Roanoke Lost Colony

Timeline

1. 1587Roanoke Island · North CarolinaGovernor White originally planned only a brief stop at Roanoke to look for Grenville's garrison before proceeding north to choose a site in Chesapeake Bay. The pilot Simon Fernandes refused to continue, citing the end of summer, and the settlers were forced ashore on 22 July amid the ruins of the old garrison. Finding no trace of the garrison, they had to rebuild their homes on the original site, so that the second colonization deviated from Raleigh's chosen site from the very start.
2. 1587Roanoke Island · North CarolinaOn 13 August Manteo was baptized and enfeoffed by Raleigh as Lord of Roanoke and Dasamonkepeuc. On the 18th White's daughter Eleanor gave birth to Virginia Dare, the first recorded English child born in North America. With supplies insufficient, the settlers jointly begged White to return to England. The two sides agreed that any relocation must be marked by carving the place name, and a cross added in times of danger. White then left the island, the last confirmed contact between England and the colony.
3. 1588–1590Roanoke Island · North CarolinaElizabeth I banned sailing to prepare for the Armada, and White's relief fleet in 1588 was also plundered by privateers. In 1590 he boarded a privateer bound for the West Indies and landed again on Roanoke on 18 August: the houses had been dismantled, CRO was carved on a tree, CROATOAN on the palisade, with no cross or signs of fighting. He concluded the colonists had moved to Croatoan but could not travel south because of a storm. No successful rescue followed, and the colonists' fate became a long-running controversy.