The History Bit

This is the Elizabeth II. She is a replica of the ship the Elizabeth, that brought the colonists to Roanoake Island in 1587. It is hard to imagine how anyone would trust their lives to a 69 ft boat to sail the Atlantic into the unknown to colonise a place they knew nothing much about. But that is what 115 people did. Sir Walter Raleigh had a charter from Queen Bess which gave him control of the East Coast of the New World on the proviso he settled it as well. So he set up a relocation company and convinced a group of farmers and tradesmen to head off for a better life in the Americas. They weren't just dumped there, a survey party had been there a few years before, and a second expedition left carpenters and blacksmiths there to construct a village for the settlers. They chose Roanoake island. At first there was good relations with the local tribes, predictably this didn't last. 

Anyway, the colonists were left at the settlement and pretty much told to get on with it, but their leader returned to England to ask for more support and supplies. He was supposed to be gone for 9 months, but weather, politics and the Spanish Armada got in the way so it was 3 years before he returned. All there was left of the settlement was a post with the word Croatoan. The colonists seem to have packed up and gone. Even the houses had been dismantled and taken with them. It was suspected they had moved south to another island called Croatoan island. But a storm was coming and the crew refused to go looking for the colonists. It seemed that the fates were against them being found as for one reason or another no serious search was made for the "Lost Colony". Current thinking is that as there was the worst drought in 800 years during the time the colonists arrived, they may have been forced to leave due to that. It is possible they then integrated into the local indigenous population, as it was noted some years later that some of the native people had grey eyes, which was very unusual. 

All this we learnt by visiting the Roanoake Island festival park. http://www.roanokeisland.com/