Why did the colonists of Roanoke Island return to England?

Answer 1

There were two batches of colonists that went to Roanoke. The first set turned heel and went home because there was no food, even their massacering local Native American chiefs didn't help them get more food, so they called it quits. With the second batch of settlers, after they set up shop, Sir Walter Raleigh returned to England to gather supplies and report on general conditions, however, no one knows where the rest of the settlers went. There are a few theories from integration with local native tribes to being outright killed to settling in a different place that have scant evidence supporting them.