could be, and they determined to support it. They received support in
London when Thomas Hariot’s Brief and True Report of the New Found
Land of Virginia,illustrated with engravings of John White’s vivid water-
colors, was published. It painted a glowing picture of the colonial prospect.
Still, the public was skeptical. Ralegh found only a small group of 117
people—among them seventeen women, two of whom were pregnant; and
nine children—who rose to the bait. It was not much of a beginning, and
worse was to come.
Today, it is difficult for us to appreciate how tenuous communication
was in the Elizabethans’ time. Their America was more “distant” than the
moon: a round trip was at best a yearlong venture; messages might never
arrive or might arrive in circumstances that made acting on them impossible.
When no relief ships came, the little group at Roanoke grew desperate; so
John White, the artist of the previous expedition who had become its gover-
nor, returned to England to try to expedite aid. He found all eyes fixed on the
imminent danger of attack by the Spanish “Invincible Armada.” There must
have been some people in England who blamed the threat on exactly what
Ralegh and Drake were doing; in any event White received no assistance.
The privy council banned the departure of all ships that might help defend
England. It would be four years before White managed to return to Roanoke.
Meanwhile, in 1588 Spain sent Captain Vicente González to search
the Virginia coast, and he discovered the little base at Roanoke. There he
found “signs of a slipway for small vessels, and on land a number of wells
made with English casks, and other debris indicting that a considerable
number of people had been there.” But none still were. The Spaniards were
relieved; they thought the English had given up. The worried king, how-
ever, anticipated correctly that the English would return and find a better
location.
It would be nearly twenty years before they did. When White got back
to Roanoke in 1591, he too found only a scene of devastation: the little
camp had been looted and all that remained of the inhabitants was an unde-
cipherable message carved on a tree trunk. Forced by bad weather to sail
home, White found England desperately preparing to defend itself and
Ralegh bankrupt.
Virginia had been the ruin of Ralegh, but the subsequent ruin of the
Early Days in the Colonies 103