by James Horn
The arguments of the younger Hakluyt and his elder cousin had their desired effect—the queen backed Ralegh’s venture. In December 1584 Ralegh, now a member of Parliament for Devon, introduced a private bill to confirm the royal patent granted to him earlier in the year by the queen for the establishment of a colony in America. His intention was likely to associate the queen more closely with his project and bring his plans to the attention of important members of the Commons and Lords who might be influential in helping him to raise money.
Ralegh gained the support of the Commons for the bill but not that of the Lords, whose members did not see the necessity for an additional measure beyond the queen’s original grant. Nevertheless, he had achieved his main objectives in bringing in the bill. His plans had been discussed among those associates—Walsingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir Richard Grenville—whose support he particularly desired. And the bill had been something of a promotional coup in emphasizing Elizabeth’s explicit wish that her people benefit from the establishment of colonies and her hope that a rich unknown land would be discovered.27
Throughout the winter and into the new year, Ralegh continued to lobby the queen and to enjoy her special favor. During a banquet at Greenwich Palace late in December, von Wedel described how she flirted with Ralegh, pointing to his face and saying there was some dirt on it. She went to wipe it off with her handkerchief, “but before she could he wiped it off himself. She was said to love this gentleman above all others,” he remarked, “and this may be true, because two years ago he could scarcely keep a servant, and now with her bounty he can keep five hundred.” On January 6, 1585, amid the splendor and spectacle that marked the twelfth day of Christmas, Elizabeth knighted Ralegh at Greenwich and shortly after granted him permission to name the new land he had discovered in her honor (she was popularly known as the virgin queen); he then assumed the title “Lord and Governor of Virginia.”28
PREPARATIONS FOR the expedition to Roanoke were completed a few months later. Bernardino de Mendoza wrote to Philip II from Paris in February that Elizabeth had contributed one of her own ships, the Tiger (160 tons), and that Ralegh had bought four other ships and was building four pinnaces. Mendoza reported that altogether sixteen vessels were being prepared (which was a gross exaggeration) and would sail with Drake’s fleet as soon as they were fitted out (also a mistake; Drake would not leave until September). He expressed surprise, considering “the King of Spain was shortly to take possession of England, [that] Sir Walter Ralegh . . . does nevertheless undertake voyages to seek to hinder the Spaniards.”29 Ralegh was determined to lead his expedition, but the queen adamantly refused to let him go, so he turned to his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, to take charge.
2.5 This portrait of Sir Richard Grenville in 1571 at the age of 29 shows him fourteen years before he commanded the first major expedition to Roanoke. Grenville played a leading role in Ralegh’s Roanoke ventures from 1585 to 1588.
Twelve years older than Ralegh, from an old Cornish family related to the Drakes and Gilberts, Grenville had seen fighting in Hungary against the Turks and in Munster in the late 1560s. Several years later he had taken an interest in Gilbert’s American schemes and had petitioned the queen to lead a voyage around the world. She ignored him, favoring Drake instead. In the spring of 1585 his close friendship with Ralegh, together with his military background and high political standing, made him an obvious choice to take charge of the voyage. But his arrogance and refusal to listen to advice would sorely try the patience of his subordinates.
The expedition was composed of five ships and two pinnaces, carrying approximately 600 men. Among Grenville’s chief officers was Colonel Ralph Lane, a longtime servant of the queen, recently made sheriff of County Kerry, Ireland. He was known as an experienced military man and an authority on fortifications. Philip Amadas was chosen as “admiral of Virginia,” responsible for organizing the colony’s defenses; his partner in the earlier reconnaissance mission, Arthur Barlowe, likely commanded the Dorothy. Other officers included George Raymond, captain of the Lion (100 tons), a leading privateer, and John Clark, one of Ralegh’s men, who commanded the Roebuck (140 tons). Thomas Cavendish, captain of the Elizabeth (50 tons), was a wealthy young man from Suffolk who would serve as high marshal or judicial officer of the expedition. Simon Fernandes was appointed chief pilot, and John White and Thomas Hariot were to carry out a thorough survey of the region, aided by Manteo and Wanchese.30
About half of the rank and file were sailors and the remainder soldiers and artisans. No women or families were included. Instead, the colony had the character of a military expedition. Some of the soldiers had previously served in Ireland with Ralegh or other leaders; some were young gentlemen who had staked their own money on the voyage in the hope of getting rich quick. The artisans included smiths, carpenters, coopers, shoe-makers, cooks, and store masters in charge of provisions, essential to the task of building the settlement and feeding the colonists. Also included were laborers and common watermen, such as John Stile of London, who made a living on the Thames, and some, like Irishman Darby Glande (Glavin), who had been pressed into service.
There was at least one Anglican minister on the voyage to tend to the spiritual needs of the men. He would also carry the gospel to the Indians to ensure that ignorance and superstition were quickly banished from the queen’s new dominion. Finally, the expedition included a number of mineral specialists from Germany, such as Joachim Gans, a Jewish expert from Prague, who had been employed by the Society of the Mines Royal in England for several years to improve output from the Society’s copper works. The dozen or so miners and mineralogists of the expedition, led by Gans and Daniel Höchstetter (also associated with the Society of the Mines Royal) were responsible for the important task of testing metals acquired from local Indians and prospecting for iron, copper, silver, and gold.31
Ralegh’s strategy was to send Grenville with the first wave of colonists to Roanoke Island to establish a beachhead. Shortly after, Bernard Drake and Amias Preston, two experienced mariners, were to follow with a second group of about 200 men to strengthen their position. Further supplies and settlers would then be sent over as the colony grew. In the meantime, Grenville was to conduct a reconnaissance of the Outer Banks, establish the initial settlement, and depending on circumstances, either stay with the colony or return to England (after cruising the Atlantic for prizes). An assessment of the region’s wealth and its potential as a privateering base was a major objective and if it were favorable, would be an important argument in raising support for future voyages.
Leaving Plymouth on April 9, 1585, Grenville’s squadron was one of the most powerful English fleets to set sail for American waters. The voyage began badly when, after only a week at sea, a fierce storm arose off the coast of Portugal that caused the loss of one of the pinnaces and scattered the rest of the fleet. Grenville, in the flagship Tiger, lost sight of the other ships and was forced to make the Atlantic crossing alone. Nearly a month later he arrived at a prearranged rendezvous in Puerto Rico (which the English called St. John’s), on May 11.
Waiting for the rest of his fleet to appear, Grenville established a fortified camp at Mosquetal (Guayanilla Bay), named by the Spanish for its swarms of biting mosquitoes. After Cavendish’s Elizabeth joined him on May 19, Grenville spent a couple of weeks building a pinnace to replace the one lost in the storm, and then decided to set sail for Hispaniola, where he hoped to trade for supplies. En route he captured a small Spanish frigate and a larger ship laden with cloth and other goods. The plunder was quickly sold to locals on one of the smaller islands for provisions, cattle, horses, and swine as well as plantains and sugar cane for Virginia. Grenville’s fleet, now made up of the Tiger, the Elizabeth , the new-built pinnace, and two captured Spanish vessels crewed by his own men, moved quickly on to Isabella, on the north coast of Hispaniola. There the English established friendly relations with the mayor and purchased more cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep as well as hides, ginger
, tobacco, and pearls for sale in England.32
2.6 John White, A map of that part of America, now called Virginia, 1585-1586 (engraving by Theodor de Bry, 1590). White depicts the entire region from Cape Lookout to the Chesapeake Bay, showing the lands of the Secotans, Chowanocs, and Weapemeocs, together with the Mangoaks in the interior. Wococon inlet, where the Tiger went aground, is shown to the left. As Grenville quickly learned, ocean-going ships had to remain off the Outer Banks in deeper waters; only the pinnaces and ships’ boats were able to navigate the shallow waters of the Sounds.
2.7 John White, Pomeiooc, 1585. A large expedition led by Grenville visited Pomeiooc in July 1585. The house to the right with the pointed roof may have been a temple, and the large longhouse to the left was likely the chief’s residence.
In early June Grenville led his ships from the Caribbean northward through the Bahamas Channel and along the Florida coast, reaching the Outer Banks three weeks later. On June 29 he suffered a major setback. While attempting to enter the Outer Banks through an inlet off Wococon Island, the Tiger ran aground on a sandbank and was battered for two hours in the surf, seriously damaging the ship and ruining much of the food stores. Sir Richard was furious and liberally berated the pilot, Simon Fernandes, for his “unskilfulness.” Fortunately his men were eventually able to float her off and beach her so that repairs could be made, but it was obvious that the larger ships could not navigate the inlets leading into the sounds and would therefore be unable to play a major role in the exploration of the region.33
Grenville’s mood brightened considerably over the next week. He had sent a couple of men (and possibly Wanchese) to greet Wingina, who was at Roanoke Island. The English commander wanted to alert the Secotan chief of his arrival at Wococon and to find out if any of the ships separated from him off Portugal had arrived. He was delighted when his men reported that the Roebuck and Dorothy had made their way safely across the Atlantic and were on their way from Hatarask (recently named by the English Port Ferdinando) to join him.
Grenville could now turn his attention to locating a suitable site for the settlement. On July 11 he led a party of sixty men, guided by Manteo, from Wococon Island across Pamlico Sound to the mainland, where they spent a week exploring and visiting several Secotan towns. The expedition produced mixed results. Soundings taken during the crossing confirmed that even if the English discovered an entrance for large ships through the barrier islands, the shallow waters of the sounds could not possibly serve as a harbor for oceangoing ships. Only the fleet’s long boats and pinnaces were able to move about freely.
Ashore, the English were welcomed at Pomeiooc, where John White undertook a series of careful drawings and watercolors of the settlement and people. Situated near Pamlico Sound, the town was made up of eighteen longhouses encompassed by a sturdy palisade. The houses skirted the inside perimeter, leaving a large open space in the middle of the settlement where people gathered for public celebrations and ceremonies. Beyond the town, Grenville and his men marched several miles inland to visit a great lake called Paquype (Lake Mattamuskeet) and then returned to their boats at Wyesocking Bay. There they spent the night before sailing to the Pamlico River the next day.
At Aquascocock on the Pungo River, a tributary of the Pamlico, the reception from the Indians appears to have been less friendly. White made no paintings, and the English alleged that some of their goods, including a small silver cup, were stolen. The cup and perhaps pieces of copper were shown to the Secotans as the soldiers traveled from town to town in the hope of hearing news of like metals (silver, copper, and gold) in the region, just as Fernandes had picked up similar information the year before. Grenville opted to quickly move on.
The English rejoined the Pamlico River and sailed westward to the capital town of Secotan. The town consisted of a dozen houses scattered among the trees and along a main thoroughfare near open fields, where tobacco, several types of corn, and garden vegetables grew. Here the English were well entertained. The people had laid out food and drink on mats in readiness for a feast that would last long into the night, lit by the flames of “great fires to avoid darkness, and to testify their Joy.” John White observed a group of men and women singing and dancing in a circle of beaten earth marked by wooden posts with carved faces, while in a smaller adjoining plot some people had assembled to pray. Quite likely he painted Wingina at Secotan, standing with simple dignity, arms crossed over his chest, wearing a leather skirt about his waist and a copper plaque and pearls around his neck to symbolize his authority. The chief, an older man, appears fit and lean, like most of the Secotans whom White illustrated.34
2.8 John White, Secotan, 1585. Grenville’s company visited the capital town of Secotan a few days after Pomeiooc. Houses are dispersed throughout the surrounding woods and grouped along a central open space that runs through the town. In the foreground is the tomb of the Secotans’ chiefs and two sacred places where the Indians prayed and danced in religious rituals. The cornfields are carefully laid out in order of planting.
2.9 John White, Indians Dancing, 1585. White depicts a festive ritual at Secotan involving a group of Indians dancing within a circle of posts with carved faces. Three “fair virgins” are shown in the center and 14 men and women dance around them. The ritual may have been a celebration of the harvest.
After leaving Secotan, Grenville sent Captain Amadas with eleven men back to Aquascocock to retrieve the stolen silver cup. When the cup was not returned, the soldiers burned the town and corn fields nearby; the people having fled in advance. Grenville intended to leave no doubt in the Indians’ minds of the dire consequences of disobeying the English, but what the Indians thought of the aggressive and heavy-handed act can be easily imagined. Word must have traveled quickly about the strangers’ erratic and violent behavior.35
On July 18 Grenville and his men returned to the fleet anchored off Wococon. The exploration of the Pamlico region had probably been a disappointment to the English commander. None of the towns they had visited had revealed any signs of wealth, and the Englishmen had learned nothing from the Indians to suggest that gold or other treasures might be found in the interior.
Three days later the fleet sailed north and moored off Port Ferdinando in preparation for the establishment of a settlement on Roanoke Island. Shortly after their arrival, Granganimeo and Manteo visited Grenville on board the Tiger to seal the accord by which the English were permitted to settle near his village at the north end of the island.
By now Grenville had made up his mind to return to England the next month and leave a garrison of slightly more than a hundred men on the island under the command of Ralph Lane. The loss of a good part of the Tiger’s stores while stranded on the sand bar at the entrance to Pamlico Sound made provisioning a larger garrison impossible. But Grenville probably reasoned that Drake and Preston’s fleet bringing the second wave of settlers and fresh supplies would arrive shortly, perhaps even before he left. He had no way of knowing that Drake and Preston’s fleet had been stayed by the queen and diverted to Newfoundland to harass Spanish shipping.
2.10 John White, Mosquetal and Cape Rojo, 1585. Mosquetal, on Tallaboa Bay, Puerto Rico, was built in May 1585 when Grenville’s ship put in at the island for two weeks. Ralph Lane’s fortifications and earthworks at Mosquetal and Cape Rojo may suggest how he approached constructing the fort on Roanoke Island.
Over the next few weeks Grenville and Lane put their men to work transporting their gear through Port Ferdinando to Roanoke Island and clearing ground for their settlement, located close to the shore on the northeastern side of the island. On a small inlet nearby, Lane built a jetty to offload equipment and stores from the pinnace and boats going back and forth from ships anchored off Port Ferdinando. No records have survived that reveal how Lane designed and constructed the fort. At Mosquetal, Lane had laid out the fortified encampment on the shore, approximately 120 by 100 yards square, bounded by the sea and a river on two sides and earthworks on the others. It had been lar
ge enough to accommodate the 160 men of the Tiger, and its light defensive works were more than adequate to deter attacks from local Spanish forces. A couple of weeks later at Cape Rojo, Puerto Rico, Lane had further honed his skills when he constructed elaborate entrenchments made of sand to give his men a modicum of protection should the Spanish attempt a raid while they laded salt into one of the pinnaces.
On Roanoke Island Lane probably adopted for a similar approach: a fortified enclosure, possibly triangular or an irregular four-sided form, constructed primarily of ditches, earthworks, and palisades. The enclosure was meant to be simple and flexible so that it could be expanded when the next group of settlers arrived. Given that Granganimeo’s people were allies and posed no obvious threat, and a large-scale assault by Spanish warships was unlikely (if the English could not get their great ships into the sounds, then neither could the Spanish), Lane believed that stronger defenses were unnecessary. But mindful of the fate of the French Huguenots at Fort Caroline, wiped out by a small Spanish force in a surprise attack from the landward side of the fort, Lane built several large bastions where a couple of dozen men could be stationed and artillery mounted on specially constructed gun platforms to protect the major approaches to the settlement.