Joachim Gans
Sir Richard Grenville, leader of Raleigh's expedition, founded the Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of modern North Carolina in 1585. Among the ruins at the Roanoke site, archaeologists have discovered lumps of smelted copper and a goldsmith’s crucible attributed to Gans's work at the colony. Because the royal mining company failed to resupply colonists who were also becoming increasingly fearful of conflicts with the Native Americans, they accepted an offer from Sir Francis Drake in June 1586 to sail them to England. Each of the colonists, including Gans, left North America.
SS Roanoke
By 1916, the "Roanoke" was under charter for service to South America. The "Roanoke" left San Francisco bound for Valparaíso, Chile at midnight May 8/9, 1916 with a cargo of explosives, wheat, oil and gasoline. The ship foundered in heavy seas in the Pacific Ocean off Point Buchon, California at about 3 p.m. on May 9. 47 people died and three crew members were rescued from a lifeboat that beached near San Luis Obispo, California.