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The Lost Colony of Roanoke — Transcript

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0:08Near the end of the 16th century, a man by the name of John White
0:12embarked on a transatlantic voyage.
0:16His destination was the island of Roanoke along the southeastern coast of North America.
0:22On this island, White had established an English colony some three years before
0:27and he was now returning to resume his position as Governor.
0:31After a long and difficult journey, White finally reached the site of the colony
0:35only to find the more than one hundred men, women, and children he'd left behind
0:40had disappeared.
0:41A secret message carved into a tree was one of the only clues left behind at the scene.
0:48Before White had a chance to conduct a more extensive search, the ship returned to England
0:53and in its wake, it left a mystery.
0:55What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
1:07Before we can tackle the lost colony
1:10we first need to understand the events leading up to its disappearance.
1:14The story begins in 1584 when two ships sailed across the Atlantic to scout for a suitable location
1:20for planting the first permanent English colony in America.
1:25In mid-July, they made landfall on a string of barrier islands known as the Outer Banks.
1:30The English quickly developed friendly relations with the local Native Americans
1:33and were soon invited to their village on Roanoke Island.
1:37After about a month, the scouting expedition returned to their ships
1:40and sailed back to England.
1:43Upon the expeditions return in late September, the man in charge of the enterprise
1:47Walter Raleigh
1:49immediately began preparations to plant a permanent colony somewhere along the Outer Banks.
1:54Raleigh was soon thereafter knighted by Queen Elizabeth I
1:57and the new land was to be named Virginia in honor of the Virgin Queen.
2:02In April of 1585, a fleet of seven ships departed England with a complement of roughly 600 men
2:08and loaded with enough provisions to sustain the colony for about a year.
2:12The fleet reached the Outer Banks at the end of June but was soon faced with a crisis.
2:17Navigating the waters of the Outer Banks can be notoriously treacherous
2:22as indicated by these sinking ships
2:24and when the flagship passed through one of the shallow inlets
2:28it stuck a shoal and was nearly destroyed.
2:31As the flagship carried the bulk of the provisions and most of it was now spoiled by seawater
2:36the scope of the colony had to be dramatically reduced.
2:43About 100 men, far fewer than initially intended, were stationed on Roanoke Island
2:48and, with the native's approval, they began construction of what was to become the Roanoke colony.
2:53The island was primarily chosen for its strategic value.
2:57It provided quick access to the ocean
2:59while still making the colony invisible to Spanish patrols.
3:03You see, Spain had already colonized and laid claim to much of what the English now called Virginia
3:07so they had to be careful not to attract any unwanted attention.
3:11A second wave of supplies and reinforcements was expected to arrive before the winter
3:16but, unbeknownst to the colonists
3:18the resupply mission had been countermanded by the Queen
3:21to deal with more pressing concerns back in England.
3:24As such, once the colonists ran out of food, they had to rely on the generosity of the natives.
3:30However, the natives only had so much to spare
3:33and struggled to meet the increasing demands by the colonists.
3:37This overdependence quickly began to strain their relationship.
3:42Meanwhile, people had begun to notice a disturbing trend.
3:46Every time the English visited a Native American village
3:49many of its inhabitants would inexplicably collapse and die.
3:53The natives believed the English could kill from a distance by shooting invisible bullets
3:58and they were not too far off.
4:00While unknown at the time, the English were carrying deadly pathogens
4:04to which the natives lacked immunity, and thus an epidemic
4:08was unwittingly unleashed upon the indigenous population.
4:12The two leaders back on Roanoke
4:14colonial governor Ralph Lane and Indian chieftain Wingina
4:18eventually grew so suspicious of one another that cohabitation was no longer possible.
4:23Wingina decided to remove his people from the island
4:26and retreated to a larger village on the mainland.
4:29Meanwhile, Lane came to believe that Wingina had formed an alliance with other tribes
4:34and that they were plotting to launch an attack against the colony.
4:37Whether he was paranoid or not, Lane decided to take preemptive action.
4:43On June 1, 1586, Lane and his men made their way to the mainland village
4:48and massacred its people.
4:50One of the Englishmen chased after and decapitated Wingina
4:54and his head was later impaled outside the fort of the colony.
5:03A week later, a large English fleet
5:06commanded by the renowned sea captain Sir Francis Drake
5:09dropped by the Outer Banks on its way back to England.
5:12Given the lack of food and violent clashes with the natives
5:16it was decided to abandon the colony.
5:19The colonists were hastily evacuated off the island, and then, after nine long months
5:24they all returned home.
5:26All, except three, who were not located in time for the evacuation
5:31and so the fleet left them behind.
5:33They were never heard from again.
5:36If the scouting expedition of 1584 had been a resounding success
5:40the colony of 1585 was a categorical failure.
5:44Relations with the Native Americans had completely fallen apart
5:48the severe lack of food had made life miserable
5:50and they had failed to track down rumored sources of gold and copper
5:54which could have made the venture worthwhile.
5:57In spite of all this, at least one man was eager to return.
6:01His name was John White.
6:04White was a painter and artist by trade
6:06and many of the maps and sketches that you've seen so far
6:09were either drawn by him or based on his work.
6:13Somewhat ironically, however, there are no surviving portraits of White himself.
6:17White's participation in these earlier voyages is slightly ambiguous.
6:22He may have been part of the scouting expedition in 1584
6:25but he was definitely part of the voyage in '85.
6:28What is a bit unclear is whether he stayed behind at the colony
6:31or returned to England with the outbound fleet.
6:34For instance, White's name is not included in a surviving list of all the colonists.
6:40But some historians believe this is merely an oversight
6:43and that he was, in fact, part of the colony.
6:45In either case, Sir Walter Raleigh was eventually persuaded by White and others
6:50to attempt a second venture.
6:52Unlike the first colony, which had been more akin to a military outpost
6:56the second would include women and children, including White's pregnant daughter, Elenore Dare.
7:02After a long struggle to secure the necessary funding
7:05a fleet of three ships, commanded by White, who would also serve as Governor of the colony
7:10departed England in late-spring of 1587.
7:20The misfortune of the first colony did not end with its evacuation in 1586.
7:25Only days later, a ship filled with provisions, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh
7:30arrived at the Outer Banks.
7:32The crew spent some time searching for the colonists, but when they found no sign of them
7:36including the three men that had been left behind, they returned home.
7:40The same thing happened two weeks later when an English-bound fleet
7:43loaded with supplies and reinforcements also found the colony deserted.
7:47Unwilling to leave the colony vacant, however, the Captain left 15 crewmen on Roanoke
7:51before the fleet resumed course for England.
7:54John White had been told about the 15 crewmen before he departed
7:58so when his fleet approached the Outer Banks in late July of 1587
8:02he intended to pay them a visit.
8:04But this is where things get confusing.
8:07You see, the second colony was never intended to be established on Roanoke.
8:11After all, the long list of complications encountered by the first colony
8:14made it clear that Roanoke was far from an ideal location.
8:18Instead, the second colony, or the Cittie of Raleigh
8:21as the man in charge had so immodestly named it
8:24was to be planted somewhere along the coast of Chesapeake Bay.
8:28This made a lot more sense.
8:30The water was deeper to allow for larger ships, and not nearly as precarious
8:34as those around the Outer Banks.
8:36There was plenty of open space.
8:37The soil was more fertile, and, all around, it seemed an improvement to Roanoke Island.
8:42But the fleet's Portuguese navigator, Simão Fernandes, had other plans.
8:47Fernandes had also been the navigator of the two previous expeditions
8:50and was a far more experienced sailor than White.
8:54So even though White was officially the Captain
8:56it seems much of the crew respected the authority of Fernandes.
9:01As such, when Fernandes decided to ignore the plan about Chesapeake Bay
9:05and, instead, simply dump the colonists on Roanoke
9:08White did nothing to challenge his decision.
9:11The rest of the crew quickly fell in line, and, soon enough, everyone disembarked for Roanoke.
9:17Upon reaching the abandoned colony
9:19there was no sign of the 15 crewmen they had come to assist.
9:23Instead, they found a pile of bones
9:25that appeared to be the remains of one of them.
9:28White suspected the men had been attacked by vengeful Indians
9:31and any doubts he might have had were soon to be erased.
9:35After only a few days on the island, a colonist by the name of George Howe
9:39was attacked by a group of natives who pelted him with 16 arrows
9:43before caving in his skull with a wooden club.
9:46A brutal yet unmistakable message.
9:50The English were no longer welcome on Roanoke.
9:54Even so, the colonists were not without allies.
9:58You see, when the scouting expedition returned to England in 1584
10:02two Native Americans, named Wanchese and Manteo
10:04were brought along with them.
10:06Wanchese was from Roanoke, while Manteo was from a neighboring village
10:09on the island of Croatoan.
10:11When they were finally brought back to North America in 1585
10:14they had developed vastly different opinions of the English people.
10:18As soon as they made landfall, Wanchese returned to Roanoke
10:21with nothing but resentment for these foreign invaders.
10:25Meanwhile, Manteo was fascinated by everything the English had to offer.
10:29He became their trusted guide and a mediator of sorts to smooth out relations upon first contact.
10:35So, following the death of George Howe, White reached out to the Croatoans
10:39and they confirmed what he'd initially suspected.
10:42A large group of Indian tribes had indeed attacked the 15 crewman station on Roanoke.
10:47This coalition was spearheaded by none other than Wanchese.
10:52At least two of the crewmen had been killed in the attack
10:55while the rest escaped in a small boat, never to be seen again.
11:00Roanoke had become a much more dangerous place to live.
11:06Simão Fernandes remained anchored near the Outer Banks for about a month
11:09before he decided to return to England.
11:12In the meantime, the colonists had grown concerned about the long-term survival of the colony.
11:17If the colony were to be truly self-sufficient, they argued
11:20they would require more people and more food.
11:23As such, they implored Governor White to return to England with Fernandes
11:27so that he could bring back supplies and restock the colony.
11:30White was initially hesitant to leave as he feared he'd be accused of desertion
11:34if he returned to England alone.
11:36Not to mention, he would have to abandon his daughter
11:39who had recently given birth to a daughter of her own, named Virginia
11:42on this remote and precarious island.
11:45But, in time, he was persuaded to go.
11:48And as the fleet departed in late August of 1587
11:52he could not have known he would never see any of them again.
12:08After a long and difficult voyage, John White returned to a country at war.
12:14By orders of the Queen, no ships were to leave England
12:17until the threat of Spanish invasion had passed.
12:21This was bad news for White, and his best efforts notwithstanding
12:24he remained trapped in England for three long years.
12:29It was not until the spring of 1590, with the help of Sir Walter Raleigh
12:33that White finally managed to book passage on a convoy bound for America.
12:37Upon reaching the Outer Banks in mid-August
12:40plumes of smoke appeared to emanate from Roanoke Island.
12:44Two boats were quickly dispatched
12:46and the crew fired the ship's cannons to make their presence known.
12:49The men could see a great fire as they approached the island
12:53but White never clarifies whether it was natural or lit by people.
12:58Once ashore, they made their way to the west end of the island and found a set of footprints.
13:03They appeared to be fresh, but there was no sign of those to whom they belonged.
13:07The search party then headed north and happened upon a tree
13:10where someone had carved the letters C-R-O.
13:14Upon reaching the entrance of the colony, they came across a second inscription.
13:18It was the word CROATOAN, engraved into a wooden post.
13:22The post was but one of many that now formed a defensive barrier around the colony.
13:28The colony itself was deserted and clearly had been for some time
13:32given the overgrowth of grass and weeds.
13:35The houses had been taken down and stripped of valuables.
13:40All they found were bars of iron, a few cannons, as well as five looted chests.
13:45There was no trace of the roughly 115 colonists nor the small boats left in their possession.
13:52As far as anyone could tell, no one had lived here for quite some time.
13:58The story of the Lost Colony is often centered around the two engravings
14:03and without the full context, it's easy to see how an author might imbue these inscriptions
14:08with intrigue and mystery.
14:10In truth, the carvings are some of the more well-understood elements of the entire story.
14:15At least, John White had no doubts about their meaning.
14:19White explains in his notes that before he left in 1587
14:22he and the colonists had come to an agreement.
14:25If they decided to abandon the colony before the Governor's return
14:29they were to leave behind a secret token of their destination.
14:33Furthermore, if this abandonment was forced upon them
14:36they were to include a cross to signify distress.
14:39Because no such cross had been found, White was confident
14:42the colonists had safely relocated to the island of Croatoan.
14:46Thus, White swiftly returned to the ship and convinced the Captain to set course for Croatoan.
14:52But while the crew prepared for departure, the anchor cable snapped.
14:57And without a spare anchor, the Captain felt it was too dangerous to continue.
15:01In the end, White never made it to Croatoan
15:04and it was the last time he ever ventured across the Atlantic.
15:17While an unsatisfying conclusion, it seems relatively safe to assume
15:22the Lost Colony of Roanoke simply relocated to the island of Croatoan.
15:27Case closed?
15:31Well, not quite.
15:32You see, while explaining the meaning of the inscriptions
15:35White revealed another interesting yet puzzling detail.
15:39With a single sentence, White explains that before he left in 1587
15:44the colonists were preparing to move 50 miles into the mainland.
15:49While Croatoan is about 50 miles south of Roanoke
15:52it's also an island, distinctly not part of the mainland.
15:56As such, this lone sentence introduces, if but a modicum of doubt
16:01to White's version of events.
16:03Perhaps, Croatoan was not their intended destination after all.
16:08If so, where could they have gone?
16:20Twenty years after the Roanoke colony was lost, the Anglo-Spanish war had come to an end.
16:25John White faded into obscurity
16:28and Sir Walter Raleigh had been found guilty of treason for conspiring against the crown.
16:33Yeah, I know, it's a whole other thing.
16:35Anyway, renewed interest in America saw the plantation of a third colony in 1607.
16:40The Jamestown colony was established within the borders of a vast confederacy of Native American tribes
16:46ruled by a man the English called Powhatan.
16:49One day, Powhatan captured the future Governor of the colony
16:53John Smith
16:54and told him about a place where men wearing European clothing lived.
16:58Then, after his release in 1608, Smith drew a rough map of Virginia
17:03and this is one of the notations.
17:09Unfortunately, this claim, and others just like it, were never properly investigated.
17:15So we can never know if this was anything more than a rumor.
17:20Another unconfirmed report was that all but a few of the colonists
17:23had been massacred by Powhatan.
17:25The survivors of this slaughter at Roanoke had then supposedly scattered across the region.
17:31The problem is, White did not report any human remains or signs of a battle
17:36when he returned to Roanoke in 1590.
17:38Even so, an acquaintance of John Smith later wrote that Powhatan had confessed to the massacre
17:44after Smith was captured.
17:45Smith himself, however, makes no mentioned of this alleged confession
17:50and he was not exactly known to shy away from embellishment.
17:53*cough* Pocahontas *cough*
17:55Other reports included sightings of Native American children with unusually pale skin and blonde hair
18:01which led many to suspect they could be the descendants of the lost colonists.
18:05What they had no way of knowing at the time, however, was that albinism
18:09is far more prevalent among Native Americans than Europeans.
18:13A more solid lead emerged a full century later when the English explorer John Lawson
18:19made contact with a tribe known as the Hatteras.
18:23The Hatteras occupied the same land as the Croatoans
18:26but the island was now much larger and known as Hatteras Island
18:29after a storm had closed one of the inlets.
18:32The Hatteras explained to Lawson
18:34that some of their ancestors had been white and able to read.
18:38Several members of the tribe also had gray eyes
18:42a unique trait of the Hatteras, according to Lawson.
18:45They also spoke of a local legend about a ghost ship
18:48which they referred to as Sir Walter Raleigh's ship.
18:52Hearing all this, Lawson grew convinced
18:54the Hatteras was, in fact, the descendants of the lost colony.
18:58Much like John White, Lawson believed the colony had been relocated to Croatoan
19:03and, over time, the two peoples had become one.
19:06Okay, so we now have two sources, over a century apart
19:10arguing for the same version of events.
19:13John White says they went to Croatoan because carvings.
19:16John Lawson says they went to Croatoan because gray eyes and ghosts.
19:19Not the most decisive evidence, perhaps, but it does make for a compelling argument.
19:27Following Lawson's encounter with the Hatteras in 1701
19:30nothing of significance would be uncovered for centuries.
19:34That is until the late 1930s when a series of peculiar stones
19:38suddenly brought the mystery back to life.
19:41The stones had been inscribed with messages, supposedly written by Elenore Dare
19:46the daughter of John White.
19:48Unfortunately, they all turned out to be fake.
19:51Well, all except the first stone whose authenticity remains in doubt.
19:57This stone features a message from Dare addressed to White
20:00in which she describes the tragic death of her husband and child.
20:04The composition of the stone makes it well-suited for inscribing a message
20:08but a poor choice for a forger
20:10as they would have had to chemically age the fresh markings
20:13to match the weathered surface.
20:15It would not have been impossible but quite difficult to do so in the 1930s.
20:21On the other hand, the man who supposedly found the stone was never heard from again
20:26and the precise location of its discovery was conveniently kept secret.
20:30The credibility of the writing is equally contested
20:34and there is just no consensus on what to make of it.
20:37Modern archaeological research has also been plagued by uncertainties.
20:42Excavations at Roanoke have mostly confirmed the presence of a 16th-century English colony
20:48but have done little in the way of determining its fate.
20:51Meanwhile, excavations on Hatteras has yielded a mix of Native American and European artifacts
20:56including the hilt of a light sword
20:58but nothing that can be definitively linked to the lost colony.
21:02To make matters worse, much of the evidence may now be underwater
21:06due to centuries of shifting sands and erosion of the islands.
21:11It was partially out of frustration for this lack of progress
21:15that researchers made a remarkable discovery in late 2011.
21:21While inspecting White's map of Virginia, a member of the First Colony Foundation
21:26took note of these patches.
21:29Historically, patches like these have been used to correct minor mistakes
21:33so no one had ever given them a second thought.
21:35This time, someone did and had the patches carefully examined.
21:39Underneath the lower patch, they found precisely what you'd expect.
21:43Minor corrections.
21:44Underneath to upper patch, however, they found this.
21:49This four-pointed star is a typical representation of a fort.
21:54A comparable symbol can be seen on this map from the early 17th century.
21:59The paint used to draw the symbol matches the paint used elsewhere on the map
22:03including the corrections drawn on top of the lower patch
22:07suggesting it was drawn and concealed by White himself.
22:12More puzzling still...
22:13A slightly smaller four-pointed star enclosed by two concentric squares
22:18has been painted with invisible ink on top of the patch.
22:23This symbol can even be faintly discerned with the naked eye
22:27meaning it's been hiding in plain sight all along.
22:31Finally, this fort is situated on the mainland, approximately 50 miles west of Roanoke.
22:51The location of the concealed fort was quickly named Site X
22:55in reference to the expression: "X marks the spot".
22:58While the fort itself has yet to be found, presuming it was ever built
23:02archaeological digs have uncovered a few items of interest.
23:06Fragments of pottery and bits of metal are indicative of an English presence
23:11but much like the findings on Hatteras, an indisputable link to the Lost Colony
23:15has yet to be established.
23:18That being said, the research is still ongoing, and the smoking gun, whatever it may be
23:23will perhaps have been found by the time you're watching this.
23:26Presuming this is the intended location for the Cittie of Raleigh, one has to wonder...
23:31Why was it concealed with a patch?
23:35Tempting as it may be to envision some elaborate conspiracy, there is a very simple explanation.
23:41Remember how, in 1608, John Smith sent this rough map of Virginia back to England?
23:47Well, this is not the original map but an illicit copy.
23:52A copy made in secret by the Spanish ambassador and covertly passed along to the King of Spain.
23:58So England had good reason to worry about sensitive information
24:02such as the location of a fort, being intercepted by enemy spies.
24:07Another example is how the colony on Roanoke was concealed through omission.
24:11We still don't know the precise location or layout of the colony
24:15because it was never indicated on any of the surviving maps.
24:19While it continues to be a source of aggravation among historians and archaeologists
24:23this secrecy did serve a purpose as it prevented Spain from ever finding the colony.
24:29In fact, Spain continued to search for the colony long after it was lost
24:33so it's unlikely they had anything to do with its disappearance.
24:37On the other hand, if the fort was never built
24:40the patch may be precisely what it was always assumed to be.
24:44Nothing more than a correction.
24:47Then again, the near-invisible symbol drawn on top of the patch
24:51strongly imply concealment as opposed to a simple revision.
24:58After going through all the available evidence, this is what I'm thinking.
25:02So John White left Roanoke in 1587.
25:05When he failed to return, the colony was split into two groups.
25:09One decamped for Site X while the other went to live with the friendly Croatoans
25:14to await the Governor's return.
25:16The region is known to have suffered a severe drought just after White left
25:20so the relocation may not only have been motivated by diminishing supplies and hostilities
25:25but also by a lack of water and crop production.
25:28As years turned into decades, the colonists may have started families with
25:32and thus become inseparable from, the indigenous people amongst whom they lived.
25:37Not only would this explain the disappearance but also the CROATOAN inscription
25:42the "50 miles into the main"
25:44as well as the gray eyes of the Hatteras.
25:46While I'm still leaning towards it being fake, I do find it interesting how the Dare Stone
25:51was supposedly discovered just a few miles north of Site X.
25:56After all, if you're a hoaxer and you want to convince 1930s America that this stone is genuine,
26:02why claim you found it so far away from Roanoke?
26:06One should also keep in mind that much of the evidence relies solely
26:11on the words and paintings of one man.
26:15Parts of White's account could easily be a misinterpretation or exaggeration.
26:20So depending on what evidence you regard as credible, other solutions are equally plausible.
26:25For instance, some believe the colony went ahead with the original plan
26:28and relocated somewhere along the coast of Chesapeake Bay.
26:31Others believe they were all lost at sea after a failed attempt to return to England.
26:36But these "solutions" are about as helpful as saying the colony vanished into thin air.
26:41Without a more localized place of interest to search for corroborating evidence
26:45there is virtually no hope of resolution.
26:49So with all that being said, many questions remain.
26:53What happened to the three forsaken colonists and the 13 crewmen?
26:57Why did Simão Fernandes disobey orders and dump the colonists on Roanoke?
27:01Why was one of the two engravings left incomplete?
27:06Why was everyone named Joh-
27:07As for the most important question of them all...
27:11Well, if there is an answer to that question
27:14chances are, it lies buried somewhere at Site X
27:18just waiting to be found.

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