| The island of Roanoke in North Carolina holds the | | | | last as the brusque manner of colony commander Sir |
| secret to the baffling disappearance of a band of | | | | Ralph Lane soon angered the local tribe. To |
| English settlers in the late sixteenth century. The | | | | compound the colonyâs problems, supply |
| early colony simply vanished without trace, and their | | | | ships failed to show leaving them hungry and |
| fate has intrigued and baffled historians ever since. | | | | disillusioned, so when Raleigh dropped in on the |
| The story starts in 1587, with the second attempt to | | | | colonists in 1586 after a trip to the West Indies, they |
| establish a British colony on Roanoke Island. Two | | | | elected to join him on the voyage home to Britain. |
| years earlier, English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh made | | | | But, because the New World offered such potential |
| an unsuccessful bid to establish a settlement on the | | | | profits, the English tried again in August 1587, and it is |
| Island, sponsoring an all-male colony which initially | | | | the settlement that was established by 115 men, |
| integrated well with the Native Americans already | | | | women and children that is the subject of the |
| living there. However, the harmony didnât | | | | Roanoke colony mystery. |