Plan B:Outer Banks and the Wright Brothers

 Plan B was better. 

Plan A was to go to Williamsburg, VA with our friends to once again take advantage of Busch Gardens’ complimentary tickets for veterans. But…rain. I lived in Texas too long not to appreciate water falling from the sky, but on this occasion, those showers may have been accompanied by lightning. Wind. Maybe hail. Not wanting to crowd into shops during a shower, sit on wet seats between showers, or risk having to go home early because a storm shut down the park for a while, we opted for Plan B. 

We had a lovely time in Kill Devil Hills sipping hot chocolate on a covered balcony overlooking the ocean while it rained, spending time visiting and talking, visiting the Wright Brothers Memorial (first time) and being blessed with the sight of a beautiful, enormous rainbow over the ocean, the photos of which do not do it justice. Oh, and watching a beautiful sunrise after the rain moved out. 

Yeah, Plan B was definitely better.

The Lost Colony: The Second Expedition

This series is meant to be a short, light overview of Walter Raleigh’s expeditions to the New World that culminated in the separation and abandonment of what is now know as the Lost Colony. At the end of this series, I’ll provide book recommendations. For now, it’s helpful to read the previous posts:

First Post

Second Post

Third Post 

1585-Raleigh’s Second Expedition under Sir Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane 

Northeast Shore of Roanoke Island as it Looks Today

This near year-long expedition was a huge disaster that ruined relations forevermore with the natives in this region and in the Chesapeake area. Before it even started, the captain of a ship called the Lion arrived first and “left 30 starving men and no supplies on Croatan Island” (now Hatteras.) Later, upon his arrival, Raleigh’s cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, “sent a ship to Croatan to retrieve (them) and the ship returned with two men and no explanation of the fate of the others.” They just disappeared. 

Before Grenville sailed off, he put Ralph Lane in charge of the soldiers and the English interest in the region. Lane’s mismanagement and abuses over the next year hurt relations with the Secotans and other confederations. There are too many wrongs to list, but it included mooching off the natives, burning a village over a missing cup, kidnappings and holding a hostage, a beheading, and natives dropping dead by the dozens after being exposed to pathogens their immune systems instantly attacked, killing their host in the process. It’s little wonder that Lane and his men left the following year when Sir Francis Drake arrived to check on them. Lane truly made himself and the English a stench in the noses of the Secotans and other confederations. 

On a side note, it’s said the privateering Drake may have been transporting slaves from Africa to or from the Caribbean and that he may have taken some off the boat to make room for Lane and his men. I read that these people are believed to be the ancestors of the Lumbee Tribe. 

All natives did not live in harmony with one another, especially the Secotans. They had enemies and they went to war with them. After everything that transpired, they were, in essence, at war with the English as well. 

Shortly after Lane abandoned his post, Grenville arrived on Roanoke and learned Lane and his men weren’t there. I don’t know if he knew they had left or if he thought they had mysteriously disappeared as the previous group of men had. Before taking off, Grenville left fifteen “well supplied men on Roanoke Island to maintain Raleigh’s patent” and went back to England. As with the previous group of men left on Croatan, they were never seen again. 

Can you see a pattern emerging?

—————————

Quotes are from Beechland and the Lost Colony by Philip McMullan.