ABSTRACT
The circumstances, under which the first colony came to an end, played a great part in determining the fate of the Roanoke enterprises. An experiment without precedent, Lane's colony was on the whole a success rather than a failure. It proved that Englishmen could remain for nearly a year on American soil. But that Lane should return without having made contact with the relief expeditions was a very severe blow to the prospects of future investment in the ventures which Walter Raleigh sponsored. The venture appears to have found more support in North Devon than at Court. An attempt by Carew Raleigh to raise money from the Merchant Adventurers of Exeter in January failed. About the same time some 65 tuns of wine were taken off a French ship, the Susanne, at Southampton for the supply of Raleigh's ships.
