from this period were of the lands and people encountered on the voyage. In 1585, White accompanied the expedition led by Sir Ralph Lane to attempt to found the first English colony in North America. White was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh as Sir Richard Grenville's artist-illustrator on his first voyage to the New World; working closely with the scientist Thomas Harriot, he served as mapmaker and artist to the expedition, which encountered considerable difficulties and returned to England in 1586. Gentleman artist In 1585 White had been commissioned to "draw to life" the inhabitants of the New World and their surroundings. During White's time at Roanoke Island, he completed numerous watercolor drawings of the surrounding landscape and native peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard, and predate the first body of "discovery voyage art" created in the late 18th century by the artists who sailed with Captain James Cook. They represent the sole-surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America encountered by England's first settlers. White's enthusiasm for watercolor was unusual – most contemporary painters preferred to use oil-based paints. White's watercolors would soon become a sensation in Europe; it was not long before the watercolors were engraved by the Flemish master engraver Theodor de Bry. Through the medium of print, the illustrations became widely known and distributed; they were published in 1590 under the title America. Governor of the Roanoke colony After Lane's colonists returned to England in 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh, who held the land patent for the proposed English colony of Virginia, tasked White with the job of organising a new settlement in the Chesapeake Bay area, one which would be self-sustaining and which would include women and children. During 1586, White was able to persuade 113 prospective colonists to join Raleigh's expedition, including his daughter Eleanor and his son-in-law Ananias Dare, recently married at St Bride's Church in Fleet Street. His efforts did not go unrewarded; on 7 January 1587, Raleigh named "John White of London Gentleman, to be the chief Governor" of the new colony. White, with thirteen others, were incorporated under the name of "The Governor and Assistants of the Cities of Raleigh of Virginia". Arrival at Roanoke In May 1587, White's colonists sailed for Virginia in the Lion. They were guided by the Portuguese navigator Simon Fernandez,