White very soon went back to England for help, in the only ship the
colonists had. War with Spain prevented his return for several years, and
then only the ruins of the settlement were found on the island. [12]

[Illustration: ENGLISH DRESS, SIXTEENTH CENTURY. Contemporary portrait of
Raleigh and his son, by Zuccaro.]

SPAIN ATTACKS ENGLAND.--The war which prevented White from promptly
returning to Roanoke began in 1585. The next year, with twenty-five ships,
Drake attacked the possessions of Spain in America, and burned and
plundered several towns. In 1587 he "singed the beard of the king of
Spain" by burning a hundred vessels in the harbor of the Spanish city of
Cadiz.

Enraged by these defeats, King Philip II of Spain determined to invade
England and destroy that nest of sea rovers. A great fleet known as the
Invincible Armada, carrying thirty thousand men, was assembled and in 1588
swept into the English channel. There the English, led by Raleigh, [13]
Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, Lane, and all the other great sea kings, met
the Armada, drove it into the North Sea, and captured, burned, and sank
many of the ships. The rest fled around Scotland, on whose coast more were
wrecked. Less than half the Armada returned to Spain. [14]

THE ENGLISH EXPLORE THE NEW ENGLAND COAST.--The war lasted sixteen years
longer (till 1604). Though it delayed, it did not stop, attempts at
colonization. In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold, with a colony of thirty-two
men, sailed from England, saw the coast of Maine, turned southward, named
Cape Cod and the Elizabeth Islands, [15] and after a short stay went home.
The next year Martin Pring came with two vessels on an exploring and