Amadas or Amidas, Philip(both: ăm`ədăs), 1550–1618, English navigator. With Arthur Barlowe he was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to explore the North American coast. Their favorable report on Roanoke Island, N.C., led to the colonizing expedition (1585) under Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Ralph LaneLane, Sir Ralph,
c.1530–1603, leader of the first attempted English settlement in America, on Roanoke Island, N.C. Sent by Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition of over 100 colonists left England in Apr., 1585, in a fleet of seven ships commanded by Sir Richard Grenville.
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