Gilbert’s first attempt to start for the West failed at the very outset, through the loss of one of his vessels and the desertion of many of his followers. The second expedition, which started in 1583, reached St. John’s, Newfoundland, in safety, and, landing, Sir Humphrey read aloud his commission to the motley crowd of fishermen of all nations there assembled. A pillar bearing the arms of England was then set up, in token that the land henceforth belonged to the English monarch, and the voyage was resumed; but before the fleet had proceeded far down the coast of the United States, the largest vessel was wrecked, and the remainder beat a hasty retreat for England. Gilbert, who had embarked on the smallest of the ships in order to superintend the coast surveys, refused to leave it for the homeward voyage, replying, when urged to do so, “I will not forsake my little company ... with whom I have passed so many storms and perils.” For this noble resolution the unfortunate commander paid with his life, for his little bark, the _Squirrel_, went down, with all on board, in mid-Atlantic. Illustration: THE LAST MOMENTS OF SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. On receiving the news of the sad fate of his half-brother, and of the total failure of his expedition, so far as any practical results were concerned, Sir Walter Raleigh lost not a moment in obtaining a new patent from the Queen; and though forbidden at the last moment by Her Majesty to sail himself, he succeeded in dispatching two vessels, under the command of Captain Philip Amadas and Captain Barlow, as early as the 27th of April, 1583. The coast of Florida was sighted on the 2d of July of the same year, and, sailing for some hundred and twenty miles without finding any harbor, the adventurers came in due course to what they took to be an island, but which, so far as can be made out from the confused and contradictory accounts given of the voyage by old chroniclers, is generally supposed to have been Cape Hatteras (N. lat. 35° 14′, W. long. 75° 32′). Here they disembarked, and were kindly received by the king of the country, a native of “mean stature, of color yellow, and with black hair, worn long on one side only,” the latter peculiarity being, as it turned out, a distinctive mark of the male sex of this district, the women alone enjoying the privilege of wearing the hair long on both sides. Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH. The name of the newly-discovered territory was Wingandacoa, and that of its king Wingina; but, with the usual cool disregard of the feelings of the natives shown by all or nearly all early explorers, the visitors took possession of it, and “of all adjacent countries,” in the name of their queen, who, on hearing of its discovery, called it Virginia, after her own most excellent virgin Majesty.