What happened
In June 1738 the Princess Augusta sailed from Rotterdam with some 340 emigrants from the Palatinate on the Rhine, bound for Pennsylvania. The voyage became a nightmare: foul water and disease killed most of the passengers and the captain, and autumn gales drove the ship far to the north. In December 1738, in a snowstorm, the Princess Augusta ran aground at Sandy Point, the northern tip of Block Island. A legend grew up around the wreck: the islanders had lured the ship with false lights, plundered it and set it on fire, with a woman burning on board who refused to leave. Ever since, especially between Christmas and New Year, fishermen and islanders were said to see a burning sailing ship out at sea – the “Palatine Light.” In January 1867 John Greenleaf Whittier published his poem “The Palatine” in the Atlantic Monthly, and the legend became famous across America.
Witnesses
Block Island fishermen and residents in 18th- and 19th-century accounts; depositions by surviving crew members, taken after the wreck, were rediscovered in 1925.
Explanations and hypotheses
The ship and the wreck are well documented, but historian Jill Farinelli, in The Palatine Wreck (2017), drawing on passengers’ letters, notarial records and newspapers of the day, showed that the ship was never abandoned, lured ashore or burned – the islanders helped the passengers get ashore, and their reputation as wreckers was pinned on them later. The name “Palatine” appeared in 19th-century accounts, and Farinelli links the legend’s popularity to the vogue for Spiritualism and to Whittier’s poem. What witnesses actually saw is unknown; sceptics mention bioluminescence, reflected lights and atmospheric effects.
Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.
Sources
- Massachusetts Historical Society – Book Review: “The Palatine Wreck: The Legend of the New England Ghost Ship” (2018)
- New England Historical Society – The Legend of the Ghost Ship Palatine
More: Wikipedia (en)