The Palatine Light is a ghostly light seen near Block Island, Rhode Island. It is believed to be the spirit of a lost ship from the 1700s called the Palatine. This story comes from the historical shipwreck of the Princess Augusta in 1738. Over time, this shipwreck was later called the Palatine in stories from the 1800s, including a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier titled "The Palatine."
Historical background
The legend comes from the historical shipwreck of the Princess Augusta at Block Island in 1738. The ship is known from some accounts from that time and from statements made by the crew after the wreck, which were found in 1925 and printed again in 1939. The 220-ton British ship Augusta left Rotterdam in August 1738, led by Captain George Long and a crew of fourteen, carrying 240 immigrants to English colonies in America. The passengers were German Palatines, people from the Palatinate region, and the ship was called the "Palatine ship" in documents from that time, which caused confusion about its name later. The ship was heading to Philadelphia, and the passengers may have planned to reach a German-owned settlement on the James River in Virginia, where about 3,000 of their countrymen lived.
The voyage of the Princess Augusta was filled with bad luck. The water supply became polluted, causing a sickness called "fever and flux" that killed 200 passengers and half the crew, including Captain Long. First mate Andrew Brook took over, but severe storms pushed the ship off course to the north. Survivors spent three months on the ship, facing 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 strong winds forced the damaged and leaking Augusta 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 an unkind way. He rowed to shore with the entire crew while leaving the passengers on the ship. Block Islanders helped the survivors, convincing Brook to let the passengers leave the ship the next day. They later retrieved the passengers’ belongings when Brook left them on the ship. They also buried about 20 people who died after the wreck. The Block Island Historical Society placed a marker at the site of the "Palatine Graves" in 1947.
Authorities took statements from the crew, but what happened afterward is unclear. It seems the crew faced no charges for their actions, and they and most surviving passengers reached the mainland. Little is known about them after that. 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. It may have been set on fire to sink it. Some accounts mention a woman named Mary Van Der Line, who became very upset from her suffering and was forgotten, going down with the ship. However, no remains of the wreck have been found, and there is some evidence the Augusta may have been repaired and sent to Philadelphia.
Block Island may be dangerous for ships because of its geography. This led to a reputation (possibly unfair) as a place where people stole from wrecked ships. Some accounts say locals lit false signals to cause shipwrecks and even harmed survivors, but the truth of these stories is uncertain.
Folklore accounts
There is a long tradition of stories about this event, with many people claiming to have seen something unusual during the late 1700s and 1800s. The story became famous through a poem written by John Greenleaf Whittier called "The Palatine," which tells the tale in verse. Whittier learned the story in 1865 from Joseph P. Hazard, a man who lived in Newport. Hazard’s family helped share stories about 19th-century New England folklore. 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" is widely recognized because of this poem.
On the Saturday between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, some local people still occasionally say they see a burning ship passing by. 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 found that two different versions of what happened that night began to spread about a year after the event.
Block Islanders claimed they tried hard to save the ship’s crew, but people from the mainland of New England believed the islanders had lured the ship there to take its cargo. Both stories agree that a woman on the ship refused to leave as it sank. People who say they see the ship again claim they hear her screams from it.
Today, a marker near Mohegan Bluffs marks the place where the ship is thought to have run aground. It reads: Palatine Graves – 1738. Some believe the people who died that night are buried there. However, Charlotte Taylor of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission has said no physical proof has ever been found to support these claims or the legend itself.
Popular culture
In the 2020 horror film The Block Island Sound, a character suggests that the Palatine shipwreck occurred because the crew was infected by a parasite. This parasite may have caused them to be attracted to a sea monster, similar to how toxoplasmosis affects cats.