Philip Amidas, an English discoverer, born in Hull in 1550, of a Breton family, members of which had been for nearly a generation domesticated in England, died about 1618. He commanded one of the two ships composing the first expedition sent by Queen Elizabeth under Arthur Barlow to North America. They touched at the Canaries, the West Indies, and Florida, and then made their way northward along the coast. On July 13, 1584, they entered Ocracoke inlet, and landed on Woco-ken island. Barren and desolate as this part of North Carolina now is, the mariner thought it beautiful, and gave gorgeous descriptions of it. The people of the country were kind and gentle, and the scenery was lovely and luxuriant. On the return of Amidas and Barlow to England they reported their discoveries to Raleigh, who does not appear ever to have been on the North American continent, and from him the matter was imparted to Queen Elizabeth, who called the new land "Virginia." Amidas was long after in the English maritime service, and went in charge of an expedition to Newfoundland a few years later.

He died in England a few months before Raleigh's execution.