# John White's account of the 1590 return to Roanoke (letter to Richard Hakluyt, 1593)

> The only eyewitness record of what the colony left behind; everything about the agreed sign of a cross comes from it.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke/artifacts/ART0CQCCQ7P3ZNZ/john-whites-account-of-the-1590-return-to-roanoke-letter-to  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Mysteries](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries)[Lost Colony of Roanoke](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke)[Artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke#artifacts)John White's account of the 1590 return to Roanoke (letter to Richard Hakluyt, 1593)

**ART** 0CQCCQ7P3ZNZ·Artifact · document

# John White's account of the 1590 return to Roanoke (letter to Richard Hakluyt, 1593)

Document532 pagesPublic domainLetter dated 4 February 1593; printed 1600

[Cite][Download](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/d/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571)

[Pages][Text]Page 1 of 532

[![Page 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p1)1][![Page 2](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p2)2][![Page 3](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p3)3][![Page 4](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p4)4][![Page 5](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p5)5][![Page 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p6)6][![Page 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p7)7][![Page 8](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p8)8][![Page 9](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p9)9][![Page 10](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p10)10][![Page 11](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p11)11][![Page 12](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p12)12]

![Page 1 of John White's account of the 1590 return to Roanoke (letter to Richard Hakluyt, 1593)](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571/p1)

The first 12 pages are shown; the rest are in the file. Text taken from the file. Check it against the page.

The only eyewitness record of what the colony left behind; everything about the agreed sign of a cross comes from it.

Internet Archive (from the MacLehose edition), 1593. Public domain

## Copies 2

**Scan** Internet Archive (from the MacLehose edition) · archive.org · 1904 · Public domainPrimary source: [A letter of M. John White to M. Richard Hakluyt written in February 1593, with The fifth voyage to Virginia made by master John White in the yeere 1590](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQCC0H46NJC/a-letter-of-m-john-white-to-m-richard-hakluyt-written-in)2 steps from the original

[Where it's published](https://archive.org/details/principalnavigat08hakl)[Download](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/d/e7cbf821646a57032b284cb003ae0796a1cf62dc6ac871795dd51f5bacc0a571)

**John White's account of the 1590 return to Roanoke (letter to Richard Hakluyt, 1593):…** Internet Archive · archive.org · Public domain2 steps from the original

[Where it's published](https://archive.org/details/principalnavigat08hakl)

## Where it was made

[Roanoke Island, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0CQCC0H42FS5/roanoke-island-fort-raleigh-national-historic-site) · Island

## Sources 1

- [The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, vol. 8 (Glasgow: MacLehose, 1904)](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQCBW4G4EQT/the-principal-navigations-voyages-traffiques-and-discoveries)_SRC_

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). John White's account of the 1590 return to Roanoke (letter to Richard Hakluyt, 1593) [Artifact ART0CQCCQ7P3ZNZ]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0CQCCQ7P3ZNZ
```

Key

**ART** 0CQCCQ7P3ZNZ

Kind

Document

Held by

printed by Hakluyt in 1600; White's manuscript is lost

Dated

letter dated 4 February 1593; printed 1600

Licence

Public domain

Place

[Roanoke Island, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0CQCC0H42FS5/roanoke-island-fort-raleigh-national-historic-site)

Part of

[Lost Colony of Roanoke](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke)

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ART0CQCCQ7P3ZNZ)