QUESTION: What is the Mystery of Croatoan?

Movie that inspired question: Mindhunters

In 1587 Governor John White left Roanoke Island to return to England to pick up some much needed supplies. Earlier that year he landed on the small island with settlers to set up the first permanent English colony on the Eastern Coast of North Carolina.

Three years later on August 17th, 1590 he returned to the island. What he found was not the hero's welcome he expected.

Now before we continue with this tale it should be known that this isn't the first time someone tried to colonize this island. Sir Richard Grenville attempted to found a colony on Roanoke in 1585. He brought, then left, more than 100 men on the island with the promise that he would return by Easter of 1586.

It was the men's job on the island to explore and look for mineral resources. They relied on the local Native Americans for food, but after a falling out, they quickly ran out. When Grenville didn't come back on the date he said he would the men got fed up and returned to England. On Sir Francis Drake's boat no less. (he made a brief stop to the island. I love when guest stars come into play :) )

Two weeks after the men left, Grenville returned with supplies and additional colonists. He in turn left the new men on the island and returned to England to do this all over again.

Now back to John White. He was originally going to Chesapeake Bay where he was going to start a colony and be named governor. 117 colonists (men and women) and he landed on Roanoke July 22nd, 1587 to pick up the 15 men Grenville left behind.

Side note: Of the women in the group was John White's pregnant daughter Elinor. She was going to be the first person to give birth to a European child born in North America outside of Spanish control.

When he arrived on the island the only sign of the 15 men were the bones of one body. The fort had been completely destroyed except for some houses that were overgrown with foliage and overrun by local wildlife.

White saw this and was ready to bounce, but he pissed off the expedition's nautical leader Simon Fernandez so that wasn't gonna happen. Fernandez said he was gonna take the largest of the three boats they brought there and go back to England. He wasn't working with white any longer. So with that, he unloaded all the settlers and went on his merry way.

This obviously was not good for the settlers, it was too late in the season to farm, so their only luck was... (you guessed it) depend on the kindness of the local Native Americans. Well after being offended and unnerved by the behavior of the last colonists, the Native American's left the island. The settlers were stuck.

John White decided he would leave one ship at the dock on Roanoke and return on the other to England to get supplies. His orders were for everyone except 25 men to head north to Chesapeake Bay. The 25 men left behind would help direct White to the new settlement when he came back.

So now we are up to date.

What should have been a six to eight month supply run for John White turned into a three year delay.

Why you ask? Well the War between England and Spain made it hard for White to get his hands on a ship. When he finally was able to secure one, he returned to the island with four smaller boats full of provisions.

The bad luck of this island continued after he anchored the boats and went ashore. One of the boats, the Moonlight, was overcome by rough surf and capsized. The Captain of the boat Cpt. Abraham Cooke along with six men drowned.

When White found the settlement, it was deserted.

So now comes the big question, what happened to everybody?

Well some clues were left behind that added to this mystery.

On a tree at the entrance of the settlement was the carving of the word CROATOAN.

On another road that lead to the ship docking was another carving of the letters CRO. Which many believe is the abbreviation of CROATOAN.

You see, the settlers agreed to leave some sort of sign if they had to abandon Roanoke. If they were in danger, they would add a cross to the entrance sign. There was no cross, so it was assumed that the settlers voluntarily left to go to the island of Croatoan which is located 50 miles south. It was known to be inhabited by friendly Native Americans.

White wanted to sail there immediately, but the weather prevented that. Also his ship detached from its anchor and drifted off to sea after a storm (bad luck island) Because of this he never made it to Croatoan. Instead the remaining two ships went back to England and White went to Plymouth.

None of the 117 men and women (including Elinor) were ever seen again.

Theory Time!

Theory 1: There was a rumor the Spaniards may have killed them. The Spanish King actually made an order to destroy the colony. But it never happened because English buccaneers tried to take some of the Spaniards treasure and a huge battle ensued. When a Spanish governor did finally land on the island, all they found was a landing port. No people.

Theory 2: They were killed by Native Americans. White has reported that he received a warm welcome from the local tribes. Grenville, however, destroyed their cornfields and burned down a village after getting a report that a Native American may have stolen a silver cup. (eye roll)

Another local governor Ralph Lane heard a rumor that a local Chieftain was going to attack, so he attacked first killing the Chief and his counselors. It was believed the Native Americans took revenge for that incident out on the colony.

Truth be told, there was no evidence of violence at the camp and no evidence of Native American retribution.

So what the hell happened?

That my friends is why it's called a mystery. The most logical answer seems to be that some merged with the local tribes and others fell to disease. Some probably moved up to the Chesapeake Bay area called Skioac. If that was the case then they may have died. The settlement was destroyed in 1607.

No one will ever really know, but it's a good story.

Update: In August of 2015 two independent teams have found archeological remains that give more clues to what happened to the Colonists. It is suggested that they split off into two groups. Each going with a different Native American community.

They are still researching the findings and it doesn't answer all the questions, but could lead us one step closer to finding answers to this mystery.

For more information about the recent findings. Here are some links.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131208-roanoke-lost-colony-discovery-

history-raleigh/

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-new-evidence-of-the-fate-of-the-lost-colony-of-roanoke

http://www.history.com/news/archaeologists-find-new-clues-to-lost-colony-mystery

Sources: Editors of Readers Digest. (1994) Great Mysteries of the Past

Link to movie