UNC Sea Grant 



11/6 



5 



(OAs i Swatch 



June/July, 1984 



A Theodor de Bry drawing of a John White map 



For 400 years, 

 we've wondered, 



speculated and fantasized about the fate of Sir 

 Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony. What happened to 

 the people John White left behind? Historians 

 and archaeologists have searched for clues. And 

 still the answers elude us. 



Some people have filled in the gaps with fic- 

 tionalized accounts of the colonists' fate. But ex- 

 perts take little stock in the legend of Virginia 



Dare growing up to become an Indian princess. 

 Or, the one about the Lumbee Indians being 

 descendants of the colonists. 



Only a few people even know that Raleigh 

 sponsored two previous expeditions to Roanoke 

 Island. Or that those expeditions paved the way 

 for the colonies at Jamestown and Plymouth. 



This year, North Carolina begins a three-year 

 celebration of Raleigh's voyages and of the people 

 who attempted to settle here. 



Coastwatch looks at the history of the Raleigh 

 expeditions and the statewide efforts to com- 

 memorate America's beginnings. 



