THE GREAT ENTERPRISE
Scheme of colonization--Preparation--The sailing--Queen's
interest--Death of Sir Humfrey Gilbert--Another charter
obtained--King Wingina--Hospitality--Sir Richard
Grenville--Difficulties of first colonists--Personal
outfit--Misfortune.
Court life, for all its brilliance and excitement, did not monopolize
Ralegh's attention. He had gained wealth and position: he was near the
Queen. That did not suffice him. He was a man of imagination, who could
never rest content with the attainment which, as man of action, he had
achieved. Rarely have the two qualities been so often combined as they
were in the Elizabethan times, and rarely, even then, were they combined
with such force and in so high a degree as they were in great Ralegh. He
bent his energies on the scheme for colonization. The old idea was that
Paradise lay somewhere on the surface of the world; all through the
Middle Ages the dream existed. Columbus thought that the earth was
probably shaped like a pear, not spherical but elongated, and "on the
summit of the protuberance was situated the earthly Paradise, 'whither
no one can go but by God's permission.'"
That dream continued. It came to Marlowe and obsessed him. But Marlowe
dreamed of no mediaeval Paradise.
"Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self-place; for where we are is hell
And where hell is there must we ever be."
And his god was power; his demi-god, the man who, like Scythian
Tamburlaine, lived--
"Threatening the world with high astounding terms
And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword."
There was no limit set to the enterprise of man's energy; his power was
measureless and divine. Only in the realm of beauty his step might
falter; beyond all achievement, and all the beauty of achievement, there
would always hover--
"One thought, one grace, one wonder at the least
Which into words no virtue can digest."
Marlowe wrote intoxicated with this elixir of infinite possibility. The
sea-dogs, men of action, seemed almost to be realizing his dreams,
fighting the next ship that met them, like Drake always sailing a little
further on, coming home with spoils and tales of wonder, and starting
out in search of fresh adventures; or there were men like Frobisher, who
combined the buccaneer with the spirit of the scientist, and who were
anxious to learn new geographical facts; or men like Gilbert, who were
serious-minded enough to be whole-hearted in the cause of science; or
men like Ralegh, in whom all these elements seem to have been
struggling. This paradise of unknown lands worked in all ways upon his
mind. Not Columbus before him, not Balzac after him, realized more
keenly the power of money. He saw, with Gilbert and the industrious
Hakluyt, the value of geographical knowledge, but what fired his
imagination was the vision of another Empire across the seas, and that
vision he was impatient to realize. He inspired the painstaking Hakluyt,
and he quietly made it his life's purpose to further the project. It was
Ralegh who grasped the true meaning of the vague aspirations and whose
personality was big enough to set the first slow forces at work. His
immediate schemes failed, but without those initial failures Captain
John Smith would never have succeeded, as he did succeed some fifteen
years later, in founding the colony of Virginia, from which has at
length grown, in the space of four hundred years, the present American
nation. So are our dreams of Paradise materialized into fact.
The attempt which Gilbert and Ralegh had made at colonization in 1578
had failed.
But Ralegh, in his influential position, saw a means of turning his
scheme to advantage. As has been seen, the unrest of the Catholic party
was becoming more and more acute, until it reached its climax in the
Babington conspiracy and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Ralegh
saw his opportunity. He knew as well as Walsingham that there were a
large number of Catholic gentlemen who were desirous of remaining loyal
to their country and loyal to their religion. The wish was as sane as it
was difficult to realize. Naturally (and rightly from their point of
view) the Jesuits and other Catholics, whose enthusiasm made them
fanatical, hated these moderate gentlemen, and called them Schismatics.
Ralegh saw how they might be employed to the advantage of his scheme,
just as a few years previously, when the overcrowding of London was
troubling Burghley, that overcrowding suggested the immediate material
of his scheme. He suggested to Walsingham a solution of the difficulty,
that these gentlemen should form a separate kingdom, should found the
colony in Virginia. In June, 1582, Sir George Gerrard and Sir Thomas
Peckham were empowered to do this. The new plan was set in motion in
spite of Papal warnings and even Papal veto. Two ships were sent to spy
out the land that summer, and in the spring of the following year all
was at length in readiness for actual sailing. Ralegh himself intended
to be vice-admiral,[A] but the Queen forbade him to join the expedition.
He had, however, constructed, on plans of his own devising, an immense
sailing-vessel of 200 tons, which was called the _Bark-Ralegh_ (not to
be confused with the flagship of the fleet which repulsed the Armada
five years later, called the _Ark-Ralegh_). The other vessels were the
_Delight_ alias the _George_, of 120 tons, "which was the Admirall;" the
_Golden Hinde_ of 40 tons, "which was the Reare Admirall;" the
_Swallow_, of 40 tons, and the _Squirrill_, of 10 tons. "We were in
number," writes Mr. Edward Hayes, gentleman, who sailed on the _Golden
Hinde_, "in all about 260 men: among whom we had of every faculty good
choice, as Shipwrights, Masons, Carpenters, Smithes and such like,
requisite to such an action: also Minerall men and Refiners. Besides for
solace of our people and allurement of the Savages, we were provided of
Musike in good variety: not omitting the least toyes, as Morris dancers,
Hobby horsse, and Maylike conceits to delight the savage people whom we
intended to winne by all faire meanes possible. And to that end we were
indifferently furnished of all petty haberdasherie wares to barter with
those simple people."
[A] Professor Raleigh writes: "Ralegh, who never took kindly to
a subordinate command, deserted the expedition for some
reason unknown." But it is not at all probable that he
ever started.--"The English Voyages," p. 58.
On June 11 the expedition sailed from Causon Bay. The day was Tuesday.
Misfortune came very soon upon them. On Thursday evening the news was
signalled from the _Bark-Ralegh_ that the captain and very many of the
men were fallen sick; and at midnight, "notwithstanding we had the wind
East, faire and good," the vice-admiral forsook them. The reason Mr.
Hayes could never understand, he says in his account, and adds, "Sure I
am, no cost was spared by their owner Master Ralegh in setting them
forth: Therefore I leave it unto God." Sir Humfrey Gilbert was not so
philosophic about the desertion; he wrote to his brother-admiral, Sir
George Peckham, in wrath: "The _Bark-Ralegh_ ran from me in fair and
clear weather, having a large wind. I pray you solicit my brother Ralegh
to make them an example to all knaves."
After this defection the _Golden Hinde_ took the place of the
Vice-Admiral, and hoisted her flag from the mizzen to the foretop. As
they sailed northward they were "incumbered with much fogge and mists in
maner palpable," so that great difficulty was experienced by the ships
in keeping in touch one with the other. The danger of separation always
threatened sailing vessels, and elaborate devices and instructions were
always prepared to lessen its likelihood and to face the emergency. But
on July 20 the _Swallow_ and the _Squirrill_ became separated from the
company, and were not discovered again until the Newfoundland coast was
reached on August 3. Soon after another misfortune occurred owing to the
unruliness of the men on the _Squirrill_, who could not be restrained
from plundering a fishing-boat. This bad act was sufficient to wreck the
success of the expedition, and caused much dissatisfaction among the
sailors, who were always superstitious. Moreover, the men's unruliness
was a serious danger on such an expedition, apart from the question of
God's wrath, which Mr. Hayes feared, and which fell upon the _Squirrill_
and requited the ill-doers with death.
On August 5 Sir Humfrey Gilbert took possession of the harbour of St.
John, and invested the Queen's Majesty with the title and dignity
thereof. The arms of England, engraved in lead, were fixed upon a pillar
of wood and erected. Men were sent to explore the land, and to make maps
of it, while the ships were being overhauled and repaired. The report
only survives; the maps were lost when the general died.
On August 27 they set sail again, and on the next day a great wind
arose, bringing with it rain and thick mist, and drove the vessels upon
the sands and flats. The _Admirall_ struck; her stern and hinder parts
were broken in pieces by the waves; the men leapt into the sea. "This
was a heavy and grievous event to lose at one blow our chiefe shippe
fraighted with great provision, gathered together with much travell,
care, long time, and difficultie. But more was the losse of our men
which perished to the number almost of a hundreth soules." Among the
drowned was Budaeus, a learned man who was minded to record in the Latin
tongue the gests and things worthy of remembrance; Daniel, a refiner of
metals; and Captain Maurice Brawn, a virtuous, honest, and discreet
gentleman. A few men, however, managed to keep afloat in a small boat
for six days, and though two of them died of starvation, the others were
rescued. This disaster brought dismay to the company and they lost
courage. Winter, too, was drawing on, provisions were becoming scant,
their clothes were worn out. Accordingly, Sir Humfrey Gilbert determined
to make for home. "Be content," he said to the men, "we have seen
enough: and take no care of expence past: I will set you forth royally
the next Spring if God send us safe home. Therefore I pray you let us no
longer strive here, where we fight against the elements." But calamity
did not forsake them. Sir Humfrey Gilbert did not reach home. Before the
expedition sailed in June, Elizabeth for her own reasons had persisted
in denying Sir Humfrey the right to accompany his expedition; but his
step-brother, Sir Walter Ralegh, had continued to use his influence to
obtain permission, and the requisite permission had at last been
granted.
"BROTHER,
"I have sent you a token from her Majesty, an ancor guided by
a lady, as you see; and further, her Highness willed me to sende
you worde that she wished you as great good-hap and safty to
your ship, as if her sealf were ther in parson; desiring you to
have care of your sealf as of that which she tendereth; and
therefore for her sake, you must provide for hit accordingly.
"Farther, she commandeth that you leve your picture with me.
For the rest I leve till our meeting, or to the report of this
bearer, who would needs be the messengre of this good newse. So
I committ you to the will and protection of God, who send us
such life or death as He shall please or hath appointed.
"Richmonde this Friday morning.
"Your treu brother
"W. RALEGH"
The letter shows the Queen's interest and concern--her attitude towards
the gentlemen who adventured their lives for the glory of her kingdom.
But good-hap and safety were not vouchsafed to Gilbert's ship. The will
and protection of God did not send life; death had been appointed.
They reached the Azores without mishap, except that the general caused
himself great pain and inconvenience by treading upon a nail. The last
conference took place on the _Golden Hinde_, on September 3, when he
made merry with the company on board; his hopes of success ran high for
the enterprise, he vowed to undertake once more the next spring. They
were now coming near to England and the end of their distresses. But
they met with foul weather, and terrible seas, breaking short and high,
pyramid-wise. "Men which all their lifetime had occupied the Sea, never
saw more outragious Seas." Upon the main-yard of the _Golden Hinde_
appeared an apparition of a little fire by night. The little fire is an
evil omen, and is called Castor and Pollux. "Munday the ninth of
September, in the afternoon, the Frigat was neere cast away, oppressed
by waves, yet at that time recovered: and giving forth signes of joy,
the Generall sitting abaft with a book in his hand, cried out unto us in
the Hinde (so oft as we did approach within hearing), 'We are as neare
to Heaven by sea as by land.' Reiterating the same speech,
well-beseeming a souldier, resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testifie
he was."
Sir Humfrey Gilbert was seen no more. Sitting abaft with a book in his
hand--that was the last sight of him, and those were his last words,
the great saying of a great sailor. For at midnight the lights of his
vessel suddenly disappeared. The frigate was devoured and swallowed of
the sea. So died Sir Humfrey Gilbert in the prime of his manhood at the
age of forty-four.
The _Golden Hinde_ managed to reach the coast of England, and brought
the bad news of disaster to Sir Walter Ralegh, his step-brother, and to
Adrian Gilbert, his younger brother.
They wasted no time in grief or mourning. They paid proper respect to
the memory of the brave dead, and immediately made renewed efforts to
further the enterprise to which their brother had devoted his life.
[Illustration: A SAILING-SHIP IN THE TIME OF RALEGH]
Within six months Ralegh obtained another charter from the Queen with
larger powers. He and Adrian Gilbert and John Davies were incorporated
under the new charter as "The College of the Fellowship for the
Discovery of the North-west passage." That was the dream of the dead
navigator. Ralegh always had a greater purpose in view, and the charter
was later extended by clauses giving him powers to colonize. Directly
these first steps were taken, a month after the charter's final signing,
Ralegh despatched two captains, Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow.
Captain John Smith gives an account of their voyage in his "History of
Virginia." (John Smith it was who, profiting by initial failures,
succeeded some years later in the fulfilment of the great scheme.) "The
27 of Aprill," he writes, "they set sail from the Thames, the tenth of
May passed the Canaries, and the tenth of June the West Indies: which
unneedful Southerly course (but then no better was knowne) occasioned
them in that season much sicknesse." His interpolation--then no better
was known--is significant. It throws a clear light on the difficulties
with which these early colonizers were called upon to cope; they had not
yet learned the best way even of reaching their destination.
However, on the 2nd of July the two captains arrived at Florida, "where
they felt a most delicate sweete smell, though they saw no land, which
ere long they espied, _thinking it the Continent: an hundred and twenty
miles they sailed not finding any harbour_." That again is significant,
taking into consideration the limited room on a sailing vessel for food
and other necessaries. When they came to land, they had not yet the
means of knowing anything about that land whatsoever. At length they
discovered that they were upon an island, the island of Wokokon. It was
fertile past all belief. Grapes grew in profusion right down to the
water's edge, that the very surge of the sea sometimes over-flowed them.
In the valleys tall cedars grew, and from the black cedars great cranes
flew in white flocks, when the men discharged their muskets, "with such
a cry as if an army of men had shouted together." The island was thickly
wooded with other trees of excellent smell and quality; and in the woods
there were conies and deere and fowle in incredible abundance. For three
days none of the people were seen. On the third day, in a little boat,
three of them appeared and showed no sign of fear. One of them stopped
and conferred with the sailors, who gave him a shirt and a hat, meat and
wine, which he liked. Then he went away; but soon returned with his boat
quite full of fish, which he gave to the sailors. He had come from the
mainland.
Next day the king's brother visited the ships, with forty or fifty men,
"proper people and in their behaviour very civill." The king's brother's
name was Granganamen. Soon after the king himself, Wingina, came. A mat
was spread for him on the sea shore, and he sat down upon it. When the
sailors came to him, he stroked his head and breast, and he stroked
their heads and breasts, to express his love. He made a long speech, and
divers toys, "which he kindly accepted," were presented to him.
Especially a pewter pleased the king's fancy. He drilled a hole in it
and hung it round his neck. It made him a capital breastplate, for which
he was ready to give, and gave, twenty skin of deer, worth twenty
crowns. He was so pleased with his bargain and treatment that a few days
later he brought his wife and children on board. During all their stay
in his kingdom, which was called Wingandacoa, King Wingina sent them
almost every day a brace of bucks, conies, hares, fish and vegetables.
The soil was fertile, as the woods were plentifully stocked with
game--for the sailors put some peas in the ground, and in ten days they
had grown to the height of fourteen inches.
They had, indeed, found the Land of Promise; and the people who
inhabited the land were as friendly as their king. A party went on a
little expedition to the island of Roanoak, which was distant some seven
leagues. There the wife of the chief man, who was absent, welcomed them
with much courtesy. She had their clothes taken off and washed; she had
their feet bathed in warm water, while she herself attended to the
preparation of food. While they were eating, warriors entered the room
armed with bows and arrows. The sailors, fearful of treachery, grasped
their muskets. There was no need for alarm, however. The woman saw their
fear, and ordered the warriors immediately to snap their bows and arrows
across their knees.
Hospitality could go no farther. The whole account of the land
"luxuriant to the water's edge, and of their joyous reception by the
Indians, makes the dreams of the pastoral poets seem true," as Professor
Raleigh puts it. Indeed, the people were such as live after the manner
of the Golden Age. Such, too, the Burmese were found to be some three
hundred years later; they had the same childlike simplicity, the same
earnest kindliness; they, too, were unspoiled and happy. The Indians
were regarded as savages; they were not closely observed or
sympathetically described by these stout-hearted adventurers, as the
Burmese have been by Fielding Hall in his notable books. Their
subsequent history bears out the resemblance. The Indians, simpler, more
childish people--savages in fact--came into contact with a sterner
younger civilization. Their history is known. The history of the subject
Burmese is still in the making.
Captain Amadas and Captain Barlow returned in September. They brought
with them two of the natives, many skins, and pearls as big as peas,
which they duly delivered to Sir Walter Ralegh. He was overjoyed with
the success of their voyage, and he obtained permission from the Queen
to call his new land of Wingandacoa, Virginia, in her honour. He ordered
a new seal of his arms to be cut, engraved with the legend, "Propria
insignia Walteri Ralegh, militis, Domini et Gubernatoris Virginiae."
In the spring of the following year his colonizing fleet was ready. The
command of the expedition was given to Sir Richard Grenville, the
valiant, as John Smith calls him. The colony was to be under the
management of Captain Ralph Lane. Sir Richard Grenville was not the man
for the business, and the expedition would have had a very different
result had Sir Philip Sidney undertaken its command, as it was intended
that he should. Sir Richard was supreme as a fighter: his tactics were
to hit first, and to hit hardest, and never to give way. He was
indomitable, but more than sheer bravery was necessary for the
undertaking, and more than sheer bravery Sir Richard Grenville did not
possess.
The fleet of seven ships departed from Plymouth in April, and, without
any serious mishap, they arrived on May 12 at the Bay of Moskito in the
island of St. John's, where they cast anchor, and where in seven days
they were joined amidst great rejoicing by Master Candish, captain of
one of the ships which had been separated in a storm. The island of St.
John was in possession of the Spaniards. It is probable that Sir
Richard Grenville hated the Spaniards more than he loved the project of
colonization; for in St. John he stayed till the end of May. He built a
fort, and succeeded in capturing two Spanish frigates, one of which was
well freighted with treasure, and having ransomed the Spaniards of
account for good round sums, he went on his way to Isabella, on the
north side of Hispaniola. Here again they delayed, hoping, as it would
seem, for an opportunity to attack the Spaniards in possession; but the
Spaniards, overawed, as the writer thinks, by their numbers, exhibited
only the greatest courtesy. So they sailed on June 7, and eventually
arrived a fortnight later at Wokokon, after having narrowly escaped
complete shipwreck "on a breach called the Cape of Fear."
The colony was now on the verge of plantation. But the men did not see
the immense need of living at amity with the natives, that they might
win their support and trust, without which their task would be
insuperable in difficulty. They had hardly lived among them for two days
before strife broke out, in which, of course, the Englishmen were easily
victorious. For it appears that a silver cup was missed, and theft was
suspected. For this trivial reason the town of Aquascogok, which was
supposed to shelter the culprit, was burned, and all the neighbouring
cornfields were laid waste. Enmity was thus kindled, and the fire of
enmity cannot easily be extinguished.
After that Sir Richard Grenville sailed away with his convoy, and
passing on his way home a richly laden Spanish ship of three hundred
tons, he boarded her (note the prodigious daring of the fellow!) with a
boat made with boards of a chest, "which fell asunder and sunk at the
ship's side as soon as ever he and his men were out of it." That was on
the last day of August: on September 18 he sailed into Plymouth harbour,
well-contented with his prize, "and was courteously received by divers
of his worshipful friends."
But Ralph Lane was left behind in Virginia with his colonists, to the
number of some hundred house-holders, and the hostile natives. From the
New Fort he writes an enthusiastic letter, on September 3, to Master
Richard Hakluyt. His report of the fertility of the country is more
glowing even than the account of Amadas and Barlow, or than Ralegh
himself could have dared imagine in his brightest dreams. "It is the
goodliest and most pleasing territory of the world; for the continent is
of a huge and unknown greatness, and very well peopled and towned,
though savagely: and the climate is wholesome, that we had not one sick
since we touched the land here." Horses and kine and sufficient
Englishmen are alone needed, and no realm in Christendom would be
comparable with Virginia. The men set to work to build themselves a
settlement, making use of the equipment with which each man was
provided.
Captain John Smith, who succeeded, some thirty years later, in erecting
the colony on the ruins of these previous failures, gives an exact
outfit, with the cost of each article, which a colonist would require.
He could learn from the experience of others, and was wise enough to
tabulate his own experience in minute lists that others might learn from
him. Lane's colonists could not have been so well provided. They must
have lacked many little necessaries which the wisest forethought could
not have provided, they must have encumbered themselves with much that
was comparatively useless. Here are some articles of personal outfit
which John Smith--and John Smith knew--deemed indispensable. They read
quaintly with their prices:--
A Monmouth Cap 1_s._ 10_d._
Three Shirts 7_s._ 6_d._
One Waste Coat 2_s._ 2_d._
One Suit of Canvase 7_s._ 6_d._
" " Frize 10_s._ 0_d._
" " Cloth 15_s._ 0_d._
Three pair of Irish Stockings 4_s._ 0_d._
Four pair of shoes 8_s._ 8_d._
One pair of garters 0_s._ 10_d._
One dozen of points 8_s._ 0_d._
One pair of Canvase sheets 8_s._ 0_d._
Seven ells of Canvase to make a bed a
bolster to be filled in Virginia,
serving for two men
Five ells of coarse canvase to make a bed 5_s._ 0_d._
One Coarse rug to be used at sea for
two men
Lane's colonists remained exactly one year in Virginia. Their life was
varied and exciting. At first the Indians, in spite of the silver cup
and the summary vengeance for its theft, were still inclined towards
friendliness. Their kings visited New Fort. Menatonou, King of
Chawanook, was especially well-disposed. He was a "man impotent in his
limbs, but otherwise, for a savage, a very grave and wise man, and of a
very singular good discourse in matters concerning the state, not only
of his own country and the disposition of his own men, but also of his
neighbours round about him as well far as near, and of the commodities
that each country yieldeth." Among other things, he told Lane where
pearls in large quantities could be found, and Lane devised a plan for
making an expedition to that river of Moratoc.
And from this plan, which Lane records in full in a subsequent letter to
Ralegh, peers out the mistake in judgment which brought disaster upon
this first enterprise. These colonists had too much the spirit of Sir
Richard Grenville. They were too adventurous, and esteemed the natives
of too little account. Instead of quietly settling and making their base
secure, while the Indians became gradually used to their presence, they
must needs be hurrying further inland in pursuit of immediate and
enormous wealth. Theirs was too much the spirit of the lion-hearted
freebooter and not enough the spirit of the determined settler.
Misfortune awaited them. For there lived an old king in this land of
fabulous wealth by the swift river of Moratoc or Moratico. Ensenore was
his name, and he was friendly to the English. Not so his son Pemisapan.
And at this crucial time Ensenore died and Pemisapan took his place at
the head of the province, and immediately began his endeavours to
undermine the little influence which the English had already gained
among the neighbouring peoples. The position of the colonists became one
of extreme danger in consequence. They found that they must not only
struggle against the elements to secure food and shelter, but also fight
for their lives against the inhabitants. They had expected support from
England in the spring, with reinforcements of every kind. None, however,
came, and probably the fear of isolation, brought about by events of
which they had heard nothing, was added to their other fears. Small
wonder then that, when Sir Francis Drake came to them with twenty tall
ships, they should clamour to leave the perilous spot and return to
England. They returned in June, Drake's fleet laden with the spoils he
had garnered from the sack of the Spanish cities, St. Iago, St. Domingo,
Carthagena, St. Anthony, and St. Helens. With them, too, they are said
to have brought, for the first time, specimens of the plant Nicotiana,
of which Ralegh discovered the sovereign virtues, and which, in despite
of King James from Scotland and his counterblast, has soothed many
millions of honest Englishmen.
A fortnight after the colonists departed, fearing that they were
forsaken, the ship of a hundred tons which Ralegh had stored with
provisions and other necessaries arrived, and a month after Sir Richard
Grenville came with three ships, and found neither colonists nor the
ship which Ralegh had sent out for their relief. Accordingly, after he
had searched long in vain and made certain explorations on his own
initiative, he landed fifteen brave men to retain possession of the
country for England and sailed home. Nothing more was heard of the
fifteen brave men.
So ended the first series of attempts to found an English colony in
Virginia, doubtless, efforts which themselves just failed of success,
but without which the final colonization of Virginia would have been
impossible.