The next morning it was agreed by the captain and myself, with the master and others, to weigh anchor, and go for the place at Croatoan, where our planters were, for that then the wind was good for that place, and also to leave that cask with fresh water on shore in the island until our return. So then they brought the cable to the captain; but,when the anchor was almost apeak,[226] the cable broke, by means whereof we lost another anchor, wherewith we drove so fast into the shore, that we were forced to let fall a third anchor; which came so fast home, that the ship was almost aground by Kenrick’s Mounts; so that we were forced to let slip the cable end for end.… Being thus clear of some dangers, and gotten into deeperwater, but not without some loss, for we had but one cable and anchor left us of four, and the weather grew to be fouler and fouler, our victuals scarce, and our cask and fresh water lost: it was therefore determined that we should go for St. John, or some other island to the southward, for fresh water.
[No trace of this lost colony has ever been discovered; and we can only guess at the fate of the first white child born in America, Virginia Dare. Strachey, the secretary of the Jamestown (Virginia) colony, twenty years after, was told by the Indians that seven of the English, “who escaped the slaughter at Roanoke,” were preserved alive by a certain chief; but neither he nor Captain John Smith has left on record any thing more.]
PALISADED TOWN.
BOOK X.
UNSUCCESSFUL SETTLEMENTS IN NEW ENGLAND.
(A.D. 1602–1607.)
The narrative of Captain Gosnold’s adventures is taken from John Brereton’s “Brief and True Relation of the Discovery of the North Part of Virginia: being a most pleasant, fruitful, and commodious soil.” Reprinted in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3d series, vol. viii. pp. 85–93.
Waymouth’s narrative is taken from “A True Relation of the most Prosperous Voyage made this Present Year, 1605, by Captain George Waymouth, in the discovery of the land of Virginia, where he discovered, sixty miles up, a most excellent river, together with a most fertile land. Written by James Rosier, a gentleman employed in the voyage.” Reprinted in the same volume of the Massachusetts Historical Collections, pp. 135–156.
The other two narratives are from Strachey’s “Historie of Travaile into Virginia” (reprinted by the Hakluyt Society, 1849), pp. 171–173, 176–180.