Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-02-23
GHOST OF THE PALATlNe.
Phantom of Burning Ship Which Is
Seen by Block Islanders.

There is a wierd mystery which always
hovers over the SEES, and like the ocean it
self groweth never commonplace or stalled
by usage. The more men go to sea the
more they become impressed with it, the
more superstitious they become, and the
more in awe of the power and magnitude
of the great deep. These people, whose
homes are on the shores of the sea. and
whose menfolk gain livelihood on the
waters, are filed with legends and super
stitions which, handed down from genera
ton to generation, have finally become
part OF their lives. Thus in the fishing vii
lagos along the New England shore it is n
common belief that person lying i'll can
not die except on the ebb of the tide
Watchers by sick beds always in these
hamiets await the beginning of the food,
and say with bated breath, IF he only
lives till the tide t;ir Is" Barren beaches
and misty promonrol les have their ghosts
of stranded ships or drowned men all
along the northern coast, firmly believed
in by tAe country people, and often seen
by them with the eye Of faith, if not with
natural vision
Two of the most celebrated haunted
spots on the northern coast are The north
eastern coast of Block Island and St. Mary's
Bay, rockbOund inlet near Cape Race,
Newfoundland. The ghost which haunts
the Block Island shore is ''the terrible
ghost of the Palatine" mentioned nv
Whittier IN his Tent on the Beach " and
the actual appearance of which has been
vouched for by hundreds of people, some
Of them being men of standing, not born
or living in the neighborhood, but in New
York and Boston. The legend of the Pala-
tine, as told on the coast, is as follows: In
early colonial times the ship Palatine
laden with colonists from the Palatinate
OF the Rhine, was on her way to Virginia.
In those days Block Island was inhab-
tied by Wreckers. Not the modern wreck
ers, who for "a consideration will raise
sunken vessels or bring up their cargoes.
but bad men, who for no consideration at
all would lure ships ashore by false lights
and then plumber them. The wreckers of
Block Island lured the Palatine ashore one
Wild, stormy night and burned her after
taxing everything valuable out of her. In
the wreck many lives were lost, and on the
bluff overlooking the beach where the shin
struck are some graves where some of the
bodies washed ashore are buried, which are
known as the "Palatine graves" Some of
the survivors married with the islanders.
and their descendants live there to this day.
After the wreck of the Palatine, when
ever strong northeast wind was blowing
and the surf piled high on the barren
shore, there appeared a ship il flames.
burning and dying away and blazing I'D
again in three pyramidal danes. AS time
passed, and population and civilization in
creased, the appearance of the ghost of the
Palatine became less and less freuuent.
The last authentic appearance of the burn
ing Palatine occurred about seventeen
years ago, when it was seen by many peo-
pie, who made affidavit to it afterward
1t was described as appearing at first like
a light seen through the window of house
at night. Then it grew to three pyramidal
flames, shooting up as high as a ships
masts, and then fading away. This was
reported several times.
About this period the ''Palatine light
as it is called on Block Island and the adj
Iacent New England shore, appeared sew
eral times The apparition has been &C
counted for by some by ascribing t to the
effect of phosphorescent waves dashing I'D
on the shore, and by others to the escape
of luminous gas from some fissure in a
rock beneath the water, but to the native
born Block Islanders such explanations
seem impious, and they firmly belleve that
1t Is mark of the anger of heaven set for
ever on their shores to remind them of the
crime OF their ancestors.-New York Trib-