ADVERTISEMENT

The horrors of Croatoa

agentorange70

Letterman and National Champion
Gold Member
Dec 16, 2007
2,641
4,726
152
Sir Walter Raleigh was an interesting guy.Born in wealth, he was a naval commander and was given large parcels of land by the english crown in 1580 for quelling an Irish rebellion. Raleigh was also a poet and exchanged flirtatious notes with Queen Elizabeth 1 .In turn Queen Elizabeth 1 found Raleigh to be a "man with a bold and plausible tongue". At the height of Raleigh's political power, he was awarded favorable mercantilist contracts by the Queen Elizabeth 1.

Sir Walter Raleigh secured the first English royal charter to colonize the Americas in 1584. In the charter terms, Raleigh would finance the expedition privately. Raleigh was to respect the rights of the Englishman in the colony. Raleigh would receive the security of the British military in exchange for 20 percent of his profits to be given to the crown. Raleigh had 6 years time to secure the colony or else the charter would be voided.Raleigh was tasked with seeking profits by this "Roanoke Colony" by exploiting local resources while also undermining Spanish activities in the area.The royal propagandist of that time,Richard Hakluyt, gilded the "Roanoke colony" as a chance to convert "barbaric" american indians into protestantism in order to manufacture consent of the english public for such exploitive adventures.

Raleigh was not coming in the initial attempt at colonial settlement. Raleigh appointed John White as the leader and governor of the "Roanoke colony". And as a mysterious sign, the day before White arrived, the Native Americans noticed a falling comet on the coast of NC as a foreboding of things to come.John White brought his wife and daughter, along with 120 people of various trades by ship to what is modern day coast of north carolina. At the outset of their arrival at the "ronoake colony", the settlers were running low on supplies and starving. John White decided that he needed to go back to England to retrieve emergency supplies.Right before John White left, his daughter gave birth to the first english baby born into the new world. Also John White instructed the colony if they had to relocate, write on a tree there new destination. And if they leave in distress, inscribe a cross underneath the name of new location inscribed in said tree.

John White travelled back to England for more food and supplies in 1588 and planned for a quick return to his family and other Roanoke colony settlers. Unfortunately, Raleigh reallocated White's assigned ship for various naval skirmishes in other parts of the world. John White did not get commissioned a ship by Raleigh to return to the Roanoke colony until 3 years!

John White finally arrived back at the Roanoke colony on August 18, 1590, which would have been the 3rd birthday of his granddaughter. To White's shock, no settlers remained at the colony. But nearby on a wooden chair and tree within the Carolina colony was inscribed the word "Croatoa", which was the name of a local island. No cross was inscribed beneath the name, indicating perhaps the settlers relocated peacefully. John White wanted to immediately explore Croatoa (modern day matteris island, NC) but was denied the ability to search further because the ship he arrived with was commissioned for further missions in the west Indies. Upon finally arriving back to England, John White told Raleigh of the mysterious disappearance of the colony (to include his wife, daughter, and granddaughter) and clues that pointed to them being in Croatoa Island. White implored another voyage to continue to search there. Unfortunately, by 1590 the 6 year royal charter was nearing expiration for Raleigh so that him continuing to invest in the adventure would be without the protection of the British military. Raleigh cut his losses in the endeavour as a failed investment and never sent another search party as it became an unprofitable endeavor for him.

Raleigh was constructing his castle at sherborne, england at the time, and focusing on managing his 40,000 acre estate in Ireland (given as a reward from the crown for suppressing an Irish rebellion and colonizing Ireland a decade previous).With Raleighs good relationship with the crown, the mandates in the 1584 charter to protect the rights and lives of the Roanoke colony settlers was forgotten by all parties except perhaps John White. White was given a small parcel in Ireland by Raleigh as a token and John White died 3 years later in tumult.

Raleighs life took an interesting turn as well. Raleigh secretly married a noble woman in 1592 which drew the ire of Queen Elizabeth who became jealous. Queen Elizabeth 1 arrested Raleigh for house arrest for several months,... Queen Elizabeth 1 died of poor health in 1603. King James 1 later put Raleigh on house arrest for disloyalty soon after, then gave Raleigh a royal charter to exploit modern day Venezuela in 1616 given his experience,.. Raleigh brought his son with him as a soldier. Raleigh was told not to attack Spain according to a new peace treaty. But unfortunately for Raleigh, a skirmish broke out with Spain in Venezuela and Raleigh's son died. Raleigh' best friend Lawrence Kemys was tasked with protecting his son in battle. Lawrence Kemys begged for forgiveness of Raleigh for his son dieing in Kemys command. Raleigh refused to forgive him, and consequently Kemys committed suicide in shame. Raleigh was called upon to England to speak upon breaking a peace treaty with spain. Raleigh had to know his execution was imminent and refused to escape despite people willing to provide aid in London sanctioned to imprison him. In 1618, Raleigh was beheaded. His wife , in some accounts, was distraught and embalmed Raleigh's head for keepsake. At the time of the death of the widow of Raleigh in 1647,... Raleighs head was added to its body in his grave.

....perhaps the comet seen by the native americans upon the initial arrival of Roanoke settlers in North Carolina in the late 1580s was a foreboding of horror for all directly involved while imposed in different time horizons,...to include the horror of english settlers of Roanoke in 1588, the horror of the mercantilist financer Raleigh in 1618, and the horror of those Native Americans themselves centuries later,..

Which pretty much means no more night time sky-watching for me
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: d-dawg
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT