Ralph Lane occupies a curious…and precarious…place in North Carolina history.
His “plain-jane” name may not ring a bell, but he was among the first Englishmen to set foot on the shore near Cape Lookout in 1585.
Lane communicated to his boss in England – Sir Walter Raleigh – that he had found the “Goodliest Soile under the Cope of Heaven.”
North Carolina’s Charles Kuralt, an iconic television newscaster, borrowed Lane’s positive phrase repeatedly to promote pride in the “Old North State.”
In the negative column, however, Ralph Lane may have been largely responsible for “losing North Carolina’s Roanoke Island colony,” evoking the wrath of Raleigh.
As background, Ralph Lane was a military hero in service to Queen Elizabeth. Lane was 57 years old when he was hand-picked by Raleigh to serve as governor of a military colony in the New World.
To accomplish the mission,
an expedition (with seven vessels) led by Sir Richard Grenville, a cousin of
Raleigh, sailed from Plymouth, England, in April 1585.
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On June 24, 1585,
Grenville’s fleet anchored near Cape Lookout. Lane and the rest of the crew
enjoyed a good day of fishing before continuing north along Core Banks. Near Portsmouth
Island, they found “an opening,” according to Carolyn Mason, the historian at
the Foundation for Shackleford Horses.
“When the pilot attempted to enter the sound with the flagship Tyger, she grounded and lay in the surf for two hours,” Mason said. “The crew feared that her back would be broken, because she received some 89 buffets.”
“This was a devastating loss, however, since her load of supplies was soaked in salt water,” she said.
Many historians believe
that the animals on deck – hogs, cattle and horses – washed overboard or were
put off the vessel to lighten the vessel’s load so she could be floated onto
the beach for repairs to be made.
Philip Howard, an Ocracoke historian, said that Grenville’s men anchored at Wocokon Island (Ocracoke) for about a month.
The Englishmen arrived at Roanoke Island on Aug. 17, 1585. Lane and 107 soldiers went on shore to build their colony. Autumn was approaching, so the growing season was winding down.
The fleet with the remaining sailors, under command of Grenville, returned to England.
Historian F. Roy Johnson of Murfreesboro, N.C., wrote that Lane’s initial encounters with Pemisapan (Wingina), who was king of the Algonquian-speaking natives on Roanoke Island and vicinity, were cordial.
Relations, however, deteriorated because of “Lane’s arrogance.”
The French historian Gerard E.T. Tondu agreed with Johnson’s assessment,
stating: “As governor, Ralph Lane did not certainly have enough diplomacy to
get along with his neighbors, preferring threat and confrontation.”
Pemisapan decided to withdraw his people from Roanoke Island and leave the colonists to fish and farm on their own. Lane gave orders on June 1, 1586, to have Pemisapan executed.
“The killing of Pemisapan
brought in a definitive way an end to the attempt of living peacefully with the
natives,” Tondu said. “The survival of the colony seemed at the moment
compromised,” and destined to fail.
Sir Francis Drake arrives
to ‘rescue’ Lane’s Colonists
Sir Francis Drake arrived unexpectedly at Roanoke Island in early June 1586, about a week after the English colonists murdered Pemisapan
The was a fortuitous turn of events for governor Ralph Lane. Drake’s fleet of 23 ships represented an impressive show of force to avert retaliation from native tribesmen.
Additionally, the sailing vessels were loaded with “a tremendous booty freshly seized from the Spaniards” in the West Indies, wrote Gerard E.T. Tondu.
Drake generously offered Lane ample ammunitions, clothes, food and other supplies to keep the colony afloat, without having to rely on the natives for assistance and handouts.
Plans changed, however, when a major, three-day hurricane swept across Roanoke Island in mid-June 1586, leaving Drake’s fleet severely battered and bruised. The crew salvaged what it could and set sail for England after the seas had calmed.
Lane had determined to throw in the towel and abandon the colony, so his soldiers climbed aboard Drake’s ships. Manteo, also left the island with the Englishmen.
Three of the English colonists were away from Fort Raleigh, off on a reconnaissance mission at the time. These poor fellows missed the boat and were left behind – becoming the first “lost colonists.”
“Imagine the surprise…when
they returned to find that their comrades had departed, and they were left to
fend for themselves. I’m thinking this is the definition of a very bad day,”
wrote Roberta Estes, a research scientist and creator of DNA eXplained.
Just a few days after Drake’s fleet sailed, Richard Grenville returned to Roanoke Island from England with a shipment of supplies. But he found the fort deserted.
Stephen Luscombe, a historian based in Plymouth, England, said: “Grenville spent two weeks sending teams to search for the colonists and to try to figure out what had happened.”
Grenville resolved to leave 15 men with two years’ worth of supplies. He designated Master Coffin as commander, directing him to “repossess the fort whilst Grenville returned to England for further instructions.”
Later, it was learned that Coffin and one other man had perished while fighting against the natives, but the other 13 Englishmen escaped and put to sea “in a pinnace and searched for sanctuary,” according to Luscombe. This became the second wave of “lost colonists.”
Another attempt to put an English colony on Roanoke Island occurred in 1587, under the leadership of John White as governor. Estes said that this expedition would include families of settlers.
She said that each colonist “would receive, among other enticements, 500 acres of land. Land was impossible to purchase in England, so for anyone who was not in the line of inheritance, meaning a first son of a family with land, the only hope for land ownership was outside of England.”
Many in the party of 117 were personally recruited by White to make the journey, Estes added.
They arrived at Roanoke
Island on July 27, 1587, with their native friend Manteo in charge of mending
fences with tribal leaders.
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