England in America, 1580-1652 | Page 8

one asked him how he
expected to meet the expenses in so short a time, he replied, "Leave
that to me, and I will ask a penny of no man."
A terrible storm arose, but Gilbert retained the heroic courage and
Christian faith which had ever distinguished him. As often as the Hind,
tossed upon the waves, approached within hailing distance of the
Squirrel, the gallant admiral, "himself sitting with a book in his hand"
on the deck, would call out words of cheer and consolation--"We are as

near heaven by sea as by land." When night came on (September 10)
only the lights in the riggings of the Squirrel told that the noble Gilbert
still survived. At midnight the lights went out suddenly, and from the
watchers on the Hind the cry arose, "The admiral is cast away." And
only the Golden Hind returned to England.[4]
The mantle of Gilbert fell upon the shoulders of his half-brother Sir
Walter Raleigh, whose energy and versatility made him, perhaps, the
foremost Englishman of his age. When the Hind returned from her
ill-fated voyage Raleigh was thirty-one years of age and possessed a
person at once attractive and commanding. He was tall and well
proportioned, had thick, curly locks, beard, and mustaches, full, red lips,
bluish gray eyes, high forehead, and a face described as "long and
bold."
By service in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland he had shown
himself a soldier of the same fearless stamp as his half-brother Sir
Humphrey Gilbert; and he was already looked upon as a seaman of
splendid powers for organization. Poet and scholar, he was the patron
of Edmund Spenser, the famous author of the Faerie Queene; of
Richard Hakluyt, the naval historian; of Le Moyne and John White, the
painters; and of Thomas Hariot, the great mathematician.
Expert in the art of gallantry, Raleigh won his way to the queen's heart
by deftly placing between her feet and a muddy place his new plush
coat. He dared the extremity of his political fortunes by writing on a
pane of glass which the queen must see, "Fain would I climb, but fear I
to fall." And she replied with an encouraging--"If thy heart fail thee,
climb not at all." The queen's favor developed into magnificent gifts of
riches and honor, and Raleigh received various monopolies, many
forfeited estates, and appointments as lord warden of the stannaries,
lieutenant of the county of Cornwall, vice-admiral of Cornwall and
Devon, and captain of the queen's guard.
The manner in which Raleigh went about the work of colonization
showed remarkable forethought and system. In order to enlist the active
cooperation of the court and gentry, he induced Richard Hakluyt to
write for him, in 1584, his Discourse on Western Planting, which he

circulated in manuscript.[5] He not only received from the queen in
1584 a patent similar to Gilbert's,[6] but by obtaining a confirmation
from Parliament in 1585 he acquired a national sanction which Gilbert's
did not possess.[7]
In imitation of Gilbert he sent out first an exploring expedition
commanded by Arthur Barlow and Philip Amidas; but, warned by his
brother's experience, he directed them to go southward. They left the
west of England April 27, 1584, and arrived upon the coast of North
Carolina July 4, where they passed into Ocracoke Inlet south of Cape
Hatteras. There, landing on an island called Wokokon--part of the
broken outer coast--Barlow and Amidas took possession in the right of
the queen and Sir Walter Raleigh.[8]
Several weeks were spent in exploring Pamlico Sound, which they
found dotted with many small islands, the largest of which, sixteen
miles long, called by the Indians Roanoke Island, was fifty miles north
of Wokokon. About the middle of September, 1584, they returned to
England and reported as the name of the new country "Wincondacoa,"
which the Indians at Wokokon had cried when they saw the white men,
meaning "What pretty clothes you wear!" The queen, however, was
proud of the new discovery, and suggested that it should be called, in
honor of herself, "Virginia."
Pleased at the report of his captains, Sir Walter displayed great energy
in making ready a fleet of seven ships, which sailed from Plymouth
April 9, 1585. They carried nearly two hundred settlers, and the three
foremost men on board were Sir Richard Grenville, the commander of
the fleet; Thomas Cavendish, the future circumnavigator of the globe;
and Captain Ralph Lane, the designated governor of the new colony.
The fleet went the usual way by the West Indies, and June 20 "fell in
with the maine of Florida," and June 26 cast anchor at Wokokon.
After a month the fleet moved out again to sea, and passing by Cape
Hatteras entered a channel now called New Inlet. August 17, the colony
was landed