Under Raleigh's auspices two vessels set out in 1584, commanded by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. They landed at the island of Roanoke, the southernmost of the reefs enclosing Albemarle Sound, in North Carolina; but although charmed with the country, which they declared to be "the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful, and wholesome of all the world," and well treated by the Indians,—"people most gentle, loving, and faithful,"—they made no settlement, and returned to England. Raleigh, however, was pleased by the reports brought back; he was knighted, his claim was confirmed, he named the country Virginia, in token of his virgin queen, and he entertained visions of establishing a considerable province there, and of enjoying a comfortable rent-roll.
Raleigh's first colony.
In 1585, aided by the queen, he sent out seven vessels and one hundred and eight colonists, the fleet being commanded by Sir Richard Grenville, and the intending settlers by Ralph Lane, a soldier of much merit. Few maritime enterprises were sent out by England in the Elizabethan age that did not include in their orders a project for preying on Spanish commerce by the way; for our ancestors were as yet not far removed in this regard from the spirit of the old Norse pirates. Grenville therefore sailed around by the Canaries, picked up Spanish prizes partly to meet the cost of the undertaking, and in due time anchored at Wocoken, whence he proceeded to Roanoke island.
With the colonists was Manteo, a native who had gone to England with some former expedition; and the good-natured fellow secured for his new friends a warm reception on the part of the aborigines. But Grenville before his return treated them harshly, leaving to them and the colonists a legacy of mutual distrust and grievances. In March, 1586, Lane ascended the Roanoke River, hoping to find rich ores and pearls in the upper country; for the deceitful savages, wishing to divide the white men's forces, had told him that the stream had its source near the western ocean, in a country abounding with these articles, and encouraged his expedition with promises of assistance. The enterprise proved full of hardship and peril, and the governor returned just in time to check a conspiracy to attack the garrison.
Lane had employed his men in frequent explorations, their journeyings reaching on the north to Chesapeake Bay and Elizabeth River, on the south to the Secotan. But the situation became irksome. The spirit of adventure and wealth-seeking prevailed among the colonists; it was not a community calculated for the uneventful and toilsome prosecution of agriculture; and before long the fretful disease of homesickness prevailed on the island of Roanoke.
In June, 1586, Sir Francis Drake appeared with twenty-three vessels. He had made a rich haul from Spanish treasure-ships in the West Indies, and had turned aside on his return trip, curious to see how his friend Raleigh's colony fared. Yielding to the importunities of the settlers, he took them aboard his fleet and carried them back to England. |The enterprise abandoned.| They had been gone from Roanoke but a few days, when a ship, bringing supplies sent out by Raleigh, sailed into the inlet, only to find the place deserted. In another fortnight, Grenville appeared with three well-furnished ships, and left fifteen men on the island to renew the colonizing experiment.
Raleigh displayed most remarkable persistence. He was undismayed by this long chapter of disasters. |Raleigh's second attempt.| Men on whose judgment he relied brought back good reports from the site of the ill-fated colony, and again he fitted out an expedition,—this time entirely at his own charge, for Elizabeth had had enough of the experiment. It was in July, 1587, when John White arrived with Raleigh's new colonists off the shores of North Carolina. At Roanoke, deer were quietly grazing in a field fertilized by the bones of Grenville's contingent of the year before, and the fort was in ruins. Governor White re-established the settlement.
Birth of Virginia Dare.
The 18th of August the daughter of White, Eleanor Dare, gave birth to a daughter, called Virginia, after the country,—the first child of English parents born on the soil of the United States. A few days later, White left for England,—ostensibly for recruits and supplies, the colony which he left behind being composed of eighty-nine men, seventeen women, and two children. But England was now threatened with invasion from Spain; the energy and resources of the island were being mustered in its defence; Raleigh, Drake, Grenville, Frobisher, Hawkins, and the rest were engaged in preparing to resist the enemy. It was no time for colonization schemes. The Armada scattered, the father of English colonization in America found himself ruined, having spent £40,000 in his several fruitless ventures. Still hopeful, he next adopted a scheme of making large grants in Virginia to merchants and adventurers, and in this manner obtained some aid.
Wreck of the colony.