De gedenkwaardige reizen vanden beroemden Capiteyn Johan Smith na Virginien; gedaan in den jare 1606. en ...

1587. In the year 1587, three ships were again sent to the Virginias, commanded by Mr. White, to support the 50 men who had remained there. As a pilot, they had a certain Simon Ferdinand, who by a sheer error took Cape Fear for Virginia, because of which it did not miss much or they would have remained there, if it had not been prevented by the alertness of Captain Stafford, who then went ashore at Hatorask on the 22nd of July with 40 of his best men, with the intention of looking for those 50 men who had been left there the previous year by Sir Richard Greenville. However, they found nothing there but the bones of a human, and where the plantation had been, the houses were indeed intact but overgrown with weeds, and the fort was very damaged, which terrified them all greatly.

By the account, it appears as if that pilot, Simon Ferdinand, had intended to make that voyage fruitless, notwithstanding that they all arrived safely at Hatorask. Meanwhile, they heard that at Croatan the savages had killed some of the 50 men who had remained there, and of the rest who had gotten away with some vessel, no one knew where they had gone, since one had never heard of them.

In the meantime, it happened that while their ships were being prepared for the return voyage, such a storm arose that the Admiral was forced to cut his cables, and six days passed before he could regain his previous anchorage, which made most of his men who were on land very anxious for his safety.

While these things were happening, the misunderstanding grew between the Governor and his subordinates