Introduction
In 1584, an exploration party of two ships organised by Walter Raleigh came back and told Elizabeth I that ‘Roanoak’, Roanoke Island off the coast of what is now North Carolina, would make an excellent English colony. The following year, Raleigh (now Sir Walter) sent out hundred and eight settlers as founding fathers but a year later they came home. So in May 1587, Raleigh tried again.
RALEIGH, though disappointed at the return of his first colony,* resolved to send out a second.* The emigrants of 1585 were all men; but those of 1587 were, many of them, men with wives and families. Sir Walter’s hope was that they would make permanent homes in the wilderness, and establish a city named after him. John White,* the deputy governor who was to act for Sir Walter, carried a charter, and proceeded to lay the log foundations of the “City of Raleigh”.
The governor’s daughter, Eleanor Dare, was the wife of one of the settlers. Shortly after her landing, Mrs Dare gave birth to a daughter. She was the first child born of English parents in America, and was baptised by the name Virginia. Governor White soon sailed for England to get further help for the colony, leaving his daughter and his granddaughter, little Virginia Dare, to await his return. That was the last he ever saw of them. Circumstances prevented his return for three years.* When he did go back Roanoke Island was deserted. The only trace of the missing settlers was the word CROATOAN cut in bold letters on a tree.
* For this first mission, seven ships and 108 settlers, all men, and including young scientist Thomas Harriot, had set sail on April 9th, 1585, and arrived at Roanoke on June 26th. Almost a year later, on June 7th, 1586, Sir Francis Drake interrupted his harassments of Spanish trade in the Atlantic to drop in on the colony. Drake’s plan was to take home the sick and arrange for further supplies from England, but a severe storm in which Drake (wrote the settlement’s governor Ralph Lane) had ‘sustained more peril of wreck then in all his former most honourable actions against the Spaniards’ was interpreted as divine displeasure; ‘for the hand of God came upon them’ commented historian Richard Hakluyt (1553-1616) ‘for the cruelty and outrages committed by some of them against the native inhabitants of that country.’ In the end, they decided to quit the colony. The party (four men had died) left Roanoke on June 19th, after a stay of fifty-one weeks. A local man, Towaye, went with them.
* For the second mission, three ships and 119 male and female settlers left England on May 8th, 1587, and landed at Croatoan Island on July 22nd, before establishing themselves on Roanoke the following day. The inhabitants of Croatoan were amenable but the Roanoke locals much less so, and Wanchese, one of two men they had taken to England to learn English and to teach Carolina Algonquian, absconded and joined the hostile element. The other, Manteo, remained courageous and loyal throughout, and proved himself a diplomat of great skill.
* John White (?1539-?1593), mapmaker and artist of record for the expedition in 1585, and governor of the expedition of 1587. He left most reluctantly on August 27th, 1587. His drawings may be viewed online at the website of The British Museum.
* Chief among those ‘circumstances’ was The Spanish Armada of 1588. Aside from the attack itself, the subsequent impact on the economy and on shipping made raising finance and gathering supplies, a ship and men to crew her extremely difficult. Another factor was that Raleigh’s six-year charter from the Crown was due to expire in 1590, a matter of concern for potential investors. Thomas Harriot’s upbeat account of the more promising 1585 mission, published in February 1588 (i.e. 1589 reckoning the New Year from January), was therefore a timely publication.
* Virginia Dare was born August 18th, 1587. Her mother was Elenora (Eleanor) White, daughter of John White, and her father was Ananias Dare.
Précis
In 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh tried once more to establish a colony and ‘city of Raleigh’ on Roanoke Island in North America. The Governor, John White, soon returned home for supplies, but on his exasperatingly delayed return three years later he found the settlers, including his new-born granddaughter Virginia, all gone, leaving just the word CROATOAN etched on a tree. (60 / 60 words)
In 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh tried once more to establish a colony and ‘city of Raleigh’ on Roanoke Island in North America. The Governor, John White, soon returned home for supplies, but on his exasperatingly delayed return three years later he found the settlers, including his new-born granddaughter Virginia, all gone, leaving just the word CROATOAN etched on a tree.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, despite, if, may, ought, since, unless, who.
Word Games
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Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
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