It was quite time for England to remember and confirm her claim. Spain was her enemy. Spain was growing rich from American gold, and powerful by reason of American possessions. Already four hundred vessels came annually from the harbours of Portugal and Spain (and some from France and England), to the shores of Newfoundland. Queen Elizabeth granted a liberal patent[2] to one of her bravest soldiers, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with the right to establish a colony. With Sir Walter Raleigh's aid, he equipped a squadron of three ships, but misfortunes befell his little vessels, and he attempted to return to England with two ships, the _Hind_ and the _Squirrel_. A great storm arose; the oldest mariner had "never seen a more outrageous sea," and in it the _Squirrel_ perished. The _Hind_ returned to tell the story of Sir Humphrey's devotion and courage; how out of the darkness a brave voice rang out--the voice of the good old knight to whom the Queen had given with her blessing a golden anchor set with pearls--"Be of good cheer, my friends! We are as near to Heaven by sea as by land," and how his ship went down in the night! Such was the spirit of the few Englishmen who came hither before 1600 on fruitless voyages--sighting our shores only--like sea-birds which hover on restless wing near the coast for a moment, then wheel and return to their nests in some far-away island. CHAPTER II With Sir Walter Raleigh the history of the English colonies in America begins. He was a prime favourite with Queen Elizabeth, and she knew how to exalt and abase, to create and destroy. To Raleigh she gave viceregal powers over any and all of England's prospective colonies, with no limit to his control over territories, of which he could bestow grants according to his pleasure. He sent out an exploring expedition to the islands near North Carolina. The adventurers returned with glowing accounts of the country. The season was summer--seas were tranquil, skies clear; no storms ever gathered on those peaceful shores; all was repose. The gentle inhabitants were in harmony with the scene; flowers and fruit abounded, grapes were clustered close to the coast and cooled by the spray of a quiet sea; there was no winter, no cold. A hundred islands clustered along the shores, inhabited by "people the most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as lived after the manner of the golden age." No wonder a new expedition of one hundred and eight colonists was soon organized. Seven vessels were equipped, and sailed under the happiest auspices. But, alas! the "gentle people" living after the manner of the golden age proved thievish and deceitful; disasters, many and varied, followed; the adventurers forsook the "paradise of the world," and the enterprise came to naught. [Illustration: Queen Elizabeth. From an engraving after the painting by Zucchero.]