Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island was the site of the Roanoke Colony, an English settlement initially established in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh. A group of about 120 men, women and children arrived in 1587. Shortly after arriving in this New World, colonist Eleanor Dare, daughter of Governor John White, gave birth to Virginia Dare. She was the first English child born in North America. Governor White returned to England later that year for supplies. Due to impending war with Spain, White was unable to return to Roanoke Island until 1590. When he arrived, the colony had vanished. The fate of those first colonists remains a mystery to this day and is one of America's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. Archaeologists, historians, and other researchers continue to work to resolve the mystery. Visitors to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site can watch "The Lost Colony", the second-longest-running outdoor theatre production in the United States, which presents a conjecture of the fate of Roanoke Colony.
Roanoke (ship)
"Roanoke" was a four-masted barque built by Messrs. A. Sewall and Co. in 1892 on the Kennebec River at Bath, Maine, in the United States. With the exception of "Great Republic" and the six-masted wooden schooner "Wyoming" (3,730.54 GRT, 450 ft length over all) she was the largest wooden ship ever built in an American yard. Her gross register tonnage was 3,347, but on a draft of 27 feet (8.2 meters) she could stow away 2,000 additional tons. Her length was 311 feet (94.8 meters), her beam 49 feet (14.9 meters), and her hold depth 29 feet (8.8 meters). Her lower yards were 95 feet (29 meters) long, and her foremast truck was 180 feet (54.9 meters) from the deck. The keel was in two tiers of 16-inch (40.6- cm) white oak, her garboards were eight inches (20.3 cm) thick, and her ceiling in the lower hold was 14 inches (35.6 cm). Into her construction went 1,250,000 board feet of yellow pine, 14,000 cubic feet (396.4 cubic meters) of oak, 98,000 treenails, and 550 hackmatack knees.