All language subtitles for In Search of s02e03 The Lost Colony of Roanoke

It is one of the greatest mysteries in
all of American history.

Today, the Outer Banks of North Carolina
are an inviting tourist destination.

But 400 years ago, they were quite the
opposite.

In 1587, over 100 colonists attempted to
build the first permanent English

settlement in North America.

on the eight mile long Roanoke Island.

But just three years later, they had all
vanished without a trace.

To this day, no one knows what happened.

Tonight, we head straight to the source
and hunt for clues where the colony once

stood.

We'll reveal a hidden map, and a secret
message the lost settlers left behind

allowing us to track their possible
escape route and

we'll conduct brand new DNA testing that
may determine once and for all if there

were any survivors as we go in search of
the lost

colony of Roanoke

From an early age, we've all been told
about the Pilgrims landing on Plymouth

Rock and the Jamestown settlement in
Virginia, two of America's most famous

founding colonies.

But what do you know about the one that
came before?

Chances are, not much.

In fact, there's very little known about
that first settlement.

That's why they call it the Lost Colony
of Roanoke.

In 1587, famed English politician Sir
Walter Raleigh sponsored an expedition

the New World.

On board, approximately 116 colonists,
men, women, and children,

led by Governor John White.

They arrived here, Roanoke Island, off
the coast of present -day North

where they built a small town full of
carefully constructed houses.

Soon after, Governor White returned to
England for supply, leaving behind his

friends and family.

When he returned just three years later,
everyone was gone, and the houses

were completely dismantled.

The mystery of what happened to them has
remained unsolved for over 400 years.

But as we're about to find out...

That's just one of many mysteries
surrounding this incredible doomed

Author Andy Gabriel Powell has spent
over a decade researching the lost

of Roanoke.

Today, he's taking us to the northern
end of Roanoke Island, the place where

all started in 1587, at the end of an
incredible 4 ,000 -mile journey.

This is a ship that's typical of what
the lost colonists would have sailed on.

It's a 50 -tonne barque.

It's one of the queen ships, we can tell
because of the flag on the stern here.

Desperate for a better life than they
had in England, the Roanoke colonists

spent 76 days crossing the Atlantic,
stuck below decks for most of the trip.

But the voyage wasn't entirely
uneventful.

There was one moment of intrigue along
the way, the first of many mysteries to

come.

Now, rather intriguingly, they were
supposed to be going to Chesapeake Bay,

Simon Fernando, the pilot, claimed that
he'd run out of time.

And he essentially marooned them here on
Roanoke rather than take them to

Chesapeake Bay.

In other words, the colonists never
intended to be on Roanoke in the first

place. And according to Andy, this means
they were doomed from the start.

If the colony had made it to Chesapeake
Bay, I think there's every prospect they

would have survived.

There would have been a resupply voyage
in 1588. The Indians were considerably

more friendly. There was far more
natural resources available.

But instead, they were stranded on
Roanoke.

The colonists had no choice but to try
and make things work.

From here, the next mystery unfolds.

The precise site of the Roanoke colony
has never been identified, but according

to park ranger Josh Nelson, it must be
nearby.

When the colonists arrived in 1587,
they're setting foot onto Roanoke

and they're seeing much as we do today.
It's forested. It's fairly dense woods.

They describe it as being on the north
end of Roanoke Island, probably close to

where we stand today.

There is only one surviving account of
the colony's location, Governor John

White's diary.

He says they built their houses on a
hilled embankment, surrounding them with

wooden palisade for protection.

Is it possible that this is where they
started their new lives?

One new life started almost immediately,
courtesy of John White's pregnant

daughter, Eleanor.

They're one of the more prominent
families to travel on this expedition,

when they arrive on Roanoke Island, they
go down in history as having the first

English child born in North America, and
that child's name is Virginia Dare.

But the happy times wouldn't last long.

While the colony's first summer was
fairly successful,

They soon realized that they were ill
-equipped to continue to survive on

Roanoke.

This group would need more people, and
they felt like they needed more supplies

to be able to make this a lasting
colony.

Originally, somebody else was going, and
the whole colony steps forward and

says, No, John, you need to leave
yourself.

In August of 1587, John White sailed for
England, leaving the colonists without

an experienced leader.

He hoped to be back in just a few
months, but once again, the odds would

even higher against the colonists.

Just before his arrival, Queen Elizabeth
I has commanded that all ships are to

remain in English port. She's feeling
the threat of Spanish invasion at that

point. And what that does is it
basically traps John White, and it takes

years before he can finally come over
and try to locate this group of people

that he left behind.

And now we've reached the biggest
mystery of all.

In 1590, John White describes coming
back to Roanoke Island. It's been three

years since leaving the colony. He steps
foot on shore.

He talks about walking up a sandy
embankment, something like this right

He walks up to the top, and he describes
seeing a tree that the bark has been

peeled off of, and the letters CRO have
been carved upon it.

According to his journals, White
continues on to the settlement, and

finds nothing at all.

His daughter and granddaughter are
missing.

In fact, there are no people.

and no houses.

What remains is the wooden palisade that
they built, and of course, the CRO

carving that was found.

What could this cryptic message possibly
mean?

For John White at the time, he is pretty
clear in his journal that he knows

where that's pointing him to.

White believed the carving referred to
an island in the south called Croatoan.

inhabited by a Native American tribe of
the same name.

Were the colonists attacked by the
Croatoan tribe?

John White was desperate to find out.

But in one final cruel twist of fate,
White's hopes of finding them were

dashed. The problem is, when he goes
back to the vessel, bad weather's coming

up.

Winds continue to push them farther away
from Roanoke.

Eventually, it's too late in the year,
they are too far away to be able to

return. And so that's the only
opportunity that John White had to try

not only his colony, but also his family
that had been left behind.

But what seems like the end of the story
is really just the beginning.

While each mystery may be unsolvable
individually, they all boil down to the

same question.

Where did the lost colonists end up?

For over 400 years, historians have
tried to find the answer, with precious

results.

But as we're about to find out, that
might all be about to change, thanks to

shocking new theory that could finally
lead us in the right direction.

It turns out we may have been looking
for the lost colony in the wrong place

this whole time.

What happened to the lost colony of
Roanoke in 1590?

Three years prior, the colonists seemed
off to a good start in their new home.

But when their governor returned from a
resupply mission to England, everyone

was gone.

But what if they left behind more clues
than we realized?

In fact, what if we've been looking in
the wrong place this whole time?

Ann Poole runs an archaeological and
historical society called the Lost

Research Group.

And she thinks the settlers may have
built their home in an entirely

area.

I've been searching for the Lost Colony
ever since I was 10 years old. I'm going

on 72 now.

According to Anne, in 1587, the
shoreline on Roanoke Island was quite

It may have extended over half a mile
farther east, but 400 years of erosion

have washed it away.

And if that's the case, experts may have
the location of the original settlement

all wrong.

Today, Ann and her team hope to prove
this theory by conducting a systematic

underwater dig.

What we're doing is we've got screens
that we've sifted the sand in.

We've got shovels. We just bring up a
scoop of sand and put it on the screen

sift it and see what's left.

But why are they digging here as opposed
to some other part of the shore?

As we've already seen, The Journal of
John White describes the colony being

built on a hilled embankment.

But he also mentions one other key
detail.

The site had a large growth of
scuppernong grapevines.

There is one part of the island with
grapevines that old, but it sits three

miles away from the currently accepted
location of the colony.

A lot of the geographical features here
actually match what John White wrote

about in 1590. He said that when they
rode over here to try to find the

that it was high sandy banks, which all
this would have been then.

Could this actually be where the Roanoke
colony was built?

There's only one way to find out.

Unfortunately, it comes with many
challenges.

As opposed to an archaeological dig on
land, there's almost no visibility

underwater.

So the team must blindly keep track of
their search area as they bring up one

shovel of earth at a time.

What I'm hoping to find is a little ring
that says on there, Virginia Day.

You never know.

You could be in this next bucket pool.
Here it comes.

I like doing this because of the
adventure of it. Not knowing what you're

to bring up from one tablet to the next.

Are we going to solve the mystery?

To search the deeper areas, Ann has also
brought in professional divers Duncan

Pinnock and Randy Glaze.

We typically do a lot of diving in
blackwater rivers looking for artifacts

fossils. So today we've brought scooters
to try to clear sand, which is what we

typically would do in rivers.

They're also armed with an underwater
metal detector and high -powered lights

cut through the sound, murky water.

There is rumor of cannon potentially
with the lost colony. That would be

exceptionally cool.

As the divers head out,

The shallow water team finds their first
artifact of the day.

Found an old piece of pottery.

And this piece isn't the only one.

Before long, they start to unearth
several more objects from the past.

But unfortunately, these pieces are from
the 17th and 18th centuries.

There's absolutely stuff under there
from the 1500s. It's finding it.

There's a problem.

You've probably got 5 to 10 feet of sand
above it.

If there's stuff out there, it's very
well buried under all the sand.

500 years of sand here.

The methodical work continues.

If this site holds proof of the original
Roanoke settlement, it could

potentially take years or even decades
to find it.

Hey,

I found a piece of pottery!

It may not look like much, but Robbie
might have just made an incredible

discovery.

This shard is unlike any of the others
found today.

It's made from a different ceramic, and
it's much, much older.

Any of the pieces that are the old jugs
and containers, you look at the ones

that have been found, and you can tell
by the style and what it's made of.

According to Ann, this piece is part of
a 16th century jug of the exact style

and time period of the Roanoke colony.

It could be the proverbial needle in the
haystack that proves the lost colony

was right here.

Definitely a possibility that they could
have been here.

If the lost colony research group is
correct, then they may have given us a

breakthrough in our search.

As opposed to the original location
thought to be here, could this instead

the site of the colony?

If so, it has serious implications for
what happened during their final days on

Roanoke Island.

They carved the letter CRO into a tree
in this location, three miles away.

Therefore, they wouldn't have still been
at home when the carving was made.

They would have been on the move, headed
north.

For the first time, we may have new
clues about which direction the

went when they left their settlement.

From here to here.

And if we follow that path, it leads
here, into the Albemarle Sound.

So where did they go next?

As we're about to find out, the answer
could have been hiding under our noses

this whole time, thanks to a hidden map
that knew technology.

has finally allowed us to see.

The question of what happened to the
lost colony of Roanoke is among the most

enduring mysteries in the United States.

But we now have a new theory.

That the colonists headed northwest from
Roanoke into the Albemarle Sound.

Where did they go from there?

We may already have the answer, thanks
to a hidden map that has only recently

been revealed.

In 2012, historians uncovered a shocking
new clue in the hunt for the lost

colony of Roanoke.

They examined something called the
Virginia Pars map.

It was painted by Roanoke's governor,
John White.

The map reveals useful routes for
navigating the rough waters of the

as well as many Native American
villages.

But in 2012, it revealed quite a bit
more.

The British Museum discovered two small
patches where extra paper had been

applied over top of the map.

New technology allowed scientists to see
beneath these patches without

disturbing them.

And there...

They made an incredible find.

Governor White had painted a fort here,
along the coast of the Albemarle Sound,

and then covered it up.

What could this possibly mean?

Could this secret fort, purposely
covered up in John White's map,

new home for the relocated colonists of
Roanoke?

Archaeologists have named the fort Site
X.

And it's here that the mystery deepens.

We're on our way to Site X. It's a
little way up the Albemarle Sound.

And it's a possible location for some of
the lost colonists to have settled

after 1587.

Looking at the map, it's easy to see how
the colonists could have navigated up

through the Sound.

This is an incredibly detailed map. It
measures about 18 by 9 inches. It's

small. But even today, it's still
recognizable.

You can still see the Outer Banks
region, the Roanoke Island, Lake

It's incredibly detailed. It's a
beautiful, beautiful map.

It begs the question, how could Governor
White have known this much about the

area in such a short time?

And how would he have been aware of a
fort over 50 miles away?

As it turns out, 1587 wasn't the first
time John White visited the area.

He had been here two years before, as
part of an expedition led by Sir Ralph

Lane, who established a fort in
Albemarle Sound.

But this early visit to the New World
quickly took a turn for the worse, when

the English accused the natives of
stealing from them.

As retribution, Ralph Lane burned their
village, killing several tribe members.

Soon, those tensions led the English to
abandon the fort and return home.

Lane's fort was here, in the exact spot
that was marked on John White's map.

The question is, if John White and the
rest of the Roanoke colonists knew about

the fort,

Could this be where they went after
abandoning their own colony?

We are now in the area known as Site X.

This is being explored and some
archaeological excavations have taken

with the First Colony Foundation.

Many people believe that some of the
colonists would have settled here. It is

the location that is hidden on the map
by a little piece of paper.

Excavations in this area have turned up
signs of life, including a mix of

pottery, some from the local tribes and
some from a lot farther away.

They've uncovered some borderware, quite
a few fragments of borderware, and

three pieces of North Devon
balusterware, which is very typical of

storage jars of the period.

In other words, pottery from England has
been discovered on this site.

Could this have come from the survivors
of the lost colony of Roanoke?

Researchers here are convinced that it
could, but Andy isn't so sure.

The important thing to understand about
border ware was that it was prolific. It

was the pottery of choice for London.

Essentially, you could find this stuff
everywhere you go in London. It was

produced right up until the mid -19th
century.

And there's one more reason the
colonists might not have relocated here.

Their safety.

The biggest flaw with the idea of the
colonists relocating to the area

is the existence of the Mango Acts and
the Chuanists, who Ralph Lane records

fighting with back in 1585.

John White knew that the natives here
were hostile.

Ralph Lane's expedition barely managed
to escape their wrath.

So the question is, were the Roanoke
colonists desperate enough to enter this

dangerous territory, or did they
eventually change course and head

else? That's almost certainly why the
decision was made to move to be with the

more friendly Native American Indians.

But what is absolutely certain is that
the lost colonists needed the help of

the Native American Indians to survive.

Did the natives at Site X suddenly have
a change of heart and become friendly

toward the colonists?

Or was it a different friendly tribe
that took them in?

Imagine you leave your hometown.

Maybe you're going off to college or a
tour of duty in the military.

Three years later, you come back, and
your town is gone.

What would you do?

Where would you start looking?

This is exactly what happened to
Governor John White when he returned to

Island on August 18, 1590.

His daughter, his granddaughter.

Dozens of dear friends, the entire
colony he had worked so hard to

all vanished.

That day, he searched the island and
found the letters C -R -O carved into a

tree.

Some of White's men assumed the
colonists had been attacked and killed

Croatoan tribe, but the governor had a
different idea.

He thought the colonists went peacefully
to join the Croatoan at their home on

Hatteras Island.

Unfortunately, he was never able to find
out the truth.

Governor White attempted to sail south
to Hatteras, but severe storms kept

pushing his ships in the opposite
direction.

Eventually, the crew was forced to
return to England.

But was White's theory correct?

Is it possible that the colonists
successfully relocated to Hatteras

So far, we've tracked the colonists from
here, where they may have originated,

to here, where they carved their cryptic
message into a tree.

From this point, they had only two
options.

Continue straight up the Albemarle Sound
into hostile territory, or turn left

and sail south towards Hatteras.

It's a journey that historian Scott
Dawson is taking today, because he

he has absolute proof that the colonists
did indeed join the Croatoan tribe.

We are now embarking on the same path
that the Lost Colony took to go from

Roanoke Island to Croatoan, which is now
called Hatteras.

Scott believed this would have been
their best chance of survival, because

were no friendly tribes left on the
mainland.

The colony came to Croatoan for pretty
simple reasons.

Everybody else wanted to kill them.

They had nowhere else to go.

Today, Scott is taking us to the site of
a Croatoan village, where he claims

he's found a great deal of evidence.

that this is where the colonists ended
up. We're on our way to one of the main

dig sites.

This is a real cornucopia of artifacts
from the colonists. It's the closest

thing to time travel you'll ever do.

Scott is convinced that the Roanoke
colonists lived with the Hatteras

the remote northern edge of the island.

Scott and archaeologist Mark Horton have
conducted yearly digs here for the past

decade.

After each dig, they must recover the
site for protection.

But without fail, every time they come
back, they find more and more evidence

that the Roanoke colonists may have
ended up on Hatteras.

So this right here, this clearing, is
where some of your colonists ended up

living with the Croatoan Indians. We
found, right where I'm standing, a giant

longhouse with fire pits in it.

And you've got a mixture of European and
Croatone artifacts throughout.

Some of the European artifacts that we
found from the 16th century, we've got a

sword, we've got a gun.

They also discovered 16th century German
stoneware, a copper ring, and a 16th

century coin called a Nuremberg token.

The natives here didn't have glass, they
didn't have iron, they didn't have

guns, they didn't have swords. These are
all European items.

With ten years of evidence to back him
up, Scott is convinced that this is the

exact place the lost colony fled to for
safety.

Even though the dig site is currently
covered up for the summer, there is

one area where artifacts can be found.

Ten yards south of the dig site, lies a
large pile of discarded shells and other

materials, the remnants of a centuries
-old trash heap.

While 400 years ago it may have been
considered garbage, today it could hold

significant value.

Sometimes we will go back through a
spoil heap like this because there are

artifacts that get missed, but you just
kind of rake through and give it a once

-over, and there, yep.

This is actually a good piece. This is
the lip of a bull.

And you can tell that because they put
these markings by the lips.

Through here.

Here's another piece.

This is part of the body.

The fertile trash heap also turns up a
few other items, including a nail

to what the colonists would have used.

And that's not all.

Oh, here we go.

Buried deeper, Scott has found a small
piece of copper that could potentially

European in origin.

He decides to take it in for chemical
analysis.

If we can drill into it and take out
some of the inner shavings to test in

lab, we will be able to tell if it is in
fact made by Croatoan or if it came

over with the colony.

For 400 years, historians have had very
few clues that they know for certain the

Roanoke colonists left behind.

But over the past decade, historian
Scott Dawson thinks he has unearthed

more potential evidence on Hatteras
Island, 50 miles away.

He believes the colony relocated here to
live peacefully with the Croatoan

tribe.

Today, He's testing a newly found piece
of copper from Hatteras to see if it

could have been left behind by the lost
colonists.

This, if we can prove that it came from
England, and we know how it got here, it

is from the 16th century. It's at that
level, but the Indians did have some

copper of their own. You can actually
drill into this and find out if it came

from North Carolina or if it came from
England.

The testing process begins by drilling
to the center of the artifact to pull a

metal sample that hasn't been tainted by
the outside environment.

If the artifact is from the Croatoan
tribe, it will be pure copper panned

the nearby rivers.

But if it might be from the Roanoke
colony, it will contain traces of

which was used in England to refine the
metal.

Scott is already convinced that the lost
colony ended up on Hatteras. This test

could further confirm his belief.

If we test this copper and discover that
it's European, it's definitely from the

colony.

Very exciting news. The results from the
arsenic and isotopes is it is in fact

from either England or Ireland.

This really reaffirms that it is in fact
from the colony.

The findings at Hatterith could be the
first actual proof that the lost colony

of Roanoke managed to escape their
original settlement.

If they fled to Hatterith or Sidek or
somewhere else, there is only one

left to solve.

Were the colonists killed, or did any
manage to survive?

In the early 1700s, John Lawson was the
first Englishman to explore the Outer

Banks after the colony was lost.

He reported that many of the natives on
Hatteras had European traits, such as

light -colored eyes.

Some wore English clothes and spoke
English words.

Today, there are still families living
in the area with the same last names as

the original colonists, including Dare,
Barry, and Bishop.

Many claim mixed Native American
ancestry.

Does this prove that the colonists
indeed survived, blending in and

families with members of the Croatoan
tribe?

It's an interesting theory.

But of course, there's only one real way
to find out.

Computer scientist Roberta Estes is
convinced that modern DNA testing can

determine what happened to the lost
colony of Roanoke.

Her organization, the Lost Colony DNA
Project, is searching for definitive

biological proof that the colonists
survived after joining a tribe and that

their descendants are still living in
the area.

The thing that brought me to this was
the science and the puzzle. Being able

solve. the oldest mystery in america you
know the oldest cold case in america

what happened to these 117 people and
could we use the science to unravel it

invited people from north carolina and
that area to come if they had the

of the colonists and a lot of people did
and they thought they might be

descended from the colonists because a
lot of people have oral history about

that But is it actually possible to
prove someone survived after more than

years have gone by?

Roberta is convinced the answer is yes,
by proving that they procreated.

If the colonists did join the Croatoan
tribe, many would have taken native

in order to continue their family lines.

If that's the case...

Roberta believes she can still identify
their offspring through male Y

chromosome DNA lines.

So the Y DNA is inherited by sons from
their father, and it's not changed

for very rarely there's a little
mutation. And those mutations are what

useful to genealogy because we compare
those mutations to each other in that

line. And if the mutations all match,
then we know that it's from the same

paternal ancestor.

And so we're looking for matches.

Roberta has received a DNA sample from a
North Carolina man with a surname

Brown, which was shared by two Roanoke
colonists.

Today, she's ready to test this sample
with the help of Dr. Connie Bormans at

the Family Tree DNA Lab in Houston.

They're looking for evidence that this
man could be related to lost colonists

William or Henry Brown.

This is the DNA extraction step. What
we're doing now is we are removing

everything except the DNA.

Once the DNA is isolated, Mr. Brown's
genetic markers will be compared with a

pool of potential English and Native
American ancestors to determine his

makeup, also known as his haplogroup.

Is there a chance he's directly
descended from a Roanoke colonist?

We're about to find out.

Today, DNA scientists are closer than
ever to proving that the lost colony of

Roanoke may have actually survived.

If their theories are correct,
descendants of the colonists must still

likely with mixed Native American and
English ancestry.

which could potentially be tracked and
matched back to the original colonist's

male DNA line.

They're currently testing a North
Carolina man with a surname Brown,

just the right mix of genetic markers.

So now Mr. Brown's results are back. And
I've taken a look here at the computer

to see what it tells us.

And Mr. Brown is known to be both
native...

And European. That's his background, his
family history.

But the only part that we're interested
in is his Y DNA that he inherited from

his father, who inherited from his
father.

The question is, could Mr. Brown's line
of inherited DNA lead all the way back

to Roanoke colonists William or Henry
Brown?

If so, then his Y DNA must bear European
traits.

If instead it's Native American.

then he can't be a match.

This is the moment of truth.

Could today's Mr.

Brown possibly prove that the lost
colonies survived?

First of all, he does match other brown
men, so that's good. We know that he has

a common brown ancestor on his paternal
line.

And I looked at his haplogroup. His
haplogroup is his clan.

So that means that I can tell whether
he's Native American, African.

European or Asian at a quick glance.

And Mr. Brown is European.

So Mr.

Brown is a good candidate to be one of
our lost colonists.

And Mr. Brown is not alone.

Roberta believed there could potentially
be thousands of other descendants out

there.

Someday, she may even be able to create
a complete list of precisely which

colonists survived.

For now, she's well on her way to
identifying at least one potential

Today's Mr.

Brown shares a surname with two of
Roanoke's original settlers.

He lives in the same area the colony
once stood, and his genetic background

just the right combination of Native
American and English.

Thanks to this test result, Mr. Brown
could be the link that finally proved

the lost colony of Roanoke survived.

Roberta continues to press on, finding
more and more potential matches, hoping

that each will eventually connect back
to the original colonists' lines in

England.

It would be a defining moment in our
history.

And I think that's one of the reasons
why so many people have tried. But you

can't do it without the DNA. This is the
last step.

The DNA is not the first step. It's the
last step. It's the confirming step that

we need. And I would love to be able to
do that. And if I can't find it, maybe

somebody else can someday.

Our search for the lost colony of
Roanoke.

has led to a number of compelling
possibilities.

We now have new theories on the
colonists' movements and where they

ended up.

We also have evidence that at least some
of them may have survived and built

families whose descendants still live in
the area.

But there are still some mysteries left
to be solved.

What made the colonists leave Roanoke in
the first place?

Did they visit Site X or head straight
to Hatteras Island?

And if they did find safe harbor with a
friendly native tribe, did they ever

wonder why no one came looking?

We will never know their thoughts, but
we do know their names.

William and Henry Brown, Morris Allen,
Rose Payne, Virginia Dare,

and over 100 others.

Gone.

but most certainly not forgotten.

It's the oldest missing persons case in
America, and yet today there are more

people dedicated to solving it than ever
before.

Thanks to their efforts, the lost colony
of Roanoke might not be lost for much

longer.

The search continues.