Clue to the Mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Found Hidden in Invisible Ink

The mystery of where the inhabitants of the Roanoke Colony, the first English settlement in the Americas, disappeared has long captivated historians and the public alike. Now we may have an answer.

One of the most enduring mysteries in American history is the fate of the Roanoke Colony, also known as the Lost Colony. This was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish the first permanent English settlement in North America, but it ended with the disappearance of more than 100 colonists under unknown circumstances.

Queen Elizabeth I sponsored the Roanoke Colony as part of England’s ambitions to establish a foothold in the New World and compete with Spanish colonial ventures. Sir Walter Raleigh, a half-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert (who led an unsuccessful colonization attempt in 1584), received a patent to explore and settle the coast where the Roanoke Colony was then founded in 1585 on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina.

The first governor, Ralph Lane, faced many challenges, such as lack of supplies, poor relations with some of the local Native American tribes, and attacks from Spanish ships. In 1586, he decided to abandon the colony and return to England with Sir Francis Drake, who was raiding Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. Sir Richard Grenville, who had brought Lane’s expedition to Roanoke, arrived shortly after and left a small group of men to hold the fort until further reinforcements.

In 1587, Raleigh sent another expedition, led by John White, with 115 men, women, and children, to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Americas in Chesapeake Bay. However, due to a misunderstanding with the pilot of the flagship, Simon Fernandes, White and his colonists were forced to land on Roanoke Island again and join Grenville’s men.

White became the governor of the colony and tried to improve the situation by repairing the fort, planting crops, and making peace with some of the Native Americans. He also witnessed the birth of his granddaughter, Virginia Dare, who was the first English child born in the New World.

White soon realized that he needed more supplies and men to sustain the colony. He sailed back to England in late 1587, hoping to return quickly with a relief mission. However, his plans were delayed by the outbreak of war between England and Spain, which made it difficult for him to secure a ship and permission to sail. The Spanish Armada threatened to invade England in 1588, and Queen Elizabeth I ordered all available vessels to join the naval defense. White had to wait until 1590 before he could finally embark on his return voyage.

When White arrived at Roanoke Island in August 1590, he found no sign of his family or any of the other colonists. The fort was deserted and partially dismantled. The only clue he found was a single word carved into a wooden post: “CROATOAN”.

White interpreted this as a message that the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island (now known as Hatteras Island), where they had friendly relations with the Croatoan tribe. He tried to search for them there, but bad weather and damaged equipment forced him to abandon his quest and return to England.

White never saw his family or any of the Roanoke colonists again and their fate remains unknown to this day. Many theories have been proposed over the centuries, but none have been conclusively proven. The Jamestown colonists conducted investigations that yielded reports indicating the Roanoke settlers had been massacred. Others think they died off due to disease or famine, or fell victim to a deadly storm.

Additionally, there were accounts of individuals with European characteristics sighted in Indian villages, leading to speculations that the settlers assimilated with friendly Native Americans and adopted their culture and language. Others believe that they tried to sail back to England on their own and perished at sea.

The most probable explanation is, however, that environmental degradation and inadequate harvests compelled the colony to relocate. In 1998, archaeologists analyzed local tree rings, establishing that a drought occurred during the period of the colonists’ possible departure. It might have been due to this event that the settlers abandoned Roanoke Island to join neighboring tribes like the Croatoan, seeking safety and sustenance amid perilous circumstances.

Supporting this theory is a new discovery indicating that the survivors divided into various groups and indeed merged with the Indigenous population. This fresh evidence comes from Brent Lane, a former instructor of heritage economics at the University of North Carolina, who was captivated by Lost Colony tales from his childhood and possessed a contemporary reproduction of White’s watercolor map titled La Virginea Pars, depicting the East coast of North America from Chesapeake bay to Cape lookout.

In 2011, Lane’s interest was piqued by two faint patches on his reproduction and requested the British Museum, where the original is located, to probe what lay under them.

The British Museum was slow to respond but Lane persisted – and rightly so. When the curators examined the painting on a light table three months later, a star-shaped fort symbol emerged from beneath one of the patches.

The fort’s unexpected location at the head of Albemarle Sound, approximately 50 miles away from Roanoke Island, aligned with White’s reference to the colonists planning to relocate “fifty miles into the main.”

Additionally, atop this patch, another scarcely discernible outline of a fort was present, possibly drawn with invisible ink made from urine—a clue suggesting the patch concealed a secret rather than rectifying an error, likely to protect the colony’s details from the Spanish.

In 2015, archaeologists from the First Colony Foundation, led by Nick Luccketti, began investigating the site in question, located in present day Bertie County, North Carolina. Promisingly, it was near a Native American village named Mettaquem, which was characteristic of early European settlements.

Although they found no trace of a fort, the team did find two dozen shards of English pottery just outside the village wall, with ground-penetrating radar revealing another potential excavation site two miles away. Digs at this other site conducted in 2019 uncovered many more fragments of ceramics from different parts of Europe, suggesting the presence of long-term residents.

While the archaeologists haven’t dismissed the possibility of the artifacts originating from the nearby colony of Jamestown, established in 1607, they say they are likely from the relocated Roanoke colonists. Noteworthy is the absence of English pipes, commonly found among Jamestown settlers, implying the ceramics predate that period.

But not everybody agrees with the foundation’s conclusion, and some think that the settlers moved to Croatoan—as the note they had left said, after all.

“Bertie was the heart of enemy territory,” Scott Dawson, cofounder of the Croatoan Archaeological Society, told the Virginian-Pilot. “It is the last place they would go. The colony literally wrote down they relocated to Croatoan.”

For 10 years, the society has led excavations at Hatteras Island, where they have found a rapier hilt, late 16th-century gun hardware, and a slate writing tablet fragment, among others. However, while the presence of these artifacts suggests interaction between the colonists and the Croatoan people, trade could also explain this connection.

Interestingly, though, both recent archaeological finds could be evidence of the Roanoke colony’s fate.

“Possibly,” said Jamestown Rediscovery President and First Colony Foundation board member James Horn in a statement, “a small group went to Croatoan Island in the fall or winter of 1587 to wait for John White to return, while the remainder moved inland.”

In 2007, the First Colony Foundation spearheaded a project to collect and analyze DNA from local families to figure out if they’re related to the Roanoke settlers, local Native American tribes or both. But while some participants showed possible European ancestry, a clear link to the Roanoke colonists themselves remained elusive.

So, a definitive explanation for the fate of those 115 individuals is still to be found. For now, the enigma endures.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9