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

toward a place where they had left various houses, but they found them all taken down, and that place very well surrounded with high palisades in the manner of a Fort, and in one of the principal posts, cut in very good capital letters, CROATAN, without any sign of trouble: they also found there some iron bars, two bars of lead, four gotelingen small cannons, some iron cannonballs, and such heavy things, which had been thrown about here and there and were overgrown with grass and weeds. They headed toward the seaside to see if they could find any boats or artillery that had remained there. Finally, some boatmen found various chests covered with earth; they were dug up, but everything was spoiled, which caused them great sorrow; however, it comforted them that they knew their countrymen were on Croatan. They returned to their ships and, due to a rising storm that lasted the entire night, they were in great danger of perishing.

The next morning, they weighed anchor with the intention of crossing to Croatan, but the anchor had no sooner been hauled up than the cable broke, and in the same way they lost another: and when they dropped the third, it also went through with such a strong current that it was a close call that they had not lost the ship; however, God's goodness finally brought them into the deep; and when they considered that they had only one anchor left and their victalie provisions were almost at an end, it was proposed to sail for St. John's Island, Hispaniola, or Trinidad for refreshments, and to winter there, in order to return in the next spring to look for their countrymen. However, the Vice Admiral, who would not listen to that, turned his course straight toward England, where they arrived in September 1590. So this colony