Fernandez sailed with Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies in 1577, and it was undoubtedly because of his recognized skill and experience, as well as his possession of valuable charts and maps, that he was chosen as pilot and master of the Falcon, part of Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s seven-vessel fleet in the 1578 expedition which failed in its attempt to establish a colony at Newfoundland. As mentioned earlier, Gilbert’s younger half-brother, Walter Raleigh, was captain of the Falcon, and it was during this voyage that Raleigh and Fernandez became well acquainted. The expedition encountered a fierce storm, however, during which the ships were scattered and forced to return to England. In 1579 Gilbert sent Fernandez on the previously mentioned reconnaissance voyage to North America aboard the small Squirrel, and Fernandez accomplished the mission in a remarkable three months. In 1582–83 Fernandez was pilot of the Leicester, the flagship of a large venture under Sir Edward Fenton that was intended to find a route to the East Indies by way of the South Atlantic. The expedition only made it as far as Brazil, but did capture several Spanish ships along the way.
After Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s death at sea in 1583, Queen Elizabeth issued the Letters Patent to Raleigh, giving him the rights of exploration, trade, and colonization in the New World. As mentioned, Raleigh employed Fernandez as master and pilot of the Amadas-Barlowe reconnaissance in 1584, and again in 1585 as master pilot of the Tiger, Grenville’s flagship. In 1587 Raleigh once again employed Fernandez as master pilot of the flagship Lyon on the voyage for which Fernandez has been vilified.
Authors invariably close the book on Simon Fernandez at this point, claiming that Raleigh severed relations with him because of the 1587 debacle, and implying that Fernandez was held responsible for the failure and disappearance of what came to be called the Lost Colony. This is simply an extension of the Fernandez-as-villain assumption and ignores the facts. When Fernandez returned from Roanoke in late 1587, England was gearing up for the imminent clash with the Spanish Armada. While it is probably true that Fernandez was not employed again by Raleigh, that outcome had nothing to do with any blame directed at Fernandez. Even though Fernandez would have been about fifty years old by then, both he and Raleigh were involved with the mobilization against the Spanish invaders. Fernandez, in fact, fought against the Armada as a deck officer aboard the Triumph, the largest ship in the English fleet, commanded by Martin Frobisher.8 Such a position of importance and distinction argues convincingly against any notion that Fernandez was considered culpable for sabotaging the 1587 venture.
As alluded to briefly above, an assortment of unpersuasive reasons, all of which are based on the presumption of Fernandez’ duplicity, have been offered to explain his decision to alter the original plans. White, whose references to Fernandez were almost always tainted by personal animosity, claimed that as soon as they arrived at Roanoke on July 22, Fernandez gave the order “to leaue them in the Island … saying that the Summer was farre spent, wherefore hee would land all the planters in no other place.”9
Most authors account for this turn of events by suggesting that Fernandez’s selfish and urgent thirst for privateering was what made him abort the original plan. These explanations, however, along with White’s above-cited claim, are based on the assumption that time was a pressing factor, and that Fernandez—whatever his intention was—did not wish to waste time transporting the colony to the Chesapeake. Yet Fernandez did not hurry off after depositing the colony at Roanoke. On the contrary, we know from White’s own account that Fernandez remained anchored off Roanoke for nearly five weeks until August 27, far more than enough time to convey the colony to the Chesapeake and be on his way.
As mentioned, author Lee Miller proposed that Fernandez left the colony at Roanoke because he was part of a plot orchestrated by Walsingham to sabotage Raleigh’s colonization plans. The motives, Miller suggested, were Walsingham’s jealousy of Raleigh’s growing influence, Walsingham’s mounting debts and expenses, and his view of Raleigh as an obstacle to his own political ends. Raleigh was “a loose cannon,” Miller wrote, and needed to be restrained by Walsingham.10
This theory is unconvincing. In the first place Walsingham had always been an ardent supporter of England’s colonial expansion. His backing for the exploration in the New World had long been evident and is illustrated in his 1582 letter to Hakluyt:
… you haue endeuoured, and giuen much light for the discouery of the Westerne partes yet vnknowen: as your studie in those things is very commendable, so I thanke you much for the same; wishing you do continue, your trauell in these and like matters, which are like to turne not only to your owne good in priuate, but to the publike benefice of this Realme.11
Walsingham’s support for Gilbert’s discoveries in Newfoundland is also clear in his letter to Thomas Aldworth, mayor of Bristol. As mentioned previously, Gilbert’s voyage, probably the one referenced here, was an attempt to establish the first English colony in the New World.
Your good inclination to the Westerne discouerie I cannot but much commend. And for that sir Humfrey Gilbert, as you haue heard long since, hath bene preparing into those parts being readie to imbarke within these 10. dayes, who needeth some further supply of shipping then yet he hath, I am of opinion that you shall do well if the ship or 2. barkes you write of, be put in a readinesse to goe alongst with with him, or so soone after as you may.12
As already noted, Queen Elizabeth and Walsingham provided ships for Raleigh’s 1585 colonization attempt, and Walsingham invested capital in the enterprise.13 Historian David Beers Quinn wrote that “Walsingham … had so much to do with getting backing for the voyages in 1584 and 1585….”14 These actions seem completely at odds with the notion that Walsingham plotted to destroy Raleigh’s colonization effort.
Part of Walsingham’s support for colonization was rooted in his deep antipathy for Spain and its dominance in the New World. An English settlement at the Chesapeake, with its deep harbor, would make an ideal base for refitting ships on their way to or from raids against Spanish treasure ships or settlements to the south, as Drake had done in 1586. It would make little sense for Walsingham to sabotage a voyage intended for the Chesapeake which could establish a foothold for just such a base.
Miller contends that Fernandez owed Walsingham a debt of gratitude for arranging his acquittal in his piracy trial in 1577 and was thereby induced into a conspiracy to sabotage Raleigh’s expedition. Walsingham may have played a role in Fernandez’ acquittal, but he would have done so because, as mentioned earlier, Fernandez was a valuable asset. He was the most experienced pilot in England at that time and would be extremely useful in future English colonization. The previously mentioned Martin Frobisher had also been arrested for piracy a number of times, but also managed to avoid prosecution, possibly with help from the crown. Even if one assumes for a moment that Fernandez felt indebted to Walsingham, it would seem an impossible leap to conclude that he would intentionally turn on his own patron, Raleigh, in 1587 and sabotage a major English colonization venture. There is no indication whatsoever that Fernandez and Raleigh had anything but a trustworthy relationship. Fernandez had been associated with Raleigh for almost a decade, since they sailed together on the Falcon in 1578, and he was Raleigh’s choice to guide all three of the Roanoke voyages.
Furthermore, Fernandez was one of the twelve Assistants appointed by Raleigh to be, along with Governor White, the overseeing administration of the new Cittie of Ralegh. These Assistants were elevated to the status of gentlemen by virtue of the coats of arms which Raleigh had arranged to be conferred on them. As members of the governing body the twelve Assistants would have enjoyed certain advantages unavailable to the rest of the colonists. The Assistants would make up the “ruling class” of the colony and would likely have been entitled to larger shares of land plus whatever other benefits their successful enterprise might produce. They may also have put up “a minimum investment in money and goods”15 to be part of that elite group, and as mentioned earlier probably had a greater personal inter
est in the venture. The Assistants who had either remained behind in England or returned to England—Fernandez being among these latter—probably also had the rights to sell subscriptions to investors or participants in the new enterprise. Fernandez, then, may have had a personal and perhaps a financial interest in the colony’s success.
Finally, Fernandez had a golden opportunity to abandon the colony on August 21, when a storm rolled in forcing him to cut the Lyon’s cables and put to sea. If his intention was to sabotage the venture, the storm would have been a perfect excuse to do so. Instead, he rode out the storm and then anchored once again at Roanoke to complete the final arrangements. One of those arrangements was to bring on board his harshest critic, John White, for the voyage to England. If he were part of a conspiracy to intentionally ruin Raleigh’s enterprise, a criminal act, it seems inconceivable that he would risk transporting his most potentially incriminating witness, John White, safely back to England. Such actions do not seem compatible with Miller’s conspiracy theory.
There are further details in White’s version of their arrival at Roanoke which raise questions about his credibility as a narrator. White claimed that he first learned about the decision to leave the colony at Roanoke on July 22 when “…a Gentleman who was appointed to returne for England, called to the sailers in the pinnesse, charging them not to bring any of the planters backe again, but to leaue them in the Island.”16 The identity of the “Gentleman” is not stated, but it is unlikely that any gentlemen would have been aboard the Lion other than White’s Assistants. This particular “Gentleman” had been “appointed to returne for England,” which raises the possibility that he could have been William Fullwood or James Plat, two of the known Assistants who do not appear on Hakluyt’s passenger list of those who “remained to inhabite there.” In that case White seems to be saying that he first heard about the change of plans from one of his own Assistants, an implausible occurrence.
Moreover, when White heard from that “Gentleman” what should have been very shocking and unexpected news—that his settlement location was inexplicably changed—he seemed strangely impassive. As he put it, “it booted not the Gouernour to contend with them,”17 an extremely odd and passive reaction. White was not only the governor of the colony, but also the principal authority on the Lyon during the entire voyage. His inexplicable lack of any response to this crucial turn of events demonstrates much more than poor leadership; it strongly suggests that his version of what happened on July 22 is not plausible. White claimed he heard the news when he was in the pinnace with “fortie of his best men,”18 and yet not a single one of those forty men apparently voiced an objection either. If this was indeed the first time that White and his men had heard of the change, it is difficult to understand why neither he nor anyone in the pinnace raised a single word of protest.
This reaction becomes all the more perplexing when the promises and expectations of this 1587 venture are recalled. As already noted, the colonists departed from England intending to establish the “Cittie of Ralegh” at the Chesapeake Bay in “Virginia” and expecting to acquire 500 acres of land as reward for participation in the 1587 colonization effort.19 Many of the would-be colonists sold everything they had in England for the opportunity to be part of this exciting new venture and become large landowners in what was purported to be a New World paradise. It is impossible to believe that no one, including the governor of the colony, raised a single word of complaint at the supposedly sudden and shocking news that the plans had been inexplicably changed. White went on to say that “Vnto this [the decision to leave the colony at Roanoke] were all the saylers, both in the pinnesse, and shippe, perswaded by the Master [Fernandez].”20 It begins to sound like White was the last to learn of the decision to abort the original plan. It is equally strange that White never brought up the issue of the settlement relocation again. After his improbable comments about the change of plans on July 22, he made no further mention of it at all.
White’s version of events is not credible. A far more plausible explanation is that the decision to change the colony’s settlement location, as disappointing as it must have been at the time, had been made long before the arrival at Roanoke on July 22. This conclusion is supported by White’s own statement that on July 25 “our Flyboate and the rest of our planters arriued all safe at Hatoraske [the inlet near Roanoke].”21 The wording here seems to indicate that Roanoke was their intended destination. If the decision to deposit the colony at Roanoke was not prearranged, how did the flyboat’s captain, Edward Spicer, know to set a course to Roanoke, instead of sailing with his cargo and the remaining settlers directly to the Chesapeake, the original settlement destination? The decision must have been made earlier in the voyage and surely White and the principal colonists must not only have been aware of it, but probably agreed—perhaps reluctantly—with it as well. As mentioned, it seems that at least one of White’s own Assistants, the “Gentleman” who called from the ship, had undoubtedly known of and had apparently supported the decision. The dubious claims in White’s account, then, very likely served another purpose. They may have been intended to place the burden of the decision entirely on Fernandez, and at the same time to shield White from any personal liability which might later arise from the decision to change the settlement location.
It is obvious that Fernandez must have had some reason for his decision to change the location from the Chesapeake to Roanoke. Sabotage, it has been demonstrated, is not a plausible explanation, and White’s claim that Fernandez was in a rush to get on his way because “the Summer was farre spent” is manifestly false. Since Fernandez was not motivated out of nefarious intentions or incompetency, the obvious question remains: Why did Simon Fernandez alter the destination of the 1587 colony from the Chesapeake Bay to Roanoke Island?
The Spanish had suspected as early as 1584 that the English were planning a settlement somewhere up the Atlantic coast. The precise location of the settlement, however, was unknown at that time other than it was to be “up toward the cod fisheries,”22 probably a reference to Gilbert’s colonization attempt in 1583. In early 1586 Sir Francis Drake’s “Great Expedition” raided the Spanish cities of Santo Domingo and Cartagena and by May had looted and destroyed the settlement and fort at St. Augustine. Drake’s intention after the raid was to proceed northward to assist Lane’s colony at Roanoke. As it turned out, of course, Drake transported the entire colony back to England. The Spanish, however, still did not know the exact location of the colony and were unaware of its evacuation by Drake. They believed that the English settlement existed and would be used as a base from which further attacks could be launched on Spanish interests to the south. A concerted effort was begun to locate the English settlement.
In a letter to King Phillip II dated June 27, 1586, Alonso Suarez de Toledo claimed (mistakenly) that the 1585 Grenville/Lane expedition had established a colony at Bahia de Santa Maria, the Spanish name for the Chesapeake Bay. Suarez had been to that area more than a decade earlier and knew it to be a suitable location.23 On November 26, 1586, the king sent orders to Pedro Menéndez Marques, Governor of La Florida, to find the English colony. By the time Menéndez Marques received the king’s orders, the Spanish were certain that the English settlement would be near Ajacán, the location of the failed 1570 Jesuit settlement believed to be on the present-day James River near the Chesapeake Bay.24 On May 7, 1587, the day before White and his colonists set sail from England, Menéndez Marques sailed north from Havana to find it.25 Menéndez Marques stopped at the Spanish settlement of Santa Elena, present-day Parris Island in South Carolina, where he was told by local Indians that they had no knowledge of an English settlement to the north. Menéndez Marques continued onward, but a storm drove him from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. He returned to Havana with plans to sail again in search of the English the following May.
At the same time, a letter was written by the military secretary in Madrid to the Junta de Puerto Rico indicating that the Spanish knew abou
t Raleigh’s latest venture to the Chesapeake Bay.26 Two things are clear from the documentary evidence: first, that the Spanish were well aware of the English intention to establish a colony specifically at the Chesapeake Bay, and second, that the Spanish were actively searching for the colony in 1587, at the same time White and his colony were en route to the Chesapeake.
As noted, Fernandez was a well-known and highly experienced master pilot, and by 1587 he had been sailing the waters of the Caribbean for a quarter century. He was well acquainted with all the ports of call in the islands, and he undoubtedly had an established network of useful contacts from whom he would acquire supplies and important intelligence about Spanish activities. It is known, for example, that one of these contacts was a friend named Alanson in Hispaniola, present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti,27 and surely there were many others. Such contacts would provide Fernandez with valuable information about Spanish port activities and ship movements as well as ongoing operations. The major news awaiting Fernandez in the Caribbean during the summer of 1587 would have been that the Spanish knew about and were attempting to locate the English colony at Bahia de Santa Maria to the north. Fernandez would have learned of this troubling development shortly after his arrival at Dominica on July 22.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke Page 5