Investigating Officer Name: __________________________________________________________________
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Name of person reporting missing person/s: ____________________________________________________
Description of the missing: ____________________________________________________________________
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Description of events leading up to disappearance: ______________________________________________
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Description of evidence found at scene: _________________________________________________________
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Person/s interviewed: _________________________________________________________________________
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Statement of person/s interviewed: ____________________________________________________________
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Theory of what happened to the missing (be as specific as possible):
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Evidence to support theory:
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Case Number 563485 Submitted by John White
Clue #1
Background
1584 explorers Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe were the first known Europeans to set eyes on the island. They had
been sent to the area by Sir Walter Raleigh with the mission of scouting the broad sounds and estuaries in search of an ideal
location for settlement. Barlowe wrote glowing reports of Roanoke Island. English did not know that a group of people lived
just behind the trees along the shore. They had lived there for hundreds of years. First contact was made when a loan native
paddled up to the English ship. Awkward attempts at communication were made. They traded for food and other trinkets and
developed a type of communication. Over the next several weeks the English organized expeditions to the island, both people
were curious about each other. The natives welcomed the English with open arms.
Arthur Barlow wrote, “We were entertained with all the love and kindness with as much bounty as they could possibly
devise. We found the people most gentle, loving and faithful. Void of all guile and treason. And the lived in the manner of the
golden age.”
Clue #2 New Friends
The explorers returned to England with two Natives Mantio and Wanchese. Stories of this abundant new world raced
through England. The Queen really wanted to expand her empire the way Spain had been doing. She hired privateers
(government backed pirates) to plunder Spanish ships. Colonization was a way for these privateers to set up home bases in
distant lands.vA major expedition was assembled with 7 ships and 600 men under the command of Sir Richard Grenville
(military man) very much liked privateering. John White was on board the expedition and painted what life looked like on
Roanoke.
Thomas Harriet a scientist on the expedition said this, “The people there are poor by our standards. And want of skill and
knowledge in the use of things, but though they have no tools, crafts or sciences as our own they show excellent wit. They
show great friendliness towards us and desire our friendships and love.”
Clue #3 Grenville’s visit turns into a disaster.
Relationship went sour over a silver cup. A native took a silver cup, possibly mistaking it for a gift. Grenville’s reaction was
to burn the village and the crops, setting a pattern of reactions that would seal the fate of the lost colony. Sept 1585 3 months
after being on Roanoke Island Sir Richard Grenville returned to England to get supplies. He left 100 men at the fort under the
command of Ralph Lane. The men’s orders were to scout the land for resources and survive the winter. Harsh winters left the
men dangerously low on supplies, so they went to the natives for help, and they were given supplies for a while. The natives
became afraid that by helping the settlers, they would run out of supplies for themselves. They moved off the island leaving
the expedition to starve.
Lane said, “If the savages should not help us and our supplies fail us we might very well starve like a starving horse in a
stable if we escape it will be only by the hand of God.” Later Lane and hi men attack and kill the natives leader.
Clue #4 First disappearance
Days later privateer Sir Francis Drake arrives finding the settlers on the verge of war. Since the Grenville supply ship
had not arrived the men abandoned Roanoke and sailed with Sir Frances Drake back to England. Within a week Grenville
arrives and finds it abandoned, knowing the Queen really wants to colonize he orders 15 men to stay at the fort, not knowing
the natives are watching and waiting to strike. May 1587 under the orders of the Queen, Sir Walter Raleigh sends ships with
117 men woman and children to the new world under the direction of John White. He was made governor of about 20
families.
His son in law and daughter, who was six months pregnant, went on the journey. The settlers were promised vast tracts
of land. The plan was to pick up the 15 men at Roanoke and then head north to a bay the natives called Chesapeake. When
they arrived at Roanoke they found one skeleton and the fort destroyed, Grenville’s men had disappeared.
Clue #5 Stranded and more problems
The captain of the boat Simon Fernandez wanted to go into deeper waters to hunt for Spanish ships and refused to take
the Colonist to Chesapeake Bay. No one was aware of the situation with the natives. It was too late in the season to plant
crops. The English had to find housing and food. A few weeks after they arrived a colonist was killed by a native while fishing.
Governor John White found a friend, Mantio who had traveled to England. He lived on a neighboring island called Croatoan.
Mantio was still friendly towards the settlers and agreed to be a go between with the other tribes. A meeting would be
arranged on August. 6 to try and arrange peace, but the day passed with no contact. White thought this meant the natives
wanted war. He organized an attack party and attacked the first village they found. He accidentally attacks the friendly
natives of Croatoan. Now Mantio’s people were ready for war. It took weeks for White to convince them the attack was a
mistake. British citizen born in the new world was Virginia Dare, daughter of Eleanor Dare, John Whites granddaughter.
Clue #6 Settlers need help.
John White was elected to return to England to get supplies, although he didn’t want to. He left August 27, 1587. He
made a pact with the settlers that if they had to leave before he returned that they would leave a sign as to where they were
going. It was the last time any Englishman would see the colonists alive.
When John White gets to England, they are preparing for a massive naval war with Spain. White’s plan had been to spend
the winter of 1587 gathering supplies for the colonists and return the following spring. However, the Queen needed every
ship to fight the massive armada King Phillip of Spain had amassed. Even Sir Walter Raleigh the Queen’s handpicked
lieutenant could not convince her to let him take supplies. He had to wait for 3 years. He tried twice to leave but failed both
times. After England beat Spain, White was given permission to return.
Clue #7 White returns.
He arrived on a summer’s night in 1590. At daybreak he went ashore with a search party and found no one. The only
evidence of life were some footprints of bare feet in the sand. He went to the north where the Roanoke Fort had been. The land
was vacant and everything was gone. Houses had been taken down. However, there were no signs of violence or that they had
been attacked, merely disassembled. He found two intriguing clues, the word Croatoan carved into a post and the letters CRO
had been carved into the bark of a tree.
Croatoan was the name of the island where Mantio’s tribe lived. He hoped that his pact with settler had worked and that
they had let him know they were at Croatoan. If they had left in haste because they were under attack, they would have left a
white cross over the name of where they went and no white cross was found. Five chests were found in the woods, containing
papers and books, but no word on the fate of the colonists. White took this as a good sign. Settlers must have planned to
return.
White wrote, “Many of the things inside the chests were spoiled and broken. The covers torn off books the frames of some
pictures ruined in the rain. And my armor almost eaten through with rust, but I took great joy in that I had found a token of
their being safe at Croatoan, the place where the savages of the land were our friends.”
Clue #8 John White never sees his family again.
White goes back to his ship planning to sail to Croatoan the following day, but he was stopped by the weather. The captain
who was anxious to get back to his main order of business, raiding Spanish ships along the coast, prevent White from
searching for the settlers. He was merely a passenger and had no control over what the ship did. After weeks of plundering
Spanish ships they headed back to England.
White wrote, “What evils or unfortunate events could have been avoided if I had returned on time to the colonies. I would
give to God all my wealth to know what’s become of them. I pray to the Almighty to help and to comfort them.” White died
three year later never knowing the fate of his daughter, granddaughter and the rest of the colonists.
Clue #9 Historical Ramifications
For twenty years after the colonists disappeared England made no attempt to find out what happened to the colonists.
Privateers would occasionally stop in the area, but there was no sign of the settlers. People lost interest in the colony. Then
in 1607 the English settled Jamestown, Virginia. Fierce battles with the natives broke out. The English soon learned that
what had happened at Roanoke 20 years earlier had not been forgotten.
Picture #1 Roanoke island Location
Picture #3 Sir. Richard Grenville
Picture #2 Arthur Barlowe
Picture #4 John White
Picture #5 White’s Drawings
Picture # 7 Ralph Lane
Picture #9 Queen Elizabeth
Picture #6 White’s Drawings
Picture # 8 Sir Walter Raleigh
Picture #10 CROATOAN