Roanoke: A Colony. A Word. A Vanishing.Episode 41:41
The Smoke Above the Missing Colony
Three years after leaving his family, John White returns to Roanoke and sees what looks like a signal from the shore.
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Transcript
CROATOAN was carved beside the entrance of an abandoned English colony.
In 1587, colonists reached Roanoke, not Chesapeake Bay.
John White and settlers arrived there July 22nd, 1587.
In August, Virginia Dare was born—the first English child born in the New World.
Food was unreliable, winter neared, and Algonquian attack was a threat. The colonists asked Governor John White to return for help.
The colonists agreed to carve their destination into nearby trees. The choice hung in the quiet air around them.
White reached England November 8th, 1587, but couldn't return till 1590.
John White returned to Roanoke Island August 18th, 1590.
Near Roanoke, returning sailors saw a great column of smoke rising ashore.
White's landing party found Native footprints made during the night.
The record described them as two or three kinds of footprints.
White found the letters C, R, O carved into a tree. His orders required a cross if they left in distress.
Above the letters, there was no cross—no sign of distress.
Then White saw the houses had been dismantled and replaced by a high palisade.
White wrote that three of five chests were his. He found books torn and picture and map frames spoiled by rain.
White read the carving as a token that the colonists had moved to Croatan. He intended to sail there, but lost anchors and bad weather blocked it.
Where it leaves off
The smoke seemed to promise survivors—but White's landing party was about to discover what was actually burning.
Sources
- John White Returns to Roanoke; an excerpt from "The fift voyage of Master John White into the West Indies and parts of America called Virginia, in the yeere 1590" (1600) - Encyclopedia Virginiaencyclopediavirginia.orgprimary
- The Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
- 1587: The Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
- We Finally Have Clues to How the Lost Roanoke Colony Vanished | National Geographicnationalgeographic.comsecondary
- Sir Walter Raleigh'stile.loc.govsecondary
- Major Theories of the Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
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