Sir Francis Drake rescued the first attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to colonize his patent in what is now Virginia. Drake whisked the few remaining starving men back to England in 1586, the year after they landed. In 1587 Raleigh tried again. This expedition was led by John White, his deputy governor. White returned to the first settlement site at Roanoke with 150 settlers, including 17 women.

Among the group was Elenor Dare, who was eight-months' pregnant. Virginia Dare was born in Virginia in 1587, the first birth of a European child in the New World. The group arrived too late to plant seeds. Soon sickness was increasing, and the food supply decreasing. White took the group's remaining ship and sailed to England for help. England's preparation for the Spanish Armada slowed White's attempts, and he did not return until four years after his departure, only to find no survivors. The entire colony had disappeared.