Gilbert (half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh) had published a treatise on the subject of the north-west passage, and, two years after, had obtained a patent, empowering him to occupy and colonise such parts of the North American continent as were not already in the possession of any of the queen's allies. Gilbert, accordingly, accompanied by Raleigh, made an attempt the same year to carry his project into execution; but he had not long put out to sea when he was obliged to return with the loss of one of his best ships. No better success attended a second attempt of the two brothers in 1583: after having reached Newfoundland, Gilbert, who has been called "the father of our plantations," perished with his ship in a storm on his voyage home; and, of four other vessels of which the expedition consisted, only one reached England. The next year, however, Raleigh, not discouraged by this disastrous failure, having obtained letters patent from the queen, granting to him all such countries as he should discover in full property, with the reservation only to the crown of a fifth part of the gold or silver ore that might be found in them, again fitted out two ships, and dispatched them to the North American coast, with directions to take a more southerly course than that which had been followed by Gilbert. The result of this voyage was the discovery of the part of the American continent which Elizabeth honoured, in allusion to herself, with the name of Virginia.[1] Raleigh's patent was now confirmed by act of parliament, and, early in 1585, he sent out another fleet of seven vessels, under the conduct of his relative. Sir Richard Grenville, a most distinguished person, alike as a seaman and as a soldier, to take complete possession of and effect a settlement on the newly acquired territory, Grenville actually left a colony of one hundred and eight men on the island of Roanoak, adjacent to the coast of Virginia; but scarcely had the ships that brought them out taken their departure when the settlers became involved in hostilities with the natives, in consequence of which they were
- ↑ Virginia originally comprehended both the present state of that name and the adjoining country of North Carolina.
