Roanoke
The colony that vanished without a trace
By: Leo Eaton & Jamie Tavenner
May 11, 2026
Step into the past
Imagine you've been gone from your family for too long, 3 years since you’ve seen your daughter and friends. When you finally return, you find nothing. No signs of life anywhere. The only thing that you find is a message carved into a tree and it reads “Cro” and “Croatoan”…
What happened here?
This was the reality for early settler John White after a trip back to England to restock supplies for the Roanoke colony. To try and figure out this mystery let’s head back to the beginning and learn what happened to this lost colony.
Exploring the outer banks
Exploration of the Outer Banks region of North Carolina began around the mid 1520s. Exploration is being used very loosely here, as it was the Florentine Giovanni de Verrazzano under command of the French that merely skirted the Outer Banks. They peeped it and just kept going. The next year, a Spanish explorer named Pedro de Cajo simply passed by again on a trip to the Chesapeake Bay, which lies further north. The area remained unexplored until about 20 years later when Sir Walter Raleigh would show a real interest in the area. Side note, Sir Walter Raleigh also took a run at attempting to find the Lost City of Z/El Dorado back in the day, anyway. Raleigh would go on to fund the majority of the explorations to the Outer Banks.
It was Queen Elizabeth I that gave Raleigh permission to “discover, search, find out and view such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countries and territories not actually possessed of any Christian Prince and inhabited by Christian people.”. So basically, go explore America for England as long as there are no other Europeans there. The goal of this exploration was to set up a colony where raids against the Spanish West Indies could be launched. At this time in history, the Spanish Armada is the largest naval powerhouse in the world and England's trying to set up camp in a different location rather than just from their ports.
April of 1584, two ships were launched under the command of Philip Amadis and Arthur Barlow to go check out the Outer Banks. They arrived a few months later in July of 1584. Here they found multiple islands that had plenty of essentials like timber, hunting and soil that was “the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful and wholesome of all the world.” Sounds like a dream, yeah? They also found the local natives to be “very handsome and goodly people and in their behavior as mannerly and civil as any of Europe.”. The natives had realized that creating an alliance with the English could be beneficial to them, so they traded with them and didn't kill them. Which was nice since they were actively being colonized. The one island that the English decided to settle on was an island called Roanoke.
Settling Roanoke island
After location was decided The expedition returned to England with information as well as two natives named Manteo of the Croatoan tribe and Wanchese of the Roanokes (also seen written as Roanoacs). We are not sure if they were forced to go back or if they willingly went along, but the return coupled with the information and the people excited Raleigh so much that a year after this first expedition set off, he sent a second. In our research we also found that the natives worked hard to learn English and were telling the settlers of their customs, way of life, and of the land. Very Dances with Wolves.
April of 1585, five fleet ships and two pinnaces left England with around 600 soldiers and sailors and the two natives. They arrived back in America around June of the same year. Leading this expedition was Raleigh's cousin, Sir Richard Grenville. After a couple months of exploring various islands in the Outer Banks, Grenville sent a man named Ralph Lane to establish a fort or settlement on Roanoke Island. Grenville and the main fleet then left for England again to get more people and more supplies. This left Ralph Lane with about 100 other men in Roanoke. While Grenville was gone, Lane put together expeditions that traveled up to the Chesapeake Bay and the other one went down the Chowin and the Roanoke Rivers in search of copper and gold mines that he had heard about from the natives.
Early 1586 Lane decided that the best place for a settlement would actually be around the Chesapeake Bay, not on Roanoke. This was partially due to hostilities that had developed between the English and the native Algonquin people. The English needed and relied on the natives to provide them with food. The natives, while originally welcoming, began to tire of having to take care of these English people. On top of that, European diseases had started to take a toll on the native population, something we see time and time again all over colonization. Their bodies weren't used to it, so diseases like smallpox would ravage the people. Did you know if you grind up the scabs and smoke them it works like a vaccine? It’s true you get minor symptoms for a few days then BAM!, no more smallpox. Gross but true.
Since the natives didn't know about this nifty scab smoking trick and the sickness continued causing them harm, they decided that the settlers needed to get out. The chief of the Secotan tribe of the Algonquin, Wingina, decided to cut off the food supply to the Englishmen. Then when the settlers would break off into small groups to search for food they would easily be dispatched by the natives. Smart, huh? They’re doing some warfare tactics here. Unfortunately for the natives, old Ralph Lane found out about this plan and decided to retaliate by killing chief Wingina. This was the ultimate turning point of native English relations in the area. So much for being friends…
Lane got in touch with famed explorer Sir Francis Drake (Drake's Passage was named after this guy), who had arrived on Hatteras Island (just SW of Roanoke Island) from the West Indies in June of 1586. The plan was to have Drake take Lane and the men from the Roanoke settlement up to Chesapeake Bay, but a hurricane hit and they all decided to return to England instead. Back in England, Lane reported everything back to Raleigh, and in response, Raleigh put one final expedition together to settle America once again. This time, a man named John White was in charge.
April of 1587, three years after the original expedition set off, 118 people, men, women and children all left for the Chesapeake Bay to settle the location that Lane had recommended. On board was White himself, his daughter Eleanor Dare and her husband Ananias, along with friends and associates close to the family. However, on the journey there the captain of the ship transporting them dropped everyone off on Roanoke Island and refused to go any further north. The group stayed in Roanoke, and just like before, the native relations were a problem for the English. After an Englishman was ambushed and killed by a Secotan tribe member The settlers retaliated by attacking the nearby innocent Croatoan tribe, mistaking them for the Secotan. Randomly attacking natives, not a good look. Needless to say, tensions are getting very high.
The last time anybody from Europe would see the settlers on Roanoke Island.
In late August, the settlement was in need of supplies and more people, so John White returned to England to reup and return back to the settlement. The plan while White was away was to have the settlers split into two groups, one would stay on Roanoke, and the other one trying to find a more suitable place inland. If the group on Roanoke was to leave for whatever reason, they were to carve their destination into nearby trees, marking their path.
Back in England, White expected to be done and ready to return to America by spring of the next year. The problem with this plan was that the Spanish were about to attack England. With the world's most formidable naval presence knocking at England's door, Queen Elizabeth ordered all ships had to stay in England. This delayed John's return trip by three years. Quite a while when you know your family and friends are waiting for supplies. After the Spanish Armada battle was done, Raleigh had now turned attention to Ireland and was no longer interested in funding trips to America. This forced White to look for other investors and other help to get back to America. Finally, in 1590, John convinced some privateers that were bound for the West Indies to take him to Roanoke.
August 18th of 1590, White finally returned to the place where he had left behind his family and friends. There he saw the remnants of the settlement, but no sign of life. There also seemed to be no signs of a struggle or of a quick departure from the settlement. Everything looked perfectly normal, just nobody there. Carved nearby into the trees were just two words, “Cro” and “Croatoan”. Seeing this, he quickly set sail for Croatoan Island, but as the weather tends to do down there, it turned into a storm and White was forced to return to England.
The theories
There are several theories as to what happened to this lost colony of Roanoke. A big thank you to the National parks service for breaking it down so easily on their website. Snaps and claps.
Theory #1 Hurricane
Pros
Hurricanes do hit the Outer Banks
A hurricane had been reported to hit and sink some English ships in that area in 1586
A hurricane that potentially could have traveled N was reported in Cuba in 1588.
cons
There were no signs of major damage to the settlement. So certainly no evidence of the ravages of a hurricane.
Having hurricanes multiple years in a row in the Outer Banks is pretty rare.
Theory #2 Famine/Disease
Pros
The whole reason for John White returning to England was to get food and supplies, you know, and with the bad relations between the natives, they weren't feeding them. So pretty good reason to speculate starvation got them.
There were signs of a major drought in the Outer Banks between 1587 to 1590.
Cons
No graves were found. If the people were slowly dying of starvation or even disease, surely there would be evidence.
Disease also seems a bit unlikely because it appears that really only the natives were dying, wasn't really hitting the Europeans like that.
Theory #3 Relocation/Assimilation
This theory is a bit of a three in one. The first location option is Chesapeake Bay.
Pros
This was the place that they wanted to settle. So it would make sense if the settlers went up there.
Reports from the Jamestown Colony, which was founded in 1607 , claimed that natives told stories of seeing white people in that area. White people weren't exactly rampant in the lands. Could have been them.
Cons
Evidence has never been found linking the Lost Colony up to that region.
Traveling up to the bay would require boats of some kind that could travel through open ocean to get there from Roanoke making it pretty difficult for men, women and children to get up there.
The second location option is inland from the Albemarle Sound.
Pros
White left instructions to travel to this area for potential settlements inland before his trip to England.
A map that John White had included a symbol that is believed to be marking a fort in this area, though it was later covered up with a patch. So it appears like maybe if they didn't settle there that they may have intended to.
There were also English artifacts uncovered in the area near where that symbol is on the map.
Cons
There is no evidence of bodies or buildings that have been located in the area.
The artifacts that were uncovered don't necessarily link back to the lost colony.
The last theory is the settlers moved or assimilated with a nearby friendly tribe on Croatoan Island
(present day Hatteras Island)
Pros
They literally carved the word Croatoan onto a tree and the instructions were that if they left to carve where they were going.
The natives on Croatoan Island were actually known to be quite friendly with the colonists.
More English artifacts from this time period were found on the island.
In May of 2025, archaeologists found two piles of iron flakes on Hatteras Island, (Croatoan Island). Iron flakes are also known as hammer scale. They are the byproduct of blacksmithing. It has led experts to believe that potentially the English people went to this island and simply just assimilated with the friendly natives there. Pretty nice scenario for this settlement.
Something that lends credence to the idea that they somehow ended up on Croatoan Island is that the carving in the tree wasn't rushed. It doesn’t seem likely they were being attacked
We know the English had problems surviving on their own and might have needed the assistance of the natives, so it would also make sense that they chose the tribe that was the nicest to them.
Cons
Again, no buildings or bodies from the English were found there
The artifacts that were found there could have been from trading. Since the colonists and the natives were on such good terms, it wouldn't necessarily indicate that's where the colonists went, because trading is just as likely.
The iron flakes theory is not widely accepted to be evidence of the assimilation. They were trading and talking to each other, so they could have taught them. It's very hard to tell.
Final thoughts
That’s what we know about the lost colony of Roanoke. It’s a little open-ended mystery, a little choose your own adventure. We think it's very likely that they just went down to Croatoan and banded with them and assimilated. The complete lack of struggle in the scene, the time available to carve Croatoan on the tree, the artifacts, the lack of graves at Roanoke. All that evidence makes us want to believe there was a bit of a happy ending. But…
No one really knows. Could have been assimilation, could have been killed off one by one by hostile natives, they could have Lewis and Clarke'd their way across the nation… What we do know is that here at The Darkives we love a good mystery, we love discussing it and love hearing different theories that people come up with. We are just two people researching and discussing this. We would love to hear from 50,000 other brains. What are some theories you know of Roanoke? What other evidence have you heard? And most important, what do you think happened out there?
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed and if you'd like to listen to this and other historical events on our podcast ‘The Darkives: Serious history. Told not so seriously’ feel free to listen to the Roanoke episode Here or consider leaving a donation below.
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