This region of Axacan comprised the lower part of the present State of North Carolina. The Spanish sound of the word is very near that of Wocokon, the name of the place, according to its English pronunciation, where the colony sent out by Raleigh subsequently landed.[18:A]
In the year 1570 Father Segura and other Jesuit missionaries, accompanied by Don Luis, visited Axacan, but were treacherously cut off by him. In the same year, or the following, the Spaniards repaired to the place of their murder and avenged their death.[18:B]
In 1573 Pedro Menendez Morquez, Governor of Florida, explored the Bay of Santa Maria, "which is three leagues wide, and is entered toward the northwest. In the bay are many rivers and harbors on both sides, in which vessels may anchor. Within its entrance on the south the depth is from nine to thirteen fathoms, (about five feet nine inches English,) and on the north side from five to seven; at two leagues from it in the sea, the depth is the same on the north and the south, but there is more sand within. In the channel there are from nine to thirteen fathoms; in the bay fifteen, ten, and six fathoms; and in some places the bottom cannot be reached with the lead." Barcia describes the voyage of Morquez from Santa Helena "to the Bay of Santa Maria, in the latitude of thirty-seven degrees and a half,"[19:A] and makes particular mention of the shoal running out from what is now Cape Lookout, and that near Cape Hatteras, the latitude and distances given leaving no doubt but that the Bay of Santa Maria is the same with the Chesapeake.[19:B] Ten years will probably include the period of these early Spanish visits to Axacan and the Chesapeake; and these explorations appear to have been unknown to the English, and Spain made no claim on account of them. Had she set forth any title to Virginia, Gondomar would not have failed to urge it, and James the First would have been, probably, ready to recognize it.
In the year 1578 Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained from Queen Elizabeth letters patent, authorizing him to discover and colonize remote heathen countries unpossessed by any Christian prince. After one or two unsuccessful expeditions, Sir Humphrey again set sail in 1583, from Plymouth, with a fleet of five small vessels. The largest of these, the bark Raleigh, was compelled in two days to abandon the expedition, on account of an infectious disease that broke out among the crew.
After Cabot's discovery, for many years the vessels of various flags had frequented the northern part of America for the purpose of fishing, and when Sir Humphrey reached St. John's Harbor, the thirty-six fishing vessels found there at first refused him admittance; but upon his exhibiting the queen's commission they submitted. He then entered the harbor, landed, and took formal possession of the country for the crown of England.
As far as time would admit, some survey of the country was made, the principal object of which was the discovery of mines and minerals; and the admiral listened with credulity to the promises of silver. The company being dispersed abroad, some were taken sick and died; some hid themselves in the woods, and others cut one of the vessels out of the harbor and carried her off. At length the admiral, having collected as many of his men as could be found, and ordered one of his vessels to remain and take off the sick, set sail with three vessels, intending to visit Cape Breton and the Isle of Sable; but one of his vessels being lost on a sand-bank, he determined to return to England. The Squirrel, in which he had embarked for the survey of the coast, was very small and heavily laden, yet this intrepid navigator persisted in remaining on board of her, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his friends in the other and larger vessel, the Hind; in reply to which, he declared, that he would not desert his little crew on the homeward voyage, after having with them passed through so many storms and perils. And after proceeding three hundred leagues, the little bark, with the admiral and all her crew, was lost in a storm. When last seen by the company of the Hind, Sir Humphrey, although surrounded by imminent perils, was seated composedly on the deck with a book in his hand, and as often as they approached within hearing was heard to exclaim: "Be of good cheer, my friends; it is as near to heaven by sea as by land." At midnight the lights of the little vessel suddenly disappeared, and she was seen no more. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was descended from an ancient family in Devonshire; his father was Otho Gilbert, Esq., of Greenway, and his mother, Catharine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernon, of Modbury. He was educated at Oxford, and became distinguished for courage, learning, and enterprise. Appointed colonel in Ireland, he displayed singular energy and address. In the year 1571 he was a member of the House of Commons from Compton, his native place. He strenuously defended the queen's prerogative against the charge of monopoly, alleged by a Puritan member against an exclusive grant made to some merchants. He was the author of several publications on cosmography and navigation. Having attracted the attention of the queen in his boyhood, she at length knighted him, and gave him one of her maids of honor in marriage. When he was preparing for his voyage she sent him a golden anchor with a large pearl at the peak, which he ever after prized as a singular honor. Raleigh accompanied this present, which was sent through his hands with this letter: "I have sent you a token from her majesty—an anchor guided by a lady, as you see; and farther, her highness willed me to send you word that she wished you as great hap and safety to your ship as if herself were there in person, desiring you to have care of yourself as of that which she tendereth. Farther, she commandeth that you leave your picture with me."
Not daunted by the fate of his heroic kinsman, Raleigh adhered to the design of effecting a settlement in America, and being now high in the queen's favor, obtained letters patent for that purpose, dated March, 1584. Aided by some gentlemen and merchants, particularly by his gallant kinsman Sir Richard Grenville, and Mr. William Sanderson, who had married his niece, Raleigh succeeded in providing two small vessels. These were put under the command of Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow. Barlow had already served with distinction under Raleigh in Ireland. The two vessels left the Thames in April, 1584, and pursuing the old circuitous route by the Canaries, reached the West Indies. After a short stay there they sailed north, and early in July, as they approached the coast of Florida, the mariners were regaled with the odors of flowers wafted from the fragrant shore. Amadas and Barlow, proceeding one hundred and twenty miles farther, landed on the Island of Wocokon, in the stormy region of Cape Hatteras, one of a long series of narrow, low, sandy islands—breakwaters apparently designed by nature to defend the mainland from the fury of the ocean. The English took possession of the country in the queen's name. The valleys were wooded with tall cedars, overrun with vines hung in graceful festoons, the grapes clustering in rich profusion on the ground and trailing in the murmuring surges of the sea. For two days no inhabitant was seen; on the third a canoe with three men approached, one of whom was readily persuaded to come on board, and some presents gained his confidence. Going away, he began to fish, and having loaded his canoe, returned, and dividing his cargo into two parts, signified that one was for the ship, the other for the pinnace. On the next day they were visited by some canoes, in which were forty or fifty men, among whom was Granganameo, the king's brother. The king Wingina himself lay at his chief town, six miles distant, confined by wounds received in a recent battle. At this town the English were hospitably entertained by Granganameo's wife. She was small, pretty, and bashful, clothed in a leathern mantle with the fur turned in; her long dark hair restrained by a band of white coral; strings of beads hung from her ears and reached to her waist. The manners of the natives were composed; their disposition seemed gentle; presents and traffic soon conciliated their good will. The country was called Wingandacoa.[22:A] The soil was productive; the air mild and salubrious; the forests abounded with a variety of sweet-smelling trees, and oaks superior in size to those of England. Fruits, melons, nuts, and esculent roots were observed; the woods were stocked with game, and the waters with innumerable fish and wild-fowl.
After having discovered the Island of Roanoke on Albemarle Sound, and explored as much of the interior as their time would permit, Amadas and Barlow sailed homeward, accompanied by two of the natives, Manteo and Wanchese. Queen Elizabeth, charmed with the glowing descriptions of the new country, which the enthusiastic adventurers gave her on their return, named it, in allusion to her own state of life, VIRGINIA. As hitherto all of North America as far as discovered was called Florida, so henceforth all that part of it lying between thirty-four and forty-five degrees of north latitude came to be styled Virginia, till gradually by different settlements it acquired different names.[22:B]
Raleigh was shortly after returned to Parliament from the County of Devon, and about the same time knighted. The queen granted him a patent to license the vending of wines throughout the kingdom. Such a monopoly was part of the arbitrary system of that day. Nor was Sir Walter unconscious of its injustice, for when, some years afterwards, a spirit of resistance to it showed itself in the House of Commons and a member was warmly inveighing against it, Sir Walter was observed to blush. He voted afterwards for the abolition of such monopolies, and no one could have made a more munificent use of such emoluments than he did in his efforts to effect the discovery and colonization of Virginia. He fitted out, in 1585, a fleet for that purpose, and entrusted the command to his relative, Sir Richard Grenville. This gallant officer, like Cervantes, shared in the famous battle of Lepanto, and after distinguishing himself by his conduct during the Irish rebellion, had become a conspicuous member of Parliament. He was accompanied by Thomas Cavendish, afterwards renowned as a circumnavigator of the globe; Thomas Hariot, a friend of Raleigh and a profound mathematician; and John Withe, an artist, whose pencil supplied materials for the illustration of the works of De Bry and Beverley. Late in June the fleet anchored at Wocokon, but that situation being too much exposed to the dangers of the sea, they proceeded through Ocracock Inlet to the Island of Roanoke, (at the mouth of Albemarle Sound,) which they selected as the seat of the colony. The colonists, one hundred and eight in number, were landed there. Manteo, who had returned with them, had already been sent from Wocokon to announce their arrival to his king, Wingina. Grenville, accompanied by Lane, Hariot, Cavendish and others, explored the coast for eighty miles southward, to the town of Secotan, in the present County of Craven, North Carolina. During this excursion the Indians, at a village called Aquascogoc, stole a silver cup, and a boat being dispatched to reclaim it, the terrified inhabitants fled to the woods, and the English, regardless alike of prudence and humanity, burned the town and destroyed the standing corn. Grenville in a short time re-embarked for England with a valuable cargo of furs, and on his voyage captured a rich Spanish prize.
Lane extended his discoveries to the northward, as far as the town of Chesapeakes, on Elizabeth River, near where Norfolk stands, and about one hundred and thirty miles from the Island of Roanoke. The Chowan River was also explored, and the Roanoke, then known below the falls as the Moratoc. Lane, although a good soldier, seems to have wanted some of the qualities indispensable in the founder of a new plantation. The Indians grew more hostile; conspiracies were entered into for the destruction of the whites, and the rash and bloody measures employed to defeat their machinations aggravated the mischief. The colonists, filled with alarm, became impatient to escape from a scene of so many privations and so much danger. Owing to a scarcity of provisions, Lane distributed the colonists at several places. At length Captain Stafford, who was stationed at Croatan, near Cape Lookout, descried twenty-three sail, which proved to be Sir Francis Drake's fleet. He was returning from a long cruise—belligerent, privateering, and exploratory—and, in obedience to the queen's orders, now visited the Colony of Virginia to render any necessary succor. Upon learning the condition of affairs, he agreed to furnish Lane with vessels and supplies sufficient to complete the discovery of the country and to insure a safe return home, should that alternative be found necessary. Just at this time a violent storm, raging for four days, dispersed and shattered the fleet, and drove out to sea the vessels that had been assigned to Lane. The tempest at length subsiding, Drake generously offered Lane another vessel with supplies. But the harbor not being of sufficient depth to admit the vessel, the governor, acquiescing in the unanimous desire of the colonists, requested permission for them all to embark in the fleet, and return to England. The request was granted; and thus ended the first actual settlement of the English in America.
