Roanoke

by Lee Miller

  Grenville’s Rescue Attempt

  If we give Walsingham and the Privy Council the benefit of the doubt regarding shipping in October, we cannot easily dismiss what happened next. As promised, Raleigh prepared a fleet, scheduled to reach Roanoke the following summer. Grenville was charged with outfitting it from his home in Bideford.5 All that White’s colonists had to do was survive a single year.

  By winter it is obvious that the October moratorium on shipping is not being heeded. Raleigh informs his brother John that there is little regard taken of the general restraint made … but that every man provideth to go for Newfoundland and other places at their pleasures. As Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall and Devon, it is — ironically — Raleigh’s job to detain all vessels. He makes an exception. John, his deputy lieutenant, is told to let Grenville steal away.6

  Grenville readies seven or eight ships and pinnaces for his fleet, a great number — as large a complement as his 1585 military expedition. Such arrangements can hardly remain secret for long. Curiously, word leaks out that he is bound for the West Indies. Raleigh must deem this a much wiser move than admitting they are headed for Roanoke.7

  March 1588. Grenville is ready, only staying but for a fair wind to put to sea} White anxiously scans the harbor, waiting for a break in the weather. All is excitement. And then something terrible. A rumor: at the same time, there was spread throughout all England such report of the wonderful preparation and invincible fleets made by the king of Spain joined with the power of the Pope for invading of England. The Armada is rebuilding. Ancient prophecies spread like wildfire, portending strange and wonderful events for the year. The fall of kingdoms. The end of the world. A lunar eclipse occurs in Elizabeth’s zodiac sign of Virgo, a bad omen. At the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey an earthquake reveals a marble tablet, purported to contain Merlin’s prophecy of doom and ruin. The Privy Council hurries a book into print refuting such grim prognostications.9

  We have seen Walsingham’s technique before: he spreads panic to achieve his desired ends. Is that what is happening here? Grenville immediately receives a letter from the Privy Council confining his ships to their berths on account of the Queen’s daily advertisement of Spain’s preparations.10 Whose job is it to give the Queen daily briefings but Walsingham?

  Yet ships did leave. Sir George Carey — Leicester’s friend and the Queen’s relative — got vessels out. So did John Watts. The Spaniards themselves sighted four English ships in the West Indies in early July, which must have left England in the spring.11 Specifically, the ships that are not allowed to sail are Raleigh’s.

  Grenville is straightly charged and commanded in her Majesty ‘s name to have his ships prepared to be in a readiness to join with her Majesty’s navy as he shall be directed. Grenville has no choice but to notify the Privy Council that he awaits their instructions. April 9. The Council issues an oddly worded statement, as though Grenville had volunteered his fleet on impulse, rather than in obedience to their orders. Because he informed them, it says, of his willingness to serve, their Lordships could not but allow his purpose therein.12 Raleigh’s ships are to be delivered to Drake. To Drake! Walsingham’s hand is written all over this.

  The letter goes on to say that Grenville may employ in his intended voyage any ships too small for Drake’s service. This does not mean, however, that Grenville will be permitted to go. He will not. Considering the danger of this present time and his knowledge and experience in martial affairs … he himself should remain in those parts where he now was, to give his assistance and advice to the Lieutenants of Cornwall and Devon.13 His orders are, incredibly, to assist Raleigh.

  And so Sir Richard Grenville, White bitterly writes, was personally commanded not to depart out of Cornwall. The voyage for Virginia by these means for this year was thus disappointed.1*

  Thwarted

  This has to have been deliberate. Although the Privy Council alerted Drake to the delivery of Grenville’s ships, other ships detained in port for his use were never mentioned.15

  Not one of Grenville’s vessels was ever employed against the Armada. Drake already had enough shipping for his needs. He returned Raleigh’s fleet at the end of August, after all opportunity for sailing to Roanoke was lost. Although it is true that the ships were kept until after the Armada was defeated, Drake must have known much earlier that he did not need them. The Lord Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, thought so too. On Grenville’s behalf, he sued for compensation, charging that Drake needlessly took the ships over and above his warrant, yet by order from the Council, as Sir Richard Grenville and he hath to show,16

  John White and the Brave

  Despite this blow, White is not idle. In panic — his daughter in grave danger, family and friends in distress — and notwithstanding the Privy Council’s order, he laboured for the relief of the planters so earnestly that two cramped boats are finally returned for his use: Grenville’s thirty-ton Brave and the twenty-five-ton Roe, both far too small to sail across the ocean unescorted.17 White is desperate.

  The boats are fitted out anew. White can do little more than pace along Bideford harbor, exactly as he did a month before, gazing at the proceedings from the stone bridge spanning the River Torridge. Biscuit, meal, and vegetables are loaded into holds far too small to carry much. The relief White had hoped for will be negligible.

  April 22, 1588. The boats leave the Devon coast. White rides in the Brave, captained by Arthur Facy. Fifteen colonists sail with him, family members, perhaps. Those who had been left behind. If the weather is favorable, White can expect a two-month crossing, placing them on Roanoke at the end of June.

  May 6. One hundred fifty miles off the island of Madeira, plans change. A French pirate ship from La Rochelle, twice their size, attacks. The Brave, pressed for its life, has no choice but to fight to help ourselves. Lighting a cannon, they blast the enemy master gunner, striking off his shoulder. Their own gunner takes a bullet in the head. The exchange is sharp and quick. Pirates swarm aboard the Brave, grappling hand-to-hand without ceasing one hour and a half A pike hurls through the air and catches Captain Facy in the face. It plunges through his head.

  Other Frenchmen, grubby from the fight, wrench open White’s supplies; they robbed us of all our victuals, powder, weapons and provision saving a small quantity of biscuit to serve us scarce for England. White must have lunged to save them, determined to preserve his family. As reward, a sword glints through the air and strikes his head hard, followed by a whirring pike, which sinks into flesh. / myself White said, was wounded twice in the head, once with a sword, and another time with a pike, and hurt also in the side of the buttock with a shot. Three of the male colonists are injured, whereof one had 10 or 12 wounds.

  The Brave surrenders. The Frenchmen unload the cargo, stealing all, and left us not at their departing anything worth the carrying away. The Brave’s survivors feebly repair the rigging and mend the torn sails. By this occasion, White charges, God justly punishing our former thievery of our evil-disposed mariners, we were of force constrained to break off our voyage intended for the relief of our colony left the year before in Virginia, and the same night to set our course for England, leaving the colonists not a little distressed. The rescue has failed.

  The Invincible Armada

  Spring 1588. Spain gears up for its naval attack on England. For a ter-rour, they publish the extent of their preparations, which verily was so vast throughout all Spain, Italy and Sicily, that the Spaniards themselves were amazed at it, and named it the Invincible Armada. Pope Sixtus Quintus blesses the venture, cramming 290 Mendicant monks and priests aboard vessels named for saints to prosecute the Inquisition.18

  In England the Queen assembles a volatile Council of War: Raleigh, Grenville, Lane, Lord Grey. The kingdom’s troops are far too few; therefore Raleigh urges a radical plan of attack: hit the Spaniards by sea before they can land. The English navy is redesigned, the ships lowered to gain nimbleness and speed. Lord Admiral Howard takes Raleigh’s prototype, the Ark
Raleigh, as his own. One of England’s greatest vessels, it will head the Royal Navy for a decade. Swiss tourist Thomas Platter, visiting London in 1599, buys a souvenir miniature of Raleigh’s ship to take home to Basle.19

  There is no time now to think of any Roanoke rescue. Of John White, we have no word; possibly he is still recovering from wounds. Were he near Plymouth, he would have seen the English fleet bristling with cannon, flags, and pennants flapping, bearing the royal arms of England and other emblems in bright colours. The hulls, splashed with reds and blues and other diverse colours, carved with figureheads of tigers, dragons, and lions.20 At Mortlake, Dr. Dee is busy forecasting the weather, predicting severe gales in the North Atlantic and receiving nightmarish visions of ships’ forecastles rising up from the sea.21 Everybody waits.

  July 19, 1588. The Armada edges into the English Channel in an immense arc. The terrifying fleet rears up with lofty turrets like castles, in front like a half-moon, the wings thereof spreading out about the length of seven miles, sailing very slowly, though with full sails, the winds being as it were tired with carrying them, and the ocean groaning under the weight.22

  The said Spanish fleet, being the best furnished with men, munition, and all manner of provision, of any that ever the ocean saw, and called by the arrogant name of Invincible, consisted of 130 ships: in which were ig,2go soldiers; 8,350 mariners; 2,080 galley-slaves; 2,630 great ordinance.23 An English victory seems inconceivable.

  But it comes. Raleigh’s flagship, commanded by Howard, thundered thick and furiously. The English vessels sallied forth and charged the enemy with wonderful agility and nimbleness.24 Raleigh was right. It was a total rout. Severe gales arose to finish the job. Of the Spanish ships, there returned home 53 only… Of the gi great galleons and hulks there were missing 58, and 33 returned. … Of 30,000 persons which went in this expedition, there perished… the greater and better part.25

  England erupts in wild rejoicing, parades, and celebrations the likes of which were never seen before. A commemorative coin is struck in Zealand depicting the Armada flying with full sails, and this inscription, Venit, vidit, fugit, that is: It came, it saw, it fled.26 Discovered among the wrecked Spanish vessels are appalling torture devices intended for the Inquisition: iron boots with wedges, manacles, thumbscrews, and strange and most cruel whips.21 The grisly trophies are deposited in the Tower of London.

  Thus the magnificent, huge, and mighty fleet of the Spaniards (which themselves termed in all places Invincible) such as sailed not upon the ocean sea many hundredth years before, in the year 1588 vanished into smoke.28

  Complaints to the Queen

  By all rights, Raleigh should be the hero of the day. Yet, oddly, as the festivities proceed, he and Grenville are sent away to clear the Irish coast of Spanish wrecks. For the first time in a long while, Walsingham is in the Queen’s favor. At Burghley’s urging he finally receives the coveted Duchy of Lancaster.29 His protege Essex is making rapid headway in Elizabeth’s regard. The tables have turned, but why?

  Let us assume, for the moment, that something was said. White returned from Roanoke in the autumn to face his enemies, claiming an outrageous story of mutiny and betrayal by one of his own Assistants. This would have thrust Raleigh into the unenviable position of accusing Walsingham of sabotage. To have made such a slanderous claim at that juncture to a Queen besieged by malignant rumours, while Walsingham’s spy network was providing daily and accurate information about the impending Armada, might understandably raise Elizabeth’s ire.30 The timing was bad: with attack imminent, the country had far greater concerns. Under the circumstances, no one was likely to believe Raleigh. Or care. Many more lives than White’s colonists’ were at stake.

  After the Armada the situation would be little better. With the victory celebration booming, Raleigh’s complaints could only come as an unwelcome distraction — ungrateful at best — amid the patriotic fervor. John White’s enemies will roundly condemn him as a liar. The whelp Essex and his faction are ever ready to denounce Raleigh for his recriminations, calling him an acerbic troublemaker whose combative nature disrupts the peace of the Court. He takes too much credit for the defeat of the Armada. He is too independent. With Burghley safely in Walsingham’s camp, Raleigh’s single defender is Leicester. Yet soon after the Armada’s defeat, Leicester is dead from a fever, which many suspect was caused by poison.31

  Whatever the source of Raleigh’s trouble, there is no denying that he passed into a period of disfavor that has no other ready explanation. He speaks of errors made and, later and much more sarcastically, of great treasons, for which he is punished.32 Was accusing Walsingham his error?

  Exile to Ireland

  As a final insult, Essex challenges Raleigh to a duel. He refuses and is laid open to mockery. So that finding his favour declining, says Naunton, Raleigh decided to leave that terra infirma of the Court for that of the waves and by declining himself and by absence to expel his and the passion of his enemies, which in Court was a strange device of recovery. But that he then knew there was some ill-office done him, yet he durst not attempt to mend it otherwise than by going aside, thereby to teach envy a new way of forgetfulness and not so much as think of him. Howsoever, he had it always in mind never to forget himself?33”

  Raleigh leaves the Court for Ireland, followed by an increasing round of slander, for public envy is as an ostracism, declares Francis Bacon, that eclipseth men when they grow too great.34

  My Lord of Essex, a gleeful Sir Francis Allen informs a friend, hath chased Mr. Ralegh from the Court, and hath confined him into Ireland?5“Mister,” not “Sir.” Raleigh’s actions are declared deceitful, a fraud bought at the price of many woes. Valued people, condemned by association, are likewise forgot and doth strange and wild appear? John White, perhaps, with his bizarre tale of betrayal and deception, his incessant demands for a rescue ship. Once celebrated painter, now strange and wild, an object of scorn.

  Clues in Rhyme

  In Ireland, riding out the storm, Raleigh befriends the poet Edmund Spenser. Because of him, The Faerie Queene will be completed and published and Spenser’s reputation will be secured for posterity.37 Deeply depressed, Raleigh composes his own verses. Those dating from this period bear examination, for they may well furnish us with clues. They tell the story of blinding pain, of a man beset with contention, a victim of betrayal; Raleigh has lost the Queen’s love.38

  Yet more than this, a hope still found in vain,

  A vile despair, that speaks but of distress;

  Aforc’d content, to suffer deadly pain,

  A pain so great, as cannot get redress;

  Will all affirm, my sum of sorrow such,

  As never man, that ever knew so much.39

  Beneath Raleigh’s theme of love’s betrayal, is there a hint of another betrayal? We must understand that Elizabethan writing characteristically employs double entendre. Concealed within verse are allegories and allusions to real persons and events. The Faerie Queene is packed with certain signs, Spenser confides, here set in sundry places, that he may it find?® Shakespeare counted on his audience to understand and decipher the many veiled references and jokes embedded within his plays. Clues to be teased out. In 1594 the hugely popular Willobie His Avisa surged through six editions before exhausting itself: all because the poetry contained clues to a contemporary sex scandal. The anonymous Willobie admitted that though the matter be handled poetically, yet there is something under these feigned names and shows that hath been done truly?40

  Nothing is as it pretends to be. So what does Raleigh write? He composes “As You Came from the Holy Land of Walsingham” and, as if that were not enough, sets it to a traditional ballad called “Walsingham.” He could hardly be more direct! Poignant and desperate, the poem speaks of a man afraid of abandonment, of being left all alone, all alone as unknown.41Themes of a fall from grace, broken promises, pain, and betrayal are all here.

  There is no redress, Raleigh says. Complaints cure not. He has lodged
them and they have angered the Queen. A secret murder hath been done of late. To acquit herself this answer did she make: mistrust (quoth she) hath brought him to his end, which makes the man so much himself mistake, to lay the guilt unto his guiltless friend. Raleigh accused Walsingham — or initially Leicester? It backfired and only harmed White, for if I complain, he says, my witness is suspect.42,

  Raleigh admitted that he wrote something to Elizabeth, composed in furious madness, alternating from woe to what To no effect. Betrayed by his enemies, his ability to save John White’s family is impaired.

  As in a country strange without companion,

  I only wail the wrong of death’s delays;

  Whose sweet spring spent whose summer well nie done,

  Of all which past, the sorrow only stays.

  Whom care forewarns, ere age and winter cold,

  To haste me hence, to find my fortune’s fold.45

  No one who reads Raleigh’s lines ascribes them to mere literary convention.46 The politics surrounding the failed Roanoke ventures lend a poignancy to his images of being lost and alone in an unfamiliar land.

  The Merchant Agreement

  March 7, 1589. Raleigh is back at Court, and so is his old fighting spirit: / am in place to be believed not inferior to any man, he heatedly writes to his cousin, Sir George Carew, to pleasure or displeasure the greatest; and my opinion is so received and believed as I can anger the best of them.47

  In a damp London room, nineteen merchants attach their names to a paper, agreeing to venture money, merchandise, and shipping for Virginia. William Sanderson, a wealthy London businessman married to Raleigh’s niece, must have put the tripartite deal together.48 Raleigh, White, and the merchants will mount another Roanoke expedition.