S04 Episode 13: Lost in Stormy Visions (Pt.2 of 3)

out the back of Chapman's head. The Secotain had raised his club again, but by then Coffin was already on the move, charging headlong into the trees. The branches whipped at him mercilessly as he sprinted for his life, while following close behind, the thirty strong group of Secotans gave

chase back at Camp. Two, men on watch at the front of the fort, having heard the distant screams, looked up to see their leader burst suddenly into the clearing, followed soon after by the terrifying sight of thirty near naked Secotans in full battle cry, running straight toward them. Having no time to prepare their muskets and cannons. The English soldiers grabbed whatever they could to defend themselves as

a stream of flaming arrows whistled past their heads. The Secotans had appeared not long after the fifteen men ordered by Richard Grenville to keep hold of Roanoke at all costs had arrived on the island. Having approached Master Coffin and Chapman with smiles and cordial gestures, there seemed no

reason for immediate concern. Perhaps if they'd known a little more about the circumstances of just why Ralph Lane and the previous one hundred and seven colonists had left, or about the terror they had wrought in their short stay, they might have thought twice. Moments later, Chapman was dead. Another volley of arrows whistled through the settlement, sinking with a flurry of thuds into various wooden structures as the

forest echoed with the screams of men. Then came another arrow, this time hitting its mark, entering one of Coffin's men through the mouth and exiting out the back of his head. Down by the shoreline, four of the English were wading through the shallows looking for oysters when one of them spotted their bedraggled compatriots staggering out of the forest with

seconds despair. The men had bundled themselves to a nearby rowing boat, and, having picked the other four up on the way, headed out across the Pamlico Sound toward the relative safety of the outer bank. Exhausted, bloodied and bruised, the men, now only thirteen in total, collected their breath and looked forlornly at the distant coastline of Roanoke Island

as they pondered their next move. It was late August fifteen eighty six by the time Francis Drake's fleet arrived back in England with tales of adventure and daring doo in the Caribbean. So enwrapped were the upper classes by his successful plundering of the Spanish colonies. Few barely registered the one hundred and seven failed colonists who had returned home with them. Though Sir Walter Raleigh had been disappointed by the failed venture, it was some relief the few

had noticed. As for the Queen, she had far more pressing things to worry about than the colonial failings of her courtier. An assassination plot had been unearthed concocted by supporters of her arch rival for the throne, Mary Queen of Scots. By September, the leading perpetrators had been arrested and thrown into the Tower of London Jail. On September twentieth, they were placed on crudely built sledges and drawn by horseback through the waist filled streets of London to a

field in Hoburn, in the center of the city. There, as a vast crowd gathered to watch, the men were dragged at the top of some scaffolding to await their hanging. One by one, the conspirators were forced to watch as their cohorts were hung until barely alive, before being cut from the gallows and placed on a large wooden block. Still conscious, The men were then stripped before having their genitals sliced off as they screamed in agony and begged

for mercy. Their stomachs were sliced open and their innards removed, and finally their hearts were cut out. The assassination plot would prove particularly useful for Walter Raleigh. Not only had it helped to bury the news of the Roanoke failure, but within days Rawleigh found himself one of the main beneficiaries of the executions when the Queen gifted him all the estates formerly belonging to Antony Babington, one of the

lead conspirators. Having decided to pause his colonial ambitions for the time being, Raleigh was now wealthier than he could ever have imagined. It was time for another plan. Having been briefed by Ralph Lane and Thomas Harriot about their time on Roanoke, it was clear to Raleigh that another location should be found if a second colony was going to be successful. As Harriot explained, there was one place in particular that he and John White had come across

while conducting their cartography mission further up the coast. The area known as Chesapeake Bay had seemed especially fertile, with vast swathes of tall and thin trees perfect for construction. More importantly, he and White had succeeded in striking up good relations with a number of local tribes unaffiliated with those who now regarded them with animosity. When it was also suggested there may well be silver to mine near by,

Raleigh was sold. There was only one small problem. Although investors were not put off by the stories now being by the returning colonists of the exotic, cannibalistic savages that stalked the New World. It was proving much harder to find new colonists willing to make the trip. One of those who wasn't put off, however, was John White. Despite all the difficulties they had faced on the last venture, he'd thought of little other than how he might return

to the New World since he'd got back. After hearing that Raleigh was looking to try it a second time, he jumped at the opportunity, having been far more interested in learning from the Americans than Master Lane and his soldiers had been. It's possible White had hoped that, under his guidance, a second colony might find a way to

live peacefully with the local communities. It was also possible that White's exposure to the majestic wilderness of America, in contrast to the foul, stench and disease ridden London, had made his return to the city or the more unbearable. In any case, what America offered that he wouldn't find anywhere else was the chance to forge a life and future for himself and his family, unimpeded by the English

social structures of his day. It was a life of promise that he also succeeded in convincing his pregnant daughter Eleanor and his son in law to buy into. And then there was the small matter of one other issue, the fifteen men that Richard Grenville had left stranded on Roanoke. When Grenville returned to London shortly after Francis Drake's fleet, Raleigh had been alarmed to discover that he'd placed another

fifteen men on the island. Though Raleigh had first wanted to forget about them, Grenville eventually convinced him that, whether he liked it or not, he was responsible for them. A compromise was made. The men would be picked up by the new colonists on route to Chesapeake Bay. With John White's help. Over the next few months, Raleigh succeeded in convincing many others to sign up, and in January fifteen eighty seven, as a reward for his efforts, White

was promoted to governor of the future colony. The town's name would be Raleigh, and the surrounding territory known as Virginia, in honor of the Virgin Queen. It was to be a very different venture to the first relying less on military might and more on the expertise of its community. Having realized the importance of becoming self sufficient as quickly as possible, Raleigh and White had focused heavily on recruiting

individuals with farming and hunting skills. Though most of the colonists would be men, with many leaving families behind in the hope of fighting them out later, this time there would be women joining them too. Their presence would prove invaluable, as Unlike their male counterparts, who tended to only specialize in one discipline, the women possessed an array of vital practical skills, from baking and brewing to churning butter and

rearing animals. Then knew far more about food processes when seeds and herbs were ripe for picking and harvesting, and often worked as accountants and bookkeepers for their husbands, while also doing the majority of child rearing. More often than not, they also worked much longer hours. One thing that troubled Raleigh, however, was the lack of nobility in the group. As a result, Raleigh instructed the nation's chief Officer of Arms to make up a family crest for all the men while also

fabricating for them ancient links to the English aristocracy. Manteo, who had returned with the first colonists, was ordered to go back with John White's group as their lead interpreter. In return, he was to be made the Lord of Roanoke Island. By late spring, White had secured a small fleet of ships headed by the one hundred and twenty ton vessel the Lion, to deliver them to Chesapeake Bay,

and the moment was finally upon them. On May eighth, fifteen eighty seven, Governor John White and his one hundred and sixteen colonists set sail from Portsmouth in England, and their troubles began almost immediately. It was barely a week into the voyage when John White stepped on deck of the Lion to find that the companionship, known as a flyboat, carrying a number of colonists as well as most to their provisions for their venture, was missing. When he asked

the ship's captain, Simon Fernandez, about it, he seemed strangely unconcerned. Fernandez, who had been one of the original pilots on the first colonial mission, had been one of the few men available to take the second group across. Though trusted by Raleigh, it seemed very quickly to White that something about him was off. His response to losing the fly boat was especially odd since Edward Spicer, who was piloting it, had never been to where they were heading and was relying

on Fernandez to lead him there. When the Lion made it to the Caribbean some months later, White suggested to Fernandez that they stopped to get fresh water and give the travelers some respite from the ship. Despite being well acquainted with the area, however, Fernandez seemed suddenly unable to suggest a convenient place to land. After dropping the colonists at one island, their efforts to find food and water resulted in half the ship being poisoned by the local

fruit and the stagnant water they drank. Later, when Fernandez promised they would find animals to eat on another island, they found nothing of the sort. By mid July, the Lion had made it as far as the Outer Bank, and on July twenty second dropped Anchor off the shores of Hatterasc behind which lay the Pamlico Sound, and at the top of that Roanoke Island. White called Manteo over to join him on the port side, and together they peered out for any sign of life coming from Roanoke,

but saw nothing. Undaunted, White ordered forty men to join him in the ship's boat, which was then untethered from the Lion, in preparation for heading out to the island. But just as the vessel was about to pull away, one of Fernandez's crew called out from over the side with a message from Fernandez. None of the colonists were to be allowed back on the ship, but were to be deposited at Roanoke Island and left there for good.

Murmurs of confusion echoed about the boat as White struggled to comprehend what exactly was going on, demanding to speak with Fernandez. The captain soon appeared at the front of the vessel, repeating what his crew member had just said. Fernandez explained that it was getting too late in the season for them to make it to Chesapeake Bay and be back in the Caribbean before the storms picked up.

White realized immediately there was nothing he could do. The ship's men were all loyal to Fernandez and not one of the colonists. At the first idea about how to command a sailing ship. White looked around at the imploring faces of his fellow colonists, then out toward the shores of Roanoke. At least, he thought to himself, there'll be a fot and fifteen soldiers waiting for them when they got there. And so it was, just as a soft yellow sun was beginning to dip below the island's tree tops.

White accepted Fernandez's orders and commanded the oarsman to start rowing. Are you always taking care of your family? Do you often take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself, to make time for you you deserve it. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak

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Download the app or visit teledoc dot com forward slash Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. It was almost dark by the time White and the others arrived at the eastern shore of the island, pulling the boat onto the beach, They agreed to bed down for the night, deciding to make their way to the fort at first light the next day.

While some help to set up a makeshift camp, White and the others called out into the trees, hoping for any response from Master Coffin and his men, but all was silent save for the crickets and the sloshing of the waves behind them. Then came a sudden cry. White rushed over to find one of the colonists pointing into the undergrowth at the hideous skeleton covered in rags poking out from underneath it. It was all that was left

of one of Coffin's men. The following morning, at sunrise, White and Manteo led the forty settlers to the north end of the island. A short time later, the colonists arrived at the fort. Though White recognized it instantly, much of it, including the central fortification, had been completely destroyed. White had promised them a working village, but this was nothing but ruins, taken over by thick vines and wild deer. As for Master Coffin's men, there was no sign of

them anywhere for the next few days. The colonists set about unloading what supplies they had from the Lion, and spent the rest of their time repairing the settlement. Early on July twenty fifth, incredibly, the expedition's fly ship was spotted approaching the outer bank. They had made it after all, and by the end of the day all one hundred and fifteen colonists had been delivered to Roanoke to begin

their new lives. It was a few days after the flyboat's arrival that an alarm was raised one of the landing party was missing. George Howe, one of the more senior members of the group, had been elected as one of the twelve assistants to help John White in running the colony. That morning, he'd to the beach to search for oysters, but had failed to return They found him a few hours later, face down in the sand as his lifeless body was tugged gently back and forth by

the waves. His body drained of blood, was covered in tiny slash wounds. He'd been shot by arrows and had his head split open. Most had been so consumed by the relentless work of the past few days they had all but forgotten about the Americans. Now it was all they could think about. For White, it was a disturbing reminder that it was going to require much more than careful harvesting for the colony to survive. But first he needed to know what had become of the fifty men

left by Richard Grenville. The next day, White took Manteo, along with a small team of settlers to the island of Crowetoen to speak with Manteo's tribe, hoping that they might know something. On their arrival, some crowhetoents threatened to attack White's group, until Manteo quickly stepped in to mediate between the two. Later, having been invited back to their local village, Manteo explained to White that his people had been worried that the English had come for their food,

just as they had done before. White reassured them, however, that they were only seeking friendship and nothing else. A moment later, a member of the tribe was brought forth from out of the nearby hut. The man had been so brutally wounded that he had been unable to walk for over a year. As the elders explained, he'd been injured by English soldiers from the last settlement, who had mistaken him for one of Winjinna's tribe, the Secotan leader

they had executed the previous year. Though, as the elders graciously explained they bore no grudge with White, those that had survived Lane's attack on winjohn As village would not be so forgiving. In fact, it was winjohn As people that had killed George Howe, as White also later discovered it was Scotens who had ambushed Master Coffin and his men a few months previously and likely killed them all.

After spending the night in the company of the crow Atoens, the following day, White asked the elders to help organize a conference with the rest of the local tribes so that they might find a way to exist peacefully together. The crow Atoens Julia agreed and offered to bring everyone to Roanoke Island at some point within the next seven days. Back at the fort, the colonists were becoming increasing the anxious, with few venturing beyond the boundary walls since the death

of George Howe. Spirits were raised, however, when White returned bearing news of the imminent conference with the local tribes. But as one day passed after another with no sign of the crow Atones or any of the other tribes, the colonists had grown nervous once more. On the morning of the eighth day, as he watched his heavily pregnant daughter helping to collect firewood, White knew he had to

make a decision. Though others may try to attack them, it was clear that win Joanna's people were the biggest threat. Having learnt from the Croatoans that the survivors of Ralph Lane's attack were now living in a village not far from Roanoke Island, White went for it. At midnight, White, along with Manteo and twenty four of the colonists' best

fighting men, made the short journey to the mainland. Having crept off the beach, they continued silently into the trees, following the sound of voices and the crackling of fire until they arrived at the Secotan settlement. Quietly, they made their way to the far side of the village and waited for White's instruction. Now he cried, at which the

English opened fire and charged into the settlement. Utter chaos ensued as the silhouetted bodies of the villagers ran for their lives down to the coast, darting into nearby reeds. The English gave chase, shooting indiscriminately at anything that moved, when from out of the dark, Manteo screamed for them to stop. Rushing back to the village, White found Manteo cradling a dying man in his arms, with an expression of immeasurable anguish on his face. These are not Secotans,

he cried, These are Crowetoans, my people. You've killed the wrong people. As it transpired, the Secotans had left their village immediately after killing George Howe, fearing an instant reprisal from the English. The crow Atoens had moved in to collect all the food they had left behind. The following day, White did his best to make it up to them by helping them to collect what was left, but it

was little consolation for the enormity of his error. On August thirteenth, a ceremony was held on a Manteo for his loyalty to the English, and as promised to him by Serrali, he was granted the title Lord Manteo of Roanoke Island. Five days later, Eleanor Dare, John White's daughter

went into labor. As the colony's physician got to work, the women of the village gathered round to help, taking it in turns to hold Eleanor's hand and urging her to breathe deeply, until finally the baby arrived, a girl to be named Virginia in honor of the Queen, the first English child to be borne in the New World. With Virginia's birth came a renewed optimism and in White a renewed sense of responsibility, for not only were these people's lives in his hands, but their futures too, and

the future of all their subsequent generations. Meanwhile, on the outer Bank, despite having told White that they were in a hurry to make it back to the Caribbean, Simon Fernandez and the Lion remained anchored just off the coast. Though its presence had irked Governor White, many had been reassured by it, being as it was a symbol of their former homes and an escape route back if they

so wished. In late August, however, a tremendous storm ripped through the island, blowing the Lion far back into the Atlantic. Although it returned six days later, its sudden and unexpected disappearance had left a profound mark on the colonists, being suddenly confronted by the enormity of their mission. Once Fernandez and the Lion were gone for good, there would be no way to reach home or send word should anything cataclysmic occur, and in that moment, the settlers realized they

were not ready. Not only had they arrived too late to plant seriously before the winter, Since they had not made it to Chesapeake Bay, any future supply ships would have no idea they had been deposited on Roanoke Island. Somebody would have to return to England to inform Raleigh of the situation and make a request for more supplies. Given his prior relationship with the man, it was soon

decided that that somebody should be John White. White was aghast surely as governor, his place was with his people, but the people, alarmed by White's recent blunders, had made up their minds. Stunned by the decision, and no doubt devastated to leave. His daughter had newly born granddaughter behind, White, Julie informed Fernandez that he would be traveling back to

England with the fleet. Much to his relief, it was agreed that he could travel with Edward Spicer on the flyboat and not with Fernandez, who by then was refusing to even speak to the governor. Having said his goodbyes, it suddenly occurred to White that should anything happen to the colony and they be forced to move, there'd be no way to tell anyone about it. Then he had an idea. Should they have to move on, they would carve the name of where they were going on nearby

trees and the doorposts of their homes. If it were by their own volition, just the name would suffice, but if they were forced to flee, they should carve a Maltese cross above the inscription. After making them promise to protect his possessions while he was gone, White kissed his daughter and granddaughter goodbye and made his way into the rowboat. It wouldn't be so bad, he told them, and with any luck, he'd be back before winter. He couldn't have

been any more mistaken. You've been listening to Unexplained, Season four, Episode thirteen, Lost in Stormy Visions, Part two, The third and final part, will be released next Friday or sixteenth. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and would like to help support us, you can now go to Unexplained podcast dot com Forward Slash Support. All donations, no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements of Unexplained

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