A School History of the United States | Page 8

Francis Drake, the greatest seaman of his age. He left England in 1577,
crossed the Atlantic, sailed down the South American coast, passed
through the Strait of Magellan, and turning northward coasted along
South America, Mexico, and California, in search of a northeast
passage to the Atlantic. When he had gone as far north as Oregon the
weather grew so cold that his men began to murmur, and putting his
ship about, he sailed southward along our Pacific coast in search of a
harbor, which in June, 1579, he found near the present city of San
Francisco. There he landed, and putting up a post nailed to it a brass
plate on which was the name of Queen Elizabeth, and took possession
of the country.[3] Despairing of finding a short passage to England,

Drake finally crossed the Pacific and reached home by way of the Cape
of Good Hope. He had sailed around the globe.[4]
[Footnote 1: For Cabot's voyages read Fiske's _Discovery of America_,
Vol. II., pp. 2-15.]
[Footnote 2: See map of 1515.]
[Footnote 3: The white cliffs reminded Drake strongly of the cliffs of
Dover, and as one of the old names of England was Albion (the country
of the white cliffs), he called the land New Albion.]
[Footnote 4: For Drake read E.T. Payne's Voyages of Elizabethan
Seamen.]
%16. Gilbert and Ralegh attempt to found a Colony.%--While Drake
was making his voyage, another gallant seaman, Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
was given (by Queen Elizabeth) any new land he might discover in
America. His first attempt (1579) was a failure, and while on his way
home from a landing on Newfoundland (1583), his ship, with all on
board, went down in a storm at sea. The next year (1584) his
half-brother, Sir Walter Ralegh, one of the most accomplished men of
his day and a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, obtained permission
from the Queen to make a settlement on any part of the coast of
America not already occupied by a Christian power; and he at once sent
out an expedition. The explorers landed on Roanoke Island, off the
coast of what is now North Carolina, and came home with such a
glowing description of the "good land" they had found that the Virgin
Queen called it "Virginia," in honor of herself, and Ralegh determined
to colonize it.[1]
[Footnote 1: For Ralegh read E. Gosse's Raleigh (in English Worthies
Series); Louise Creighton's _Sir W. Ralegh_ (Historical Biographies
Series).]
%17. Roanoke Colony; the Potato and Tobacco.%--In 1585,
accordingly, 108 emigrants under Ralph Lane left England and began
to build a town on Roanoke Island. They were ill suited for this kind of

pioneer life, and were soon in such distress that, had not Sir Francis
Drake in one of his voyages happened to touch at Roanoke, they would
have starved to death. Drake, seeing their helplessness, carried them
home to England. Yet their life on the island was not without results,
for they took back with them the potato, and some dried tobacco leaves
which the Indians had taught them to smoke.
Ralegh, of course, was greatly disappointed to see his colonists again in
England. But he was not discouraged, and in 1587 sent forth a second
band. The first had consisted entirely of men. The second band was
composed of both men and women with their families, for it seemed
likely that if the men took their wives and children along they would be
more likely to remain than if they went alone. John White was the
leader, and with a charter and instructions to build the city of Ralegh
somewhere on the shores of Chesapeake Bay he set off with his
colonists and landed on Roanoke Island. Here a little granddaughter
was born (August 18, 1587), and named Virginia. She was the child of
Eleanor Dare, and was the first child born of English parents in
America.
[Illustration: Roanoke Island and vicinity]
Governor White soon found it necessary to go back to England for
supplies, and, in consequence of the Spanish war, three years slipped
by before he was able to return to the colony. He was then too late.
Every soul had perished, and to this day nobody knows how or where.
Ralegh could do no more, and in 1589 made over all his rights to a
joint-stock company of merchants. This company did nothing, and the
sixteenth century came to an end with no English colony in
America.[1]
[Footnote 1: Doyle's _English Colonies in America_, Virginia, pp.
56-74; Bancroft's _History of the United States_, Vol. I., pp. 60-79;
Hildreth's _History of the United States_, Vol. I., pp. 80-87.]
%18. Gosnold in New England.%--With the new century came better
fortune. Ralegh's noble efforts to plant a colony aroused Englishmen to
the possibility of founding a great empire