Crotoan - Season 1

[George WK Newman]

~episode guide~

1.01 – The Lost Colony of Roanoke

1.02 – 400 years of Haunting

1.03 – Who Are These People?

1.04 – Famine, war, pestilence

1.05

1.06

1.07

1.08

1.09

1.10

1.11

1.12

1.13

1.14

1.15 – part 1 of 2 hour finale

1.16 – part 2 of 2 hour finale

[George WK Newman]

1.01 – The Lost Colony of Roanoke

2006: After a less then successful college term, Kate returns home to visit her grandmother who's time left on earth appears to be waning. Kate 's relations with her mother and brother are stretched to the breaking point.
Outside the house sitting in his car Kate has a disagreement with her boyfriend Lee. He wants her to switch to a more practical major then History, or at least go into Teaching. He wants to get married, she’s in no hurry. He refuses to go in for the visit, and she goes in alone in a huff.
Talking to her Grandmother she asks Kate how first term went. Kate just looks down. She tells her Grandmother that her professors tell her that she is only a memorizer of details, and not a discoverer of new details. Her grandmother places a hand over Kate’s and says not to worry. It will come. Kate says she is thinking of switching to a more practical major. The elderly woman astutely says that is someone else’s words not yours. You have youth, use it as you wish. Now she says what are you studying right now? Kate says they just had a lesson on local Roanoke legend, of the lost colony. Her grandmother whispers “Croatoan”. She tells Kate to tell her the legend, and she closes her eyes as her granddaughter begins to speak.

1587 - June
117 people landed at Roanoke. They began to repair the houses of an abandoned English fort. New cottages were also made of brick and tile.
On August 18th Eleanor and Ananias Dare became parents, the first English child born in North America, and the new granddaughter of the governor and leader of the expedition John White. They name her Virginia after their new home.
Serenity is shattered when Colonist George White is found dead floating face down amongst the reeds along the shore.
Suspecting foul play by the Indians an envoy is dispatched to neighboring Secotan nation through Indian liason Manteo. There is no response.
The on August 27, amongst all the turmoil John White abruptly abandons the island.
He pledges to rescue them in 3 months but does not come back for 3 years. When he returns he finds no sign of them except for “Croatoan” carved into a tree. He never found out what happened to his colony, to his daughter, son-in-law, or to his granddaughter Virginia Dare.

2006 – Kate quietly sits up. “Good night Grandma. See I guess I really don’t have the ability to make history exciting.” She kisses her grandma on the top of the head and quietly steals out of the room. On her way out of the house her Mom calls out to her, still tension in the air. She hands Kate what looks to be a very old large diary stuffed with loose papers. What’s this Kate asks. Her mom says she doesn’t know but that her Grandmother had wanted her to have it before she left tonight. They don’t say good night, no I love you’s before Kate steps out to the porch, a cab waits for her at the curb.
In the back of the cab Kate examines the diary.
“the letters and personal correspondence of Master Richard Hakluyt, of London, England”
The first letter begins

4 February 1593
To the worshipful and my very friend Master Ricahrd Hakluyt, much happiness in the Lord.
Sir, as well for the satisfying of your earnest request, as the performance of my promise made unto you at my last being with you in England, I have sent you…the true discourse of my last voyage into the West Indies, and parts of America called Virginia, taken in hand about the end of February, in the year of our redemption 1590. And what events happened unto us in this journey you shall plainly perceive by the sequel of my discourse…
It’s from John White, the governor and leader of the Roanoke expedition.

[George WK Newman]

1.02 - 400 Years of Haunting

2006: Friday afternoon and after a tough week of classes Kate is having a fight with her boyfriend. He wants to spend time with her this weekend but she is headed to the state capital library to do some research into Croatoan. She tells him excitedly about the historic documents she was given by her grandmother, but her BF doesn’t share her excitement.

1590, March 20th. Three ships (privateers – sanctioned pirates) put to sea from Plymouth harbour, Hopewell under Captain Cooke, Little John under Captain Newport, and John Evangelist, a consort. It has been 3 years since John white left the colony and he is manic to get back.
The only way to reach Roanoke is to coax small vessels through the treacherous channels.
5 days out from Plymouth and a mistake is made, and the shallops (the small boats being dragged) sink.
7 days later they encounter a London merchantman and two shipboats are purchased to replace the shallops.
April 29th, they reach the Caribbean after a skirmish off the Canary islands. The Little John stays behind to try and look for Spaniards to pirate.
Instead of going straight to Roanoke the other two serpentine their way through the Caribean also trying to do some privateering. John White is irate but he is helpless to stop the privateers.
They capture a Spanish frigate hailing from Cuba laden with hides and ginger.
In Puerto Rico Governor Diego Menendez de Valdes writes a letter to the Spanish crown reporting the sight of the English ships and information from spys that they are headed to Florida to take off 200 English cast away there. Reports of a governor on board.
The ships spend so much time looking to pirate that they claim it is too late in the season to go to Virginia, over concerns of hurricanes, but White as the financier gets his way after some serious threats and they go.
August 1 to 10th they encounter a storm. On the 12th they drop anchors outside Croatoan Island, the shallops sent out to sound over the breach. Reports come back with mixed depth readings but the crew agrees to go on.
August 15th they approach Roanoke.
John White spots a great smoke rise on the island near the place where he left the colony in 1587. He believes the Hopewell has been spotted by the colonialists who are signaling him.
The next morning as they ride the shallops in to Roanoke they shoot their rifles from the Hopewell intermittently to attract the attention of the settlers.
They follow to a rising smoke different then the first. It is further then they think and when they arrive it’s only a smoldering camp fire. The day is wasted and they return to the boats for the night.
Aug 17th Captain Spicer delays further, sending scallops to shore for fresh water. It’s almost noon by the time they depart for Roanoke and now the channels are no longer calm. They brave the rapids. They make it but the food and clothes are wet.
The other scallop though capsizes and 7 of 11 men drown as most can’t swim, and Captain Cooke saved as many as he could.
One of the drown were Robert Coleman who was a family member of the colonists.
After the drowning the crew doesn’t want to go any further but Captain Cook and John White convince them they must go.
They salvage Spicer’s boat and have 19 men left.
It is dark and they row past their landing spot, disorientated. They see light south from where they came so they backtrack to it. They want to signal so they all sing, but no one responds. They hunker down in the boats for the night.
Aug 18th they make their way to where the colony had been left by White 3 years previous. They find lots of footprints from the night before. Several people had been watching them as they slept.
Scrambling up a sandy bank White cries out. Cut into a tree are the letters “CRO”.
He alone knows what it means and he hangs his head. This is not good news.

2006: Kate leaves the library and heads to her car. Out of the edge of her site she sees a young girl in an old fashioned cloak watching her from the edge of the parking lot. Kate stops to stare at her. The figure is eerie, it seems to float inches off the ground, and no face is visible, its hidden in the darkness of the hood and the parking lot’s dim lights. The sound of a car distracts Kate and when she turns back to the mysterious figure it’s gone.

[George WK Newman]

1.03 - Who Are These People

2006: Kate is visiting her Grandmother and goes over some of the material she has been able to gather in regards to the lost colony. She expresses that she has hit a wall. She asks her Grandmother why John White himself would have been sent back to England to ask for supplies. There is an awkard pause before she asks “did he know something and abandon them all to die?” After thinking it over Kate’s Grandma says, “you have seen her. You are assuming something sinister happened because you believe you have seen the ghost of Virginia Dare.”

1572: painter Jacques LeMoyne and a 20 year old English volunteer Sir. Walter Raleigh hid for 3 days from Protestant Huguenots during a bloodbath in Paris streets on St Bartholomew’s Day. Raleigh would later hire LeMoyne to do paintings of Florida, and that’s where he met White who was assisting LeMoyne.
1577: John White a watercolour specialist painter, and scientific illustrator goes to Baffin Island, the expedition brings back a boat load of fool’s gold.
Richard Hakluyt was a new scientist, sometimes in the employ of Raleigh, he meets John White and they become fast friends.
1584: Raleigh asked John White to join the first Roanoke expedition as a commissioned artist, expedition artist.
1587 Jan 7th, Raleigh appoints White Governor of the City of Raleigh in Virginia and White agrees to lead a company of planters to establish it. His daughter Eleanor, 5 months pregnant and her husband Ananias Dare (tiler and bricklayer) to go as well.

2006: Kate meets with her professor to go over her research so far in the Lost Colony. He’s impressed at how much information Kate has dug up, and even more impressed by the diary of Richard Hakluyt. However, he says she is still just memorizing history. It’s time that she begin to shape history. Kate says she doesn’t know where to go from here. Her professor tells her to think like an investigator. Look for motive, why did people do what they did.

1590, Aug 18th: John White looks at the letters cut into the tree “CRO”.
He alone knows what it means and he hangs his head. This is not good news.
He speaks to his officers. The colonialists were prepared to relocate 50 miles into the main. This was to be their prearranged meeting signal. If they were in distress they were to carve a cross into the tree. The officers say this is good news then but White disagrees. He says they should have spelled out Croatoan not just CRO. It’s as if they were interrupted.
The rescue crew continue to the clearing where the settlers were, and its gone. No buildings, no locks, no boards, nothing. Except for a palisade made from trees, which John White says was not there when he left 3 years ago. On one of the trees on the pallasade they find another carving, Croatoan, again with no signs of distress. This puts the rest of the officers at ease but somehow White still fears the worse.
Inside the palisade the only things remaining are some heavy iron items, not easily transported and now overgrown with weeds.
The men find some chests that had been buried, now uncovered, pilfered for the most part and broken up. White realizes they were his belongings. Books torn from covers, maps spoiled, and armor almost eaten through with rust.
John White says they must have gone to Croatoan, the place where Manteo was born, the people of the island were our friends.
They return to the ships for the night, under a heavy storm, one anchor snaps.
As they arrive near Croatoan they drop anchor but it snaps away as does the next one in the rough shallows. The 4th and final anchor of the boat takes hold stopping the boat in its tracks, the ship almost run aground.
The crew decides it is too risky to continue into Croatoan, too much has gone wrong. White pleads with them. They negotiate a plan of action which will see them winter in the West Indies, hoping to catch some Spanish ships, and thus will be closer to Virginia to return in the spring. The crew does not seem to care about the fate of the colonialists grumbling about Spanish ships instead. White is a lone voice in the wilderness.

[George WK Newman]

1.04 – Famine, War, Pestilence

2006: There is a tremendous storm, and the lights go out at Kate’s apartment. She resorts to reading her research material by candlelight and dozes off. She is dreaming about John White leaving his family behind, knowing they will be slaughtered by the Indians and the Spaniards, while he returns to the comfort and riches of England. Then she dreams of Virginia Dare waiting on the beach for her Grandfather to return while the tide comes in until it takes her away to sea. She awakes with a start and out of the corner of her eye she thinks she see’s the edge of a dress walking away from her room. She follows but must have been seeing things as no one is there. Her phone rings, its her Mom. Kate’s Grandma has had a bad fall and is in the hospital.

1586: John White and Richard Hakluyt walk through the crowded, dirty streets of London England planning their voyage to Virginia. Hakluyt is all business trying to put together a provisions list for the journey. But White’s pious mind is on other things, the state of London and the crown. He begins a rant as they walk.
London a city of international trade based on water ways with an insatiable appetite for luxuries and fads and a delight for foreign goods. A new travel industry, foreign princes travel to London just to see the sites. A continuous line of boats on the Thames, extending the entire length of the city. A new class of urban, not accustomed anymore to country living. The Cockneys. Lapdogs are all the fashion. Overpopulated, self indulgent, lack of personal responsibility, lawsuits, youth gone wild, rudeness, street brawls, divorce. Sundays are not spent at church and worship but in dancing, dicing, carding, bowling, tennis, hunting, and the like. Dancing not for celebration but in praise of ourselves, smooching and slobbering one of another, filthy groping and unclean handling.
Bastard births, a soaring population and pandemic of venereal disease. Why did you know Richard that at Smart’s Quay a thieves’ school instructs streewise boys in the delicate art of pickpocketing? Prisons visible to the public as a deterrent, prisoners lying in filthy straw and dung. The rich feeding their sporting dogs exotic foods while the poor go hungry. Bear baiting, a bear tethered to a stick. Snarling mastiffs released one by one on the terrorized animal, the citizens eagerly placing bets.the bear can not bite back, its teeth have been broken short. An old blind bear securely fastened struck with canes and sticks by young boys. These children are the future of London, this their education.
Both men now stop in their tracks, Richard embarrassed as John White’s voice had risen high enough that they are getting a lot of menacing glances. They begin to walk again but this time it is Richard who speaks quietly. Yes, religion has been replaced by the worship of money. Suburbs sprout up past London’s walls. No room for beauty, antiquity, or history. Farmland is displaced, inflation runs rampant. The need for wood for fuel is so great the wholesale demolition of trees and forests results. Most of London’s waters are completely overfished.
But that is not why we leave is it my friend? That is not why we are eager to start again in Virginia?

2006; Kate is caressing her Grandmother’s hand as she rests, having broken her hip from a bad fall during the power outage. Kate whispers asking her Grandma why then, why did they want to start over. Her Grandma closes her eyes before speaking. Queen Elizabeth needed a strong and unified church because across Europe religious divisions created deadly civil wars. Allegiance to the Church is equated to allegiance to the Crown.
However a puritan movement catches fire, accusing Anglican officials of being too Catholic. Seperatists and secret societies exist underground, under the fear of treason.
August 1583 John Whitgift is consecrated the new Archbishop of Canterbury, pursues dissidents with rigour, too much, condemned by even Burghley, Lord Treasurere of the Queen’s Privy Council for entrapment, likening it to the inquisition. Leaders of the separatists are thrown in jail. You see dear the colonialists were not from the poor. They had to buy their share of the adventure in return for 500 acres of land. They included a physician, goldsmith, sheriff, lawyer, professor, and other gentlemen. Kate whispers, so it was religious fervor? As the nurse enters the room to tell Kate her Grandma has to rest now, Grandma shakes her head slightly and whispers for Kate to dig deeper. This had very little to do with the colonialists at all.

2006: Kate speaks to herself while looking over the diary of Richard Hakulyt and the scene continues to shift from modern day to the past as she tries to figure out what happened, tries to put herself into the colonialists shoes. She keeps coming back to the question, why send John White back for supplies? Her professor happens to come into the library where she is researching and she begins to go over the problem with him. He suggests that perhaps John White was chosen to leave, and it wasn’t his choice. Kate reminds him that he was the Governor. Yes, the professor continues, but why did they leave England in the first place? Kate responds, Religion. But they were Anglican? The professor reminds her that the colonialists were early Americans, but not much different then our founding fathers. And with that he walks away. Finally Kate clues in. The colonialists left because they were seperatists, they believed in the separation between Church and State, one of America’s founding beliefs. She is speaking to herself and getting a few stares. So once they arrived in Roanoke there is no reason to believe the Governor controlled things, they were doing things democratically. It was the colony that sent John White back to England, he didn’t have a choice. But why him, why did they choose him? Why could he succeed where they could not? What clout did he have? Power. That’s it, as Govenor, he must have had some political clout that made the colonialists believe he could succeed. Kate quieted herself and thought back to then.

1587: We see the preparations made by John White, and the Portugese pilot hired on Simon Fernandez to travel to Chesapeake Bay. 89 men, 17 women, 9 children.

2006: Kate is calling her Grandma but is told by her Mother that she is still in the hospital. Of course says Kate, embarrassed by being wrapped up in her own world. She blurts out to her Mom, they were sailing for Chesepeake Bay mom, landing in Roanoke was a mistake. Either an error, or on purpose, it was not where they intended to land. Her mom gives her an icy “that’s nice dear”. Kate remembers who she is talking to and says good-night.