Roanoke Colony - First Voyages To Roanoke Island

First Voyages To Roanoke Island

On April 27, 1584, Raleigh dispatched an expedition led by Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the Eastern coast of North America. They arrived on Roanoke Island on July 4, and soon established relations with the local natives, the Secotans and Croatans. Barlowe returned to England with two Croatans named Manteo and Wanchese, who were able to describe the politics and geography of the area to Raleigh. Based on this information, Raleigh organized a second expedition, to be led by Sir Richard Grenville.

Grenville's fleet departed Plymouth on April 9, 1585, with five main ships: the Tiger (Grenville's), the Roebuck, the Red Lion, the Elizabeth, and the Dorothy. Unfortunately, a severe storm off the coast of Portugal separated the Tiger from the rest of the fleet. The captains had a contingency plan if they were separated, which was to meet up again in Puerto Rico, and the Tiger arrived in the "Baye of Muskito" (Guayanilla Bay) on May 11.

While waiting for the other ships, Grenville established relations with the Spanish there while simultaneously engaging in some privateering against them, and also built a fort. The Elizabeth arrived soon after the fort's construction. Eventually, Grenville tired of waiting for the remaining ships, and departed on June 7. The fort was abandoned, and its location remains unknown.

When the Tiger sailed through Ocracoke Inlet on June 26, it struck a shoal, ruining most of the food supplies. The expedition succeeded in repairing the ship, and in early July reunited with the Roebuck and Dorothy, both of which had arrived in the Outer Banks some weeks previous. The Red Lion had been with them, but had merely dropped off its passengers and left for Newfoundland for privateering.

After the initial exploration of the mainland coast and the native settlements there, the natives of the village of Aquascogoc were blamed for stealing a silver cup. In retaliation, the village was sacked and burned. English writer and courtier Richard Hakluyt's contemporary reports of the first voyage to Virginia, compiled from accounts by various financial backers including Sir Walter Raleigh (Hakluyt himself never traveled to the New World), also describe this incident.

Despite this incident and a lack of food, Grenville decided to leave Ralph Lane and 107 men to establish the colony at the north end of Roanoke Island, promising to return in April 1586 with more men and fresh supplies. They disembarked on August 17, 1585. Lane built a small fort on the island and ordered the exploration of the surrounding areas. There are no surviving pictures of the Roanoke fort, but it was likely similar in structure to the one in Guayanilla Bay.

As April 1586 passed, there was no sign of Grenville's relief fleet. Meanwhile in June, bad blood resulting from their destruction of the village spurred an attack on the fort, which the colonists were able to repel. Soon after the attack, when Sir Francis Drake paused on his way home from a successful raid in the Caribbean and offered to take the colonists, including the metallurgist Joachim Gans, back to England, they accepted. On this return voyage, the Roanoke colonists introduced tobacco, maize, and potatoes. The relief fleet arrived shortly after Drake's departure with the colonists. Finding the colony abandoned, Grenville returned to England with the bulk of his force, leaving behind a small detachment both to maintain an English presence and to protect Raleigh's claim to Virginia.