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The Lost
Colony Research Group
Genealogy ~ DNA ~ Archaeology
Newsletter
June 2012
Raleigh's
Lost Fort Found???
By
Roberta Estes
In
late breaking news, it appears that Raleigh's lost fort may indeed have
been found. This story has all the elements of a good mystery, intrigue,
lost clues, hidden maps, invisible ink and messages delivered long after
the death of the sender - 425 years to be exact.
It's
as if John White is speaking to us from the grave, revealing the secrets
that he kept, or at least tried to conceal. He did a fine job of that too,
almost too fine a job in fact.
Recently
a hint found on an old map may indeed tell the story of where Raleigh's
mysterious fort was placed when the colonists moved "50 miles into
the Maine." Or maybe, this is where they planned to go, but never
went.
Now,
a clue has emerged that experts hope could help solve the centuries-old
mystery of the settlers' disappearance, and lead them to the site of what
Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I hoped would be a capital, the first English
attempt at colonization.
Shown
on the photo above, on one of John White's maps of "Virginia" in
the new world is a hint drawn in what appears to be invisible ink, further
disguised by a barely-discernible patch of paper glued to it.
Scientific
tests have revealed that a lozenge, the symbol for a fort, was hidden on
the map drawn by John White, who accompanied Raleigh's first attempts to
establish a colony. Its concealment on the map reflects an age mired in
political intrigue – Elizabeth I was then facing plots to place the
Catholic Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne – and fears of such a
map getting into the hands of court spies were rampant. Indeed, later, at
Jamestown, a map did find its way to the Spanish, so those concerns were
certainly justified.
Invisible
ink was concocted at that time from milk, citrus juice or urine, and
usually revealed by applying heat.
An
official announcement was made on May 2nd, and carried at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/drawn-in-invisible-ink-is-this-the-site-of-walter-raleighs-lost-colony-7707486.html
The
Independent reported that scientific tests were conducted by the British
Museum's curator, Kim Sloan, and scientist, Janet Ambers, following a
request by Brent Lane, a professor at the University of North Carolina and
a director of the First Colony Foundation, which conducts archaeological
and historical research.
I
took the segment of the map shown with the fort in the Independent and
attempted to reconcile it to the John White map we are all familiar with.
It's obviously not the same map. So, with a clue to one mystery, more
questions are introduced. John White created two maps of the region during
this period, one much more detailed than the other.
John
White's second map is the one with the patch. It's obvious that this is
not the same map as shown above.
On
White's second map, shown above and below, the patch at the confluence of
the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers is quite obvious, along with a second patch
just below Paquippe, today's Lake Mattamuskeet. Stay tuned as events
unfold and more information becomes available.
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