest in the Lost Colony undertaking on March 7, 1589. Likewise, among the early leaders of the North Virginia, or Plymouth, group were Raleigh Gilbert and Sir John Gilbert, sons of Raleigh’s half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Raleigh Gilbert participated in the effort to plant a settlement on the Kennebec River in Maine in 1607 and was a member of the Plymouth Company as late as 1620.

Roanoake Part 2

Arthur Barlowe, First Voyage to Virginia (1584)

Arthur Barlowe, a young protégé of Sir Walter Raleigh, co-captained the earhest voyage outfitted by Rahegh soon after he was granted a patent by Queen Elizabeth I for dominion over lands in North America. The following is Barlowe’s account of that voyage, and of the land and peoples he encountered. Compare Barlowe’s description with Thomas Hariot’s in the next wek’s documents.

The 27 day of April], in the year of our redemption, 1584 we departed the West of England, with two barkes well furnished with men and victuals, having received our last and perfect directions by your letters, confirming the former instructions, and commandments delivered by yourself at our leaving the river of Thames. . . .

The second of July, . . . we entered, though not without some difficulty, & cast anchor about three harquebuz-shot within the havens mouth, on the left hand of the same: and after thanks given to God for our safe arrival thither, we manned our boats, and went to view the land next adjoining, and to take possession of the same, in the right of the Queen’s most excellent Majesty, as rightful Queen, and Princess of the same, and after delivered the same over to your use, according to her Majesty’s grant, and letters patent, under her Highness great Seal. Which being performed according to the ceremonies used in such enterprises, we viewed the land about us being, whereas we first land, very sandy and low towards the waters side, but so full of grapes, as the very beating and surge of the Sea overflowed them. . . .

This Island had many goodly woods full of Deer, Conies [rabbits], Hares, and Fowl, even in the midst of Summer in incredible abundance. The woods are not such as you find in Bohemia, Moscovia, or Hercynia, barren and fruitless, but the highest and reddest Cedars in the world, far bettering the Ceders of the Azores. . . We remaind by the side of this Island two whole days before we saw any people of the Country: the third day we espied one small boat rowing towards; us, having in it three persons: this boat came to the Island side, four harquebuz-shot from our ships, and there two of the people remaining, the third came along the shoreside towards us, and we being then all within board, he walked up and down upon the point of the land next unto us: then the Master and the Pilot of the Admiral, Simon Ferdinando, and the Captain Philip Amadas, myself, and others rowed to the land, whose coming this fellow attended, never making any show of fear or doubt. And after he had spoken of many things not understood by us, we brought him with his own good liking, aboard the ships, and gave him a shirt, a hat, & some other things, and made him taste of our wine, and our meat, which he liked very well: and having viewed both barks, he departed, and went to his own boat again, which he had left in a little Cove or Creek adjoining: as soon as he was two bow shot into the water, he fell to fishing, and in less then half an hour, he had laden his boat as deep, as it could swim, . . . after he had (as much as he might) requited the former benefits received, departed out of our sight.

The next day there came unto us divers boats, and in one of them the Kings brother, accompanied with forty or fifty men, very handsome and goodly people, and in their behavior as mannerly and civil as any in Europe. His name was Granganimeo, and the king is called Wingina, the country Wingandacoa and now by her Maiesty Virginia. . . .

The King is greatly obeyed, and his brothers and children reverenced: the King himself in person was at our being there, sore wounded in a fight which he had with the King of the next country. . . . A day or two after this, we fell to trading with them, exchanging some things that we had, for Chamoys, Buffe, and Deer skins: when we showed him all our packet of merchandise, of all things that he saw, a bright tin dish most pleased him, which he presently took up and clapt it before his breast, and after made a hole in the brim thereof and hung it about his neck, making signs that it would defend him against his enemies arrows: for those people maintain a deadly and terrible warr, with the people and King adjoining. We exchanged our tin dish for twenty skins, worth twenty Crowns, or twenty Nobles: and a copper kettle for fifty skins worth fifty Crowns. They offered us good exchange for our hatchets, and axes, and for knives, and would have given anything for swords: but we would not depart with any. After two or three days the Kings brother came aboard the ships and drank wine, and eat of our meat and of our bread, and liked exceedingly thereof: and after a few days overpassed, he brought his wife with him to the ships, his daughter and two or three children: his wife was very well favored, of mean stature and very bashful she had on her back a long cloak of leather, with the fur side next to her body, and before her a piece of the same: about her forehead she had a band of white Corall, and so had her husband many times: in her ears she had bracelets of pearls hanging down to her middle, (whereof we delivered your worship a little bracelet) and those were of the bignes [bigness?] of good peace. The rest of her women of the. better sort. had pendants of copper hanging in either ear, and some of the children of the king’s brother and other noble men, have five or six in either ear: he himself had upon his head a broad plate of gold, or copper, for being unpolished we knew not what metal it should be, neither would he by any means suffer us to take it of his head, but feeling it, it would bow very easily. His apparel was as his wives, only the women wear their hair long on both sides, and the men but on one. They are of colour yellowish, and their hair black for the most part, and yet we saw children that had very fine auburn, and chestnut coloured hair.

. . . Their boats are made of one tree, either of Pine, or of Pitch trees: a wood not commonly known to our people, nor found growing in England. They have no edge-tools to make them withall: if they have any they are very few, and those it seems they had twenty years since, which, as those two men declared, was out of a wreak which happened upon their coast of some Christian ship, . . . The manner of making their boats is thus: they burn down some great tree, or take such as are wind fallen, and putting gum and rosin upon one side thereof, they set fire into it, and when it hath burnt it hollow, they cut out the coal with their shells, and everywhere they would burn it deeper or wider they lay on gums, which burn away the timber, and by this means they fashion very fine boats, and such as will transport twenty men. Their oars are like scoops, and many times they set with long poles, as the depth serveth.

The Kings brother had great liking of our armour, a sword, and divers other things which we had: and offered to lay a great box of pearl engage for them: but we refused it for this time, because we would not make them know, that we esteemed thereof, until we had understood in what places of the country the pearl grew: which now your Worshipp doeth very well understand. . . .

The soil is the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful and wholesome of all the world: there are above fourteen several sweet smelling timber trees, and the most part of their underwoods are Bays, and such like: they have those Oaks that we have, but far greater and better. After they had been divers times aboard our ships, myself, with seven more went twenty mile into the River, that runneth toward the City of Skicoak, which River they call Occam: and the evening following, we came to an Island, which they call Raonoak [Roanoke], distant from the harbour by which we entered, seven leagues: and at the North end thereof was a village of nine houses, built of Cedar, and fortified round about with sharp trees, to keep out their enemies, and the entrance into it made like a turn pike very artificially: when we came towards it, standing near unto the waters side, the wife of Granganimo, the kings brother came running out to meet us very cheerfully and friendly. . . .

After we had thus dried ourselves, she brought us into the inner room, where she set on the board standing along the house, some wheat like fermenty, sodden Venison, and roasted, fish sodden, boiled and roasted, Melons raw, and sodden, roots of divers kinds, and divers fruits: their drink is commonly water, but while the grape lasteth, they drink wine, and for want of casks to keep it, all the year after they drink water, but it is sodden with Ginger in it, and black Cinnamon, and sometimes Sassaphras, and divers other wholesome, and medicinable herbs and trees. We were entertained with all love and kindness, and with as much bounty (after their manner) as they could possibly devise. We found the people most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as live after the manner of the golden age. The people only care how to defend themselves from the cold in their short winter, and to feed themselves with such meatt as the soil affordeth: their meat is very well sodden and they make broth very sweet and savory: their vessels are earthen pots, very large, white and sweet, their dishes are wooden platters of sweet timber: within the place where they feed was their lodging, and within that their Idoll, which they worship, of whom they speak incredible things. . . .

Into this river falleth another great river, called Cipo, in which there is found great store of Muscles in which there are pearls: likewise there descendth into this Ocean, another river, called Nomopana. . . . Towards the Southwest, four days journey is situate a town called Sequotan, which is the Southermost town of Wingandacoa, near unto which, six and twenty years past, there was a ship cast away, whereof some of the people were saved, and those were white people, whom the country people preserved. . . .

. . . other then these, there was never any people appareled, or white of colour, either seen, or heard of amongst these people, and these aforesaid were seen only by the inhabitants of Secotan, which appeared to be very true, for they wondered marvelously when we were amongst them at the whiteness of our skins, ever coveting to touch our breasts, and to view the same. Besides they had our ships in marvelous admiration, & all things else were so strange unto them, as it appeared that none of them had ever scene the like. When we discharged any piece, were it but an hargubuz, they would tremble thereat for very fear, and for the strangeness of the same: for the weapons which themselves use are bows and arrows: the arrows are but of small canes, headed with a sharp shell or tooth of a fish sufficient enough to kill a naked man. Their swords be of wood hardened: likewise they use wooden breastplates for their defense. They have beside a kind of club, in the end whereof they fasten the sharp horns of a stag, or other beast. When they go to Wars they carry about with them their idol, of whom they ask counsel, as the Romans were wont of the Oracle of Apollo. They sing songs as they march towards the battle instead of drums and trumpets: their wars are very cruel and bloody, by reason whereof, and of their civil dissentions which have happened of late years amongst them, the people are marvelously wasted, and in some places the country left desolate.

Beyond this Island called Roanoak, are main Islands very plentiful of fruits and other natural increases, together with many towns, and villages, along the side of the continent, some bounding upon the Islands, and some stretching up further into the land.

When we first had sight of this country, some thought the first land we saw to be the continent: but after we entered into the Haven, we saw before us another mighty long Sea: for there lieth along the coast a tract of Islands, two hundreth miles in length, adjoining to the Ocean sea, and between the Islands, two or three entrances: when you are entered between them (these Islands being very narrow for the most part, as in most places six miles broad, in some places less, in few more) then there appeareth another great Sea, containing in breadth in some places, forty, and in some fifty, in some twenty miles over, before you come unto the continent: and in this enclosed Sea there are above an hundreth Islands of divers bignesses, whereof one is sixteen miles long, at which we were, finding it a most pleasant and] fertile ground, replenished with goodly Cedars, and divers other sweet woods, full of Currants, of flax, and many other notable commodities, which we at that time had no leisure to view. . . .

Thus Sir, we have acquainted you with the particulars of our discovery made this present voyage, as far forth as the shortness of the time we there continued would afford us to take view of: and so contenting ourselves with this service at this time, which we hope hereafter to enlarge, as occasion and assistance shall be given, we resolved to leave the country, and to apply ourselves to return for England, which we did accordingly, and arrived safely in the West of England about the midst of September.

And whereas we have above certified you of the country taken in possession by us, to her Majesty’s use, and so to yours by her Majesty’s grant, we thought good for the better assurance thereof, to record some of the particular Gentlemen, & men of account, who then were present, as witnesses of the same. . . .

We brought home also two of the Savages being lusty men, whose names were Wanchese and Manteo.

Source: Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Voyages, Traffiques, and Discourses of the English Nations (1599-1600), reprinted in Albert Bushnell Hart, ed., American History Told by Contemporaries (New York, 1898), volume 1, 89-95.