recovers, but his face will be badly scarred. He has lapsed into a sullen silence.
10 January 1585
Dear Carew,
Your brother’s striving and seeking have been rewarded at last by the royal mistress of his heart and fortune, who has granted him the honor of knighthood.
Furthermore she has appointed me lord and governor of the land to be named VIRGINIA in her honor. Mine is the task of colonizing the coastal areas and all the interior, bringing the inhabitants under Her Majesty’s sway. She grants the use of her own ship, the 180-ton Tiger, and 2,400 lbs. of gunpowder for the next voyage.
I wish she had compounded the honor with money. But her nod may induce many of her nobles to invest, as well as merchants. Indeed, who could could resist the prospect of plunder coupled with the profits from trade in timber, pine resin, furs, etc.?
To you only, Carew, I confess my high ambitions while I pledge to serve my sovereign mistress. May the sun shed her “golden” light on all our endeavors.
Your honored brother,
Sir Walter Ralegh
Memorandum
4 February 1585. Her Majesty visited today accompanied by ladies, among them C.A. She appears more womanly than when I last saw her. In fact, I deem her almost a beauty. How could I have forgotten her for almost three months?
The queen looked paler than usual, making the vermilion on her cheeks glow like fever spots. She fretted about an eclipse to occur on 9 April. “You must delay your voyage, for my astrologers predict disasters on that day.”
Hiding my disdain of such predictions, I replied, “For your sake I will not sail, but remain here to serve you.” (I had already decided to forgo the risk of a voyage until the certainty of reward should outweigh it.)
“My dear Warter, you know how thirsty I can be,” she said, as coy as a maid thirty years younger. “It makes me glad to know you will stay.”
“Let storms and tempest do their worst; water but quenches, ne’er drowns your thirst,” I rhymed, to her delight.
Yet she whom I truly wished to please with my verse did not regard me, but was agog over Manteo. The ladies seemed amazed to behold him (and the silent Wanchese) clad like gentlemen. “Frances needn’t have refused to come,” Lady Anne remarked, hiding behind her fan as if she feared to look upon them. But my C.A. had no such qualms, listening with her moist lips parted as my Indian spoke in slow and measured English. I could see how she longed to question him and the effort it took to hold herself still.
The sight of her with such lively interest in her gray eyes renews my ardor. I will recapture that gaze and not neglect her for so long again.
Notations Toward a Second Voyage to
Roanoke Island, Virginia
The number of men to remain as colonists: 100, including engineers, masons, carpenters, brickmakers, a physician, and an apothecary. An alchemist to test the metals and a lapidary skilled in all minerals, as well as farmers and laborers.
Number of trained soldiers: 60
To survey and map the land, and to depict flora, fauna, and natives: Thomas Harriot, scholar, and John White, painter.
The fort to be in the shape of a pentangle with five bulwarks, fifty feet wide within, and containing an armory. Outside, ditches with walls, and twenty feet beyond them a palisade of sufficient height to deter attackers. The fort to be seated upon a rock, peninsula, or island.
Governance & Law
Chief pilot: Simon Fernandes
General commander: Sir Richard Grenville
Both will return to England, leaving: Lt. Colonel Ralph Lane as acting governor and military commander; Manteo and Wanchese as guides.
Offenses and punishments
Fighting in the fort or within a mile thereof—3 mos. imprisonment
Stealing any man’s goods—loss of hand
Striking or misusing an Indian—20 blows
Violating a woman—death
Drawing a weapon upon a governor, councilor, or captain—death
Abandoning sentinel or sleeping on watch—death
9 April 1585. Despite auguries of doom, the Tiger
10 January 1585
Dear Carew,
Your brother’s striving and seeking have been rewarded at last by the royal mistress of his heart and fortune, who has granted him the honor of knighthood.
Furthermore she has appointed me lord and governor of the land to be named VIRGINIA in her honor. Mine is the task of colonizing the coastal areas and all the interior, bringing the inhabitants under Her Majesty’s sway. She grants the use of her own ship, the 180-ton Tiger, and 2,400 lbs. of gunpowder for the next voyage.
I wish she had compounded the honor with money. But her nod may induce many of her nobles to invest, as well as merchants. Indeed, who could could resist the prospect of plunder coupled with the profits from trade in timber, pine resin, furs, etc.?
To you only, Carew, I confess my high ambitions while I pledge to serve my sovereign mistress. May the sun shed her “golden” light on all our endeavors.
Your honored brother,
Sir Walter Ralegh
Memorandum
4 February 1585. Her Majesty visited today accompanied by ladies, among them C.A. She appears more womanly than when I last saw her. In fact, I deem her almost a beauty. How could I have forgotten her for almost three months?
The queen looked paler than usual, making the vermilion on her cheeks glow like fever spots. She fretted about an eclipse to occur on 9 April. “You must delay your voyage, for my astrologers predict disasters on that day.”
Hiding my disdain of such predictions, I replied, “For your sake I will not sail, but remain here to serve you.” (I had already decided to forgo the risk of a voyage until the certainty of reward should outweigh it.)
“My dear Warter, you know how thirsty I can be,” she said, as coy as a maid thirty years younger. “It makes me glad to know you will stay.”
“Let storms and tempest do their worst; water but quenches, ne’er drowns your thirst,” I rhymed, to her delight.
Yet she whom I truly wished to please with my verse did not regard me, but was agog over Manteo. The ladies seemed amazed to behold him (and the silent Wanchese) clad like gentlemen. “Frances needn’t have refused to come,” Lady Anne remarked, hiding behind her fan as if she feared to look upon them. But my C.A. had no such qualms, listening with her moist lips parted as my Indian spoke in slow and measured English. I could see how she longed to question him and the effort it took to hold herself still.
The sight of her with such lively interest in her gray eyes renews my ardor. I will recapture that gaze and not neglect her for so long again.
Notations Toward a Second Voyage to
Roanoke Island, Virginia
The number of men to remain as colonists: 100, including engineers, masons, carpenters, brickmakers, a physician, and an apothecary. An alchemist to test the metals and a lapidary skilled in all minerals, as well as farmers and laborers.
Number of trained soldiers: 60
To survey and map the land, and to depict flora, fauna, and natives: Thomas Harriot, scholar, and John White, painter.
The fort to be in the shape of a pentangle with five bulwarks, fifty feet wide within, and containing an armory. Outside, ditches with walls, and twenty feet beyond them a palisade of sufficient height to deter attackers. The fort to be seated upon a rock, peninsula, or island.
Governance & Law
Chief pilot: Simon Fernandes
General commander: Sir Richard Grenville
Both will return to England, leaving: Lt. Colonel Ralph Lane as acting governor and military commander; Manteo and Wanchese as guides.
Offenses and punishments
Fighting in the fort or within a mile thereof—3 mos. imprisonment
Stealing any man’s goods—loss of hand
Striking or misusing an Indian—20 blows
Violating a woman—death
Drawing a weapon upon a governor, councilor, or captain—death
Abandoning sentinel or sleeping on watch—death
9 April 1585. Despite auguries of doom, the Tiger
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