The Colony of Roanoke
Sir Richard Grenville to John Blighe asking for money
1850
View the letter from Sir Richard Grenville to John Blighe in the resource
This document, although hard to decipher, is a letter from Sir Richard Grenville to John Blighe with a request to be sent money. Its date, 1580, marks the start of the decade in which England’s colonial ventures began to gain momentum. Its author, Sir Richard Grenville, was an English member of parliament and naval man born at Buckland Abbey, Devon. He is famed for his courage and self-belief in naval battles against the Spanish and played a key role in the fascinating tale of the first, failed, English attempts to establish a colony in North America.
This venture, led by Grenville’s cousin Sir Walter Raleigh, set out from Plymouth in 1585 with Grenville as captain of a fleet of seven ships. They carried several hundred colonists and arrived at Roanoke Island off modern day Virginia on August 17th of that year. Despite a collision with a sandbank upon arrival that ruined much of their supplies, Grenville left the colonists – led by Ralph Lane – to establish a settlement and lifted anchor for England.
Grenville had been due to arrive back at Roanoke in the spring of 1586 with supplies, but when Sir Francis Drake arrived later in the year, he found that Grenville had not yet made it back and the colonists were impoverished. Drake offered to return the colonists to England, amongst them was the writer and navigator Thomas Harriot and the painter John White.
When Grenville did arrive he searched for the colonists but finding them gone returned to England, leaving some of this men there to secure Raleigh’s claim to the land.
In 1587, Raleigh sent a further 115 colonists, with instructions to settle at Chesapeake Bay. When they arrived, they found no trace of the men left by Grenville. Some reports suggest that due to savage attacks by the natives the men had taken to the sea in a rowing boat. After searching, the colonists were denied access back onto the boats, and forced to settle on Roanoke. Here the first English child was born in North America, a girl named Virginia Dare. Her Grandfather was John White, the painter and now Governor of the new colony. He set off back to England to gather supplies, but when he got there the threat of the Spanish Armada was looming, and he found Grenville and Raleigh occupied with the task of protecting their country. This resulted in it becoming impossible for White to find supplies and a vessel with which to return to the colony.
When he did return, he found a marker indicating that the colony had moved on to the Croatoan Island. However, bad weather prevented his ship from making it there, and he never saw his daughter or granddaughter again. Raleigh made one last attempt to check on his colony in 1602, but, like White, failed to reach them due to poor weather conditions. What happened to the lost colony of 1587 is unknown. It is often speculated that they integrated with the Indigenous Peoples, either as a choice born out of necessity or as captives.
Although the first colony failed, information gathered by Harriot and White meant that the English now had a much better idea of the conditions in Virginia. In 1607 Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America was established.
This venture, led by Grenville’s cousin Sir Walter Raleigh, set out from Plymouth in 1585 with Grenville as captain of a fleet of seven ships. They carried several hundred colonists and arrived at Roanoke Island off modern day Virginia on August 17th of that year. Despite a collision with a sandbank upon arrival that ruined much of their supplies, Grenville left the colonists – led by Ralph Lane – to establish a settlement and lifted anchor for England.
Grenville had been due to arrive back at Roanoke in the spring of 1586 with supplies, but when Sir Francis Drake arrived later in the year, he found that Grenville had not yet made it back and the colonists were impoverished. Drake offered to return the colonists to England, amongst them was the writer and navigator Thomas Harriot and the painter John White.
When Grenville did arrive he searched for the colonists but finding them gone returned to England, leaving some of this men there to secure Raleigh’s claim to the land.
In 1587, Raleigh sent a further 115 colonists, with instructions to settle at Chesapeake Bay. When they arrived, they found no trace of the men left by Grenville. Some reports suggest that due to savage attacks by the natives the men had taken to the sea in a rowing boat. After searching, the colonists were denied access back onto the boats, and forced to settle on Roanoke. Here the first English child was born in North America, a girl named Virginia Dare. Her Grandfather was John White, the painter and now Governor of the new colony. He set off back to England to gather supplies, but when he got there the threat of the Spanish Armada was looming, and he found Grenville and Raleigh occupied with the task of protecting their country. This resulted in it becoming impossible for White to find supplies and a vessel with which to return to the colony.
When he did return, he found a marker indicating that the colony had moved on to the Croatoan Island. However, bad weather prevented his ship from making it there, and he never saw his daughter or granddaughter again. Raleigh made one last attempt to check on his colony in 1602, but, like White, failed to reach them due to poor weather conditions. What happened to the lost colony of 1587 is unknown. It is often speculated that they integrated with the Indigenous Peoples, either as a choice born out of necessity or as captives.
Although the first colony failed, information gathered by Harriot and White meant that the English now had a much better idea of the conditions in Virginia. In 1607 Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America was established.
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