Lost Colony

[Dutchman]

Was puttering around and found the following excerpt from "The History of Travaile," William Strachey, Secretary of the Jamestown Colony, writing in 1612 of the 1608-1610 events of Jamestown.

"At Peccarecemmek and Ochanahoen, by the relations of the Machamps, the people have howses built of stone walls, and one story above another, so taught them by those English who escaped the slaughter at Roanok, at what thyme this our colony, in the conduct of Captain Newport, Landed within the Chesapeak Bay, where the people bred up tame turkies about their howses and take apes in the mountains, and where at Ritanoe, the Weroance Eyanoco preserved seven of the English alive, fower men, two boys and one maiden, who escaped the massacre, and fled up the river Chanoke"

Now this just has my head spinning. has anyone ever read this piece of work and might be able to add something?

So just from this passage. Does this mean the Jamestown explorers knew the existance and whereabouts of surviors of the lost colony? Does this help explain the blue eyed native americans that are occasionally born just south of the island? Virginia Dare would have been in her early twenties, is she the "maiden"? So Strachley, knowing that houses were built with english technology, either visited or got accounts of the village. Were there any rescues attempted?

[Fox]

In 1608 a rescue party was sent, and came close to finding the surviving colonists but were prevented by the Indians: "Though denied by the savages speech with them, found crosses and letter, the characters and assured testimonies of Christians cut in the barks of trees". Other attempts were made over the years, but in 1622 "we left off seeking our colony, that was never any of them found, nor seen to this day".

The blue eyed Indians you mention were also noted in 1701 by Carolinas surveyor Jown Lawson who met on Croatoan (the island to which the colonist originally fled) tribal elders who told him that "several of their ancestors were white people [who] could talk in a book as we do, the truth of which is confirmed by gray eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians and no others".

I thoroughly recommend "Big Chief Elizabeth" by Giles Milton if you're interested in Roanoke.

[MarkG]

Was puttering around and found the following excerpt from "The History of Travaile," William Strachey, Secretary of the Jamestown Colony, writing in 1612 of the 1608-1610 events of Jamestown.

"At Peccarecemmek and Ochanahoen, by the relations of the Machamps, the people have howses built of stone walls, and one story above another, so taught them by those English who escaped the slaughter at Roanok, at what thyme this our colony, in the conduct of Captain Newport, Landed within the Chesapeak Bay, where the people bred up tame turkies about their howses and take apes in the mountains, and where at Ritanoe, the Weroance Eyanoco preserved seven of the English alive, fower men, two boys and one maiden, who escaped the massacre, and fled up the river Chanoke"

Now this just has my head spinning. has anyone ever read this piece of work and might be able to add something?

So just from this passage. Does this mean the Jamestown explorers knew the existance and whereabouts of surviors of the lost colony? Does this help explain the blue eyed native americans that are occasionally born just south of the island? Virginia Dare would have been in her early twenties, is she the "maiden"? So Strachley, knowing that houses were built with english technology, either visited or got accounts of the village. Were there any rescues attempted?

The history of the Roanoke Colony is complicated. There were three sets of colonies. The first one of was supposed to be much larger but the ship carrying food stores hit a sandbar and most of the stores were lost. The colony was scaled back to 101 men and boys. They stayed most of a year but grew concerned when the resupply was late. Drake stopped by after sacking Saint Augustine and ended up transporting the colonists back to England.

A week or so later the supply fleet arrived and found the colony missing. They left 16 men to maintain English possession. These men were eventually driven away by natives and probably perished at sea.

The third colony included full families in the hope that they would be more likely to stay that way. They were supposed to pick up the 16 men on Roanoke and settle along the James River. They got as far as Roanoke and the captain announced that he was not going any further. He intended to go privateering. The governor, John White, stayed on board to arrange for supplies. This was in 1587.

The Spanish Armada attacked England in 1588 and Elizabeth refused to allow any ship to leave England. There were rumors of a new armada in 1589 so it was 1590 before a relief ship could be chartered. This was actually a privateer ship that was paid to check on the colony as a side-trip. They found the colony deserted and signs that indicated that the colonists had left peacefully. The captain of the ship was killed when the long boat capsized and the mate refused to stay any longer. That was the total sum of the search for the lost colony.

Over the next 17 years it was assumed that the colony still existed and had moved to the James River. The Jamestown settlers were instructed to find them since their experience would be invaluable. The trouble with this was that they were already dead when the Jamestown settlers arrived.

The Powhatan Indians became alarmed when ships explored the James around 1606 in preparation for Jamestown. The chief, also known as Powhatan, ordered the English colonists to be wiped out.

When the Jamestown fleet arrived in May of 1607, they stopped at Cape Henry to look around. They were greeted with a shower of arrows from a hidden source. There is some speculation that this was the Powhatans returning from wiping out the Roanoke colonists.

Regardless, John Smith was eventually captured by the Powhatans. Before he was returned, Powhatan told Smith that he had wiped out a group of English already. Smith sent a report about this back to England. This has been lost but the response still exists. Basically, the colonists needed Powhatan so they were not to take any action that would affect relations.

Smith gave these details in a book he published in 1628. This is the same book he wrote about being saved by Pocahontas. Many historians assumed that Smith was telling stories but later research indicates that this was probably the truth.

Reports of blond and/or blue-eyed Indians elsewhere probably indicate shipwreck survivors. A lot of ships were wrecked along the Virginia and Carolina coasts between 1590 and 1700.

Note - my main source for this is Set Fair for Roanoke by David Beers Quinn. (out of print). I also recomend The Virginia Adventure by Ivor Noel Hume. This is also the accepted history when I have volunteered at Jamestown.

Mark

[Capn Bob]

For those interested in Jamestown VA, the Lawes Divine Moral and Martial are online. Early Jamestown was not a fun place, and it looks like Marshall Thomas Dale didn't mess around. Here's the link...

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/james...browse?id=J1056

And long live Nate Bacon (jr)!