The Palatine Light is a ghostly sight reported near Block Island, Rhode Island. It is believed to be the spirit of a ship that was lost in the 1700s, called the Palatine. This story comes from the real shipwreck of the Princess Augusta in 1738. Over time, this shipwreck became known as the Palatine in stories from the 1800s, including a poem written by John Greenleaf Whittier titled "The Palatine."
Historical background
The legend comes from the real shipwreck of the Princess Augusta near Block Island in 1738. Information about the ship comes from written records from the time and from written statements given by the surviving crew members after the wreck. These statements were found in 1925 and published again in 1939. The 220-ton British ship Augusta left Rotterdam in August 1738, led by Captain George Long and a crew of fourteen. It carried 240 German Palatine immigrants, people from the Palatinate region of Germany. Because of this, the ship was called the "Palatine ship" in records from that time, which caused later confusion about its name. The ship was heading to Philadelphia, where the passengers planned to travel to a German-owned settlement on the James River in Virginia, which had attracted about 3,000 other German immigrants.
The voyage of the Princess Augusta was very difficult. The water supply became polluted, causing a serious illness that killed 200 passengers and half the crew, including Captain Long. First mate Andrew Brook took over as captain. Strong storms pushed the ship off course to the north, and the survivors spent three months dealing with harsh weather and running out of supplies. According to the crew’s statements, Brook made the passengers pay for the remaining food. He tried different routes to Rhode Island and Philadelphia, but the storms forced the damaged and leaking ship to Block Island. The ship wrecked during a snowstorm at Sandy Point, the northernmost part of the island, at 2 p.m. on December 27, 1738.
The crew’s statements describe Brook in a negative light. He rowed to shore with the entire crew while leaving the passengers on the ship. Block Island residents helped the survivors, convincing Brook to let the passengers leave the ship the next day. Later, they retrieved the passengers’ belongings when Brook left them aboard. They also buried about 20 people who died after the wreck. In 1947, the Block Island Historical Society placed a marker at the site of the "Palatine Graves."
Authorities collected statements from the crew, but what happened afterward is unclear. It seems the crew faced no charges for their actions, and most of the surviving passengers and crew reached the mainland. Little is known about what happened to them afterward. Two survivors stayed on Block Island and settled there. Most accounts say the ship was too damaged to save and was pushed out to sea to sink. Some say it was set on fire to sink it intentionally. In some stories, a woman named Mary Van Der Line was driven mad by her suffering and was forgotten, going down with the ship. However, no remains of the wreck have ever been found, and there is some evidence the Augusta may have been repaired and sent to Philadelphia.
Block Island’s geography can make it dangerous for ships, leading to its reputation (perhaps unfairly) as a place where people stole from wrecked ships. Some accounts claim locals lit false beacons to lure ships to wreck and even harmed survivors, though the truth of these stories is uncertain.
Folklore accounts
There is a long tradition of stories about the event, with many people claiming to have seen strange things during the late 1700s and 1800s. The legend was made famous by poet John Greenleaf Whittier in his poem "The Palatine," which tells the story in verse. Whittier heard the tale in 1865 from Joseph P. Hazard, a man who lived in Newport. Hazard’s family shared stories about 19th-century New England folklore with collectors. The poem was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1867 and later included in Whittier’s book The Tent on the Beach. It became one of his most well-known works. The name "Palatine" became widely recognized because of Whittier’s poem.
On the Saturday between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, some locals still occasionally report seeing a burning ship sail past. According to tradition, a German ship carrying immigrants to Philadelphia ran aground during a snowstorm on December 26, 1738, near Block Island. Survivors said about half the crew died. However, folklorist Michael Bell discovered that two different versions of the event began to spread nearly a year after the incident.
Block Islanders claimed they tried hard to save the crew, while people on the mainland of New England believed the islanders had lured the ship to take its cargo. Both stories agree that a female passenger stayed on the sinking ship, and those who say they see the ship again claim they hear her screams.
Today, a marker near the spot where the ship is thought to have run aground, at Mohegan Bluffs, reads: Palatine Graves – 1738. Some believe those who died that night are buried there. However, Charlotte Taylor of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission has noted that no physical evidence has ever been found to support the claim about the graves or the legend itself.
Popular culture
In the 2020 horror film The Block Island Sound, a character suggests that the Palatine shipwreck happened because the crew was infected by a parasite that attracted a sea monster, similar to how toxoplasmosis affects cats.