|
The Palatine Light is an apparition reported near Block Island, Rhode Island, said to be the ghost ship of a lost 18th-century vessel named the ''Palatine''. The folklore account is based on the historical wreck of the ''Princess Augusta'' in 1738, which became known as the ''Palatine'' in 19th-century accounts, including John Greenleaf Whittier's poem "The Palatine". ==Historical background== The legend derives from a historical incident: the shipwreck of the ''Princess Augusta'' at Block Island in 1738. The ship is known from some near-contemporary accounts and from depositions taken from the surviving crew after the wreck, which were discovered in 1925 and reprinted in 1939. The ''Augusta'', a 220-ton British ship, sailed from Rotterdam in August 1738 under Captain George Long and a crew of fourteen, transporting 240 immigrants to English colonies in America. The passengers were German Palatines, natives of the Palatinate region, and as such the ship was described as the "Palatine (ship)" in contemporary documents, which accounts for the later confusion over its name.〔Goss, p. 68.〕〔http://www.quahog.org/factsfolklore/index.php?id=92〕 The ship was heading for Philadelphia; from there the passengers may have intended to reach a German-owned settlement on the James River in Virginia, which attracted some 3000 of their countrymen.〔 The ''Princess Augustas voyage was beset by terrible luck; the water supply was contaminated, causing a "fever and flux" that killed two hundred of the passengers and half the crew, including Captain Long. First mate Andrew Brook took command as severe storms pushed the ship off course to the north, where the survivors spent three months enduring extreme weather and depleting stores. According to the crew's depositions, Brook forced the passengers to pay for the remaining rations. He evidently tried and failed different routes to Rhode Island and Philadelphia, but the gales pushed the damaged and leaking ''Augusta'' to Block Island. Amid a snowstorm, it wrecked at Sandy Point on the island's northernmost end at 2 p.m. December 27, 1738.〔〔Goss, pp. 68–69.〕 The depositions paint an unsympathetic view of Brook, who rowed to shore with the entire crew while leaving the passengers aboard. In contrast to their later portrayals, the Block Islanders evidently did what they could to help, convincing Brook to let the passengers off the ship the next day and later retrieving their possessions when he left them aboard. They also buried about twenty who died after the wreck; the Block Island Historical Society placed a marker at the site of the "Palatine Graves" in 1947.〔〔Goss, p. 69.〕 The authorities took depositions from the crew, but what happened afterward is unclear. It appears the crew faced no charges for their actions, and they and most surviving passengers made it to the mainland, after which little is known of them. Two survivors remained on Block Island and settled there. Most accounts indicate that the ship was determined unsalvageable and was pushed out to sea to sink. It may have been set on fire to scuttle it. In some accounts a woman driven mad by her suffering, sometimes named as Mary Van Der Line, was forgotten and went 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 on to Philadelphia.〔 Due to its geography, Block Island could present a hazard to shipping in the area. As a result, it gained a reputation, perhaps undeservedly, as a haven of "wreckers" who looted wrecked ships. According to some accounts, the locals would go so far as lighting false beacons to encourage wrecks, and even kill the survivors, though the veracity of such stories is debatable.〔Goss, p. 64.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Palatine Light」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|