USA > Rhode Island > A history of Block Island : from its discovery, in 1514, to the present time, 1876 > Part 9
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"One of these passengers, a woman, married a colored slave belonging to a Mr. Littlefield. Her name was Kate, and was commonly called Kattern. She was known as Long Kate to distinguish her from another who was then called Short Kate. The former had three children, Cradle, whose descendants have died or moved away; Mary, from whose descendants Jack, a colored man now in the employ- ment of Hon. Nicholas Ball, and remembered by many
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who have stopped at the Ocean View Hotel, has descended; and Jenny, whose posterity have died and left the Island.
" Letter from Charles Mueller, U. S. Consul at Amsterdam, dated July 4, 1870, states that the Custom House archives there have been searched, from the year 1602 to the year 1799, and the records of the Dutch Trading Society from 1700 to 1786, but no information was gained, although the record was found of a ship Palatine which was wrecked in the Bay of Bengal, July 14, 1784.
" Frederick Shutz, U. S. Consul at Rotterdam, in a letter dated Nov. 8, 1870, is also unable to give information, though the Custom House Records there were searched for a period embraced between 1736 and 1766; those from 1738 to 1743 were missing.
" A Letter from R. H. Dana, Jr., states that his father's poem-THE BUCCANEER, was simply a work of imagina- tion, founded on no fact, and having no reference to the Palatine.
" A Letter from J. G. Whittier states that his first hint of the story of its wreck came from James Hazard of Newport, that his knowledge on the subject is very limited, and that he has a plate said to have come from the Palatine.
" The gist of the traditional accounts of her seems to be, that she sailed from some German port, laden with well-to-do emigrants, bound to Philadelphia, that the cap- tain died or was killed on the passage, that the officers and crew starved and plundered the helpless emigrants, and finally, in their boats, abandoned the vessel which drifted ashore, as previously stated, during the week between Christmas and New Year's."
"The ship was undoubtedly burned, with the woman left on board."-CHARLES E. PERRY.
In what manner, or why she was set on fire we can hardly conjecture. Her timbers and irons were too val-
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THE PALATINE.
uable to the Islanders to be wasted. Where were the laws then for piracy ? Certain it is that the strict laws of the Island would have duly punished the known incen- diary, had he been a citizen.
MR. BENJAMIN SPRAGUE'S RECOLLECTIONS ABOUT THE PAL- ATINE.
Although eighty-eight years old, Mr. Sprague does not seem to have any disease preying upon his constitution, and he talks of the scenes of his childhood and youth as though they were present, visible realities. He says he heard his parents say much about "Dutch Kattern," as she was called, and that it was well understood by them that she came from the ship Palatine. He well knew Kattern's daughter Cradle, a mulatto, as Kattern married a negro, soon after she came upon the Island. Mr. Sprague, by remembering the character commonly as- cribed to " Dutch Kattern," enables us to gain some insight into the character of the traditions of the Palatine. He says she reported that the crew starved the passengers to get their money. He says she was a noted fortune-teller; that she would hide away behind a wall, or in a thicket of bushes, and there lie in a trance for hours. On return- ing to the house much exhausted, and being asked where she had been, she would reply that she had been home across the sea, to Holland, and then would give an ac- count of the condition of her kindred there as she had just seen them. She lived on the Neck, and was believed to be a witch. The Islanders were afraid of her. Mr. Sprague has no recollection of ever having heard any account of the burning of the Palatine, nor do the other old people of the Island know any account of any such burning of the wreck. All they pretend that is known about a burning Palatine is contained in their notions of the Palatine Light.
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
After more than two years of the best of opportunities to inquire into the legend of the Palatine, being on inti- mate and friendly terms with all of the most aged and reliable inhabitants of the Island, the writer is prepared to make a note of the following observations:
That a ship named Palatine, about 130 years ago, came to Block Island, and left a considerable number of her passengers, who were in a diseased and dying condition: That these passengers received no treatment but kindness from the Islanders: That the Palatine was never burned by the Islanders, since to them every stick of its timbers, and every bolt were valuable; and especially since none can give any of the details of her burning: That she was never burned at all, but was wrecked in the Bay of Bengal, in July, 1784, according to the account in the records of the Dutch Trading Society, and reported by the American Consul, Charles Mueller, at Amsterdam in 1870: That Dutch Kattern, one of the passengers, who was landed on Block Island, who married a negro slave, who got her living in part by fortune-telling, in those days of superstition, and who was feared as a witch by the Islanders, has received far too much credit for truthful. ness in reference to the Palatine legend: That neither the silence nor the words of the maniac, Mark Dodge, who, by good authority, is said to have burned the only wind- mill on the Island, is entitled to much weight in reference to this legend : That the Palatine Light in reality had no more relation to the ship Palatine than it had to Bunker Hill Monument, and that the superstitions, and fictitious relations of said ship and light originated in the days of the witch, "Dutch Kattern," and of the "old opium- eater," as he was called, who occupied the house previ- ously owned and occupied by Simon Ray, Jr., the house so famous for ghosts and the dancing mortar, in the davs of Dutch Kattern: That the fortune-teller and witch,
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Dutch Kattern; the inveterate "opium-eater," of the haunted house ; and the maniac, Mark Dodge, are poor authority for authenticating a legend that criminates a civil, Christianized community, and reduces them to a level with barbarians and pirates: That, as widely as the report has been circulated that Mr. R. H. Dana referred to the Palatine, in his " Buccaneer; " and that as far as Mr. J. G. Whittier, in his " Palatine," has made the false impression that the Islanders, by false lights, wrecked said ship, murdered its passengers and crew, robbed and burned it, so far and wide said report and impression should be contradicted. For the prince of showmen to "humbug" the lovers of deception ; or for a poet to clothe up an ordinary fact in startling garbs of fiction; or to call an ancient fur-trader's castle a "stone mill," may be tolerated; but the representing of an entire commun- ity of law-abiding Christian people as barbarians and pirates, and that too, on the testimony of a witch, an opium- eater, and a maniac, is intolerable.
Take, then, from the legend of the Palatine, witchcraft, opium reveries, insanity, and superstition, and we have left a Dutch trading ship, stopping at Block Island to leave diseased passengers, among whom was the low-bred " Dutch Kattern; " we find also at that time the same minds that invested the Ray house with ghosts and a dancing mortar, amply furnished with the materials for rigging the light off Sandy Point with masts, ropes, and sails, and for giving it a cargo of lies to feed the fancies of poets, and the phantom-chasers of posterity. Dutch Kattern had her revenge on the ship that put her ashore by imagining it on fire, and telling others, probably, that the light on the sound was the wicked ship Palatine, cursed for leaving her on Block Island.
There is some evidence that the Dutch trading-ship, Palatine, was on her way from the West Indies, home-
11
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
ward, at the time of leaving her diseased passengers on Block Island; for she left Lignum-vitæ, which still remains among the inhabitants. It was left in the rough, in logs, and in the absence of mills the Islanders made mortars of sections of that tough, hard wood. The octogenarian, B. Sprague, says they were made by boring the top of the block full of auger holes, over which a heated cannon ball was placed to burn out the desired cavity. A few of these mortars still on the Island are all known as from the Palatine. They have done good service in furnishing meal for the primitive inhabitants, and if Block Island should, in future, produce an abundant crop of relics from the Palatine to compete with the thousands of spokes from the wheels of Washington's wagon, the crop would probably be inadequate to the hungry demand.
THE PALATINE LIGHT.
To this superstition, poetry, and speculation have given notoriety. This light, whatever it may be, whether a superstitious figment of the imagination, or an unaccount- able reality, as a legend handed down from generation to generation, and always believed by many to be true, is certainly a phenomenon. Those whom we hear speak of having seen it at the present day have been persons more competent to believe in the marvelous than to read and write. Not many months since such an Islander was heard to speak very solemnly of having seen the Palatine Light off on the Sound. His more intelligent neighbors, though knowing him to be a man of candor and veracity, expressed their opinions by a smile of incredulity. And yet, the concurrent testimony of so many, not only upon the Island, but also upon the opposite main-land, is so strong that a strange light off Sandy Point, in different parts of the Sound, has been seen from time to time, re- sembling a burning ship, that no one feels quite ready to
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THE PALATINE LIGHT.
pronounce it all a myth. The convictions of many con- cerning it are so truthfully expressed by Whittier that his stanzas are here inserted:
" Nor looks nor tones a doubt betray,
' It is known to us all,' they quietly say ;
' We too have seen it in our day.'
" For still, on many a moonless night, From Kingston Head and from Montauk Light, The specter kindles and burns in sight.
" Now low and dim, now clear and higher, Leaps up the terrible Ghost of Fire ; Then slowly sinking the flames expire.
" And the wise Sound skippers, though skies be fine, Reef their sails when they see the sign Of the blazing wreck of the Palatine."
That a phenomenal light at different times and places in the Sound in sight of the Island has appeared during the last century is quite certain, and superstition has asso- ciated it with the Palatine. That an inflammable gas should rise through the water and burn upon its surface is not impossible, as in the case of burning springs and brooks. This light, as long ago as 1811, attracted the attention of men of standing. Dr. Aaron C. Willey, for a number of years an inhabitant of the Island, and well- known abroad, addressed the following letter to Dr. Sam- uel Mitchell then living in New York City :
" BLOCK ISLAND, Dec. 10, 1811.
" DEAR SIR : In a former letter I promised to give you an account of the singular light which is sometimes seen from this place. I now hasten to fulfill my agreement. I should long since have communicated the fact to the literary world, but was unwilling to depend wholly upon the information of others, when by a little delay there was a probability of my receiving ocular demonstration. I have not, however, been fortunate in this respect, as I
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could wish, having had only two opportunities of witness- ing this phenomenon. My residing nearly six miles from the shore which lies next to the region of its exhibition, and behind elevated ground, has prevented me from see- ing it so frequently, perhaps, as I might otherwise have done. The people who have always lived here are so familiarized to the sight that they never think of giving notice to those who do not happen to be present, or even of mentioning it afterwards, unless they hear some parti- cular inquiries made.
" This curious irradiative rises from the ocean near the northern point of the Island. Its appearance is nothing different from a blaze of fire. Whether it actually touches the water, or merely hovers over it, is uncertain, for I am informed that no person has been near enough to decide accurately. It beams with various magnitudes, and appears to bear no more analogy to the ignis fatuus than it does to the aurora borealis. Sometimes it is small, resembling the light through a distant window, at others expanding to the highness of a ship with all her canvas spread. When large it displays a pyramidical form, or three constant streams. In the latter case the streams are somewhat blended together at the bottom, but sepa- rate and distinct at the top, while the middle one rises higher than the other two. It may have the same appear- ance when small, but owing to distance and surrounding vapors cannot be clearly perceived. The light often seems to be in a constant state of insulation, descending by degrees until it becomes invisible, or resembles a lurid point, then shining anew, sometimes with a sudden blaze, at others by a gradual increasement to its former size. Often the instability regards the luster only, becoming less and less bright until it disappears, or nothing but a pale outline can be discerned of its full size, then return- ing its former splendor in the manner before related.
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THE PALATINE LIGHT.
The duration of its greatest and least state of illumina- tion is not commonly more than two or three minutes. This inconstancy, however, does not appear in every instance.
"After the radiance seems to be totally extinct it does not always return in the same place, but is not unfre- quently seen shining at some considerable distance from where it disappeared. In this transfer of locality it seems to have no certain line of direction. When most expanded this blaze is generally wavering like the flame of a torch; at one time it appears stationary, at another progressive. It is seen at all seasons of the year, and for the most part in the calm weather which precedes an east- erly or southerly storm. It has, however, been noticed during a severe northwestern gale, and when no storm immediately followed. Its continuance is sometimes but transient, at others throughout the night, and it has been known to appear several nights in succession.
" This blaze actually emits luminous rays. A gentleman whose house is situated near the sea, informs me that he has known it to illuminate considerably the walls of his room through the windows. This happens only when the light is within a half a mile of the shore, for it is often seen blazing at six or seven miles distant, and strangers suppose it to be a vessel on fire."
Dr. Willey, in the same letter, states that when he saw it in the evening of February, 1810, and in the evening of December 20th following, the appearances were essen- tially those above described Of the notion of its con- nection with the Palatine, he adds : "From this time, it is said, the Palatine light appeared, and there are many who firmly believe it to be a ship of fire, to which their fan- tastic and distempered imaginations figure masts, ropes, and flowing sails.
" I have stated facts to you, but feel a reluctance to 11*
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
hazard any speculations. These I leave to you and other acute researchers of created things. Your opinion I would be much pleased with.
" With the highest feelings of respect, (Signed) AARON C. WILLEY."
Hon. S. L. MITCHELL.
MODERN WRECKS.
THE MARS.
An English Merchantman, in 1781, was pursued by our war vessel, in the Revolution, was stranded on Block Island, and captured as a prize, and her goods were seized to be sold by the sheriff of Kent County, R. I., to pay for keeping in prison " Dennis Byrne and his woman-ser- vant, who were taken in the said ship, unless the owners or captors discharge the said debt."
THE ANN HOPE.
A large East Indiaman, laden with spices and merchan- dise, came ashore in the night, in a snow-storm, on the south end of the Island, about the year 1806. Her cap- tain's name was Lang. Several of the crew were drowned, and their bodies were found and buried in view of the wreck. When she was discovered in the morning by the Islanders her upper deck, on which were several cannon, then used to fight pirates, had floated away a quarter of a mile. One man's body came ashore and the citizens were endeavoring to resuscitate him when another was seen struggling in the surf, and one of those working over the apparently drowned man mentioned, said : “Let us try to save that one out there in the water, for this man is as good as dead," whereupon the latter exclaimed, "Na ! indade, I'm as good as a half a dozen dead men !" Seve- ral of the crew were saved, but the ship and cargo were a
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total loss. The Islanders saved a few bags of coffee, and some other things before all was carried away by the tide.
WRECK OF THE WARRIOR.
She was a large two-mast schooner, distinctly remem- bered by several of the oldest Islanders. She carried goods and passengers between Boston and New York. The wind was blowing a heavy gale, the sound was white, and two seas were meeting on the bar at Sandy Point, and there dashing their waves against each other in such fearful conflict as no pen can describe. Upon that bar by the fury of that gale she was driven. The Islanders hastened to the shore to render assistance to the perishing. The following account of the scene is from an eye-witness, Mr. Benjamin T. Coe, then the Inspector of Customs at New Shoreham. His letter was addressed to John C. Morrison, Esq., of New York.
" NEW SHOREHAM, April 27, 1831.
"DEAR SIR :- Yours of the 19th has come to hand this day. There were no goods saved from the Warrior, of the description you mentioned.
" It is impossible to describe the awful situation of that vessel when she first came on shore, the sea breaking over her masts, and seven souls hanging to the rigging, not more than one hundred and fifty yards from us, and com- pletely out of the power of man to render them any assistance-the vessel striking so hard as to drive her bottom up, both masts unstepped, and fell, at the same time ripped up her main deck and the goods immediately washed out of her and drove away to the eastward. Some cotton and calico drove ashore here, one sack of hides, something like forty dozen carpenters rules, &c. What goods were saved I delivered to Mr. Charles Brown, the agent from Boston, and Mr. Charles M. Thurston, of Newport, to whom I must refer you.
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
"I am informed there were thirty tons of iron in the bottom of the vessel, which is, I think, now buried up with sand, as there has been no part of said bottom seen about the Island. When the weather grows warmer I intend to make an examination for the bottom of the vessel. It may be the case that some heavy articles can be found. If any thing of the kind you mention should be found I will give you the earliest information in my power. Our insulated situation renders it very difficult- we have no chance of writing, only when our boats go off, and that is not frequent.
Your Ob't Servant, BENJAMIN T. COE."
Other witnesses tell essentially the same story, with some additional particulars. One describes the bar from the shore to the ship as sometimes nearly naked between the heavy seas passing over it from the westward. He says that one of the sailors, larger and more resolute than the rest, used great exertion to keep them from becoming benumbed by the cold, by keeping them active. As he saw no hope of assistance from the hundreds on the shore he made the desperate effort of running on the sand bar to the land between seas, but when a little more than half way he saw a high wave driven with great violence coming upon him, he bravely turned and met it head foremost, and soon after was picked up dead upon the beach. Others on the wreck lashed themselves to the deck, and, after the storm, were taken off by the Island- ers, all dead and blackened by the bruises received from débris. That was a solemn day when the citizens looked upon the seven corpses laid upon the green bank, not far from the wreck. Captain Scudder, all of his crew, and passengers finished life's journey together in that worst of places for a vessel, in a gale.
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MODERN WRECKS.
Mr. Amhad Dodge, who well remembers the awful scene, says his father helped to make such coffins for those unfortunate sailors as were made for respectable citizens, and the bodies were decently laid out, and religious ser- vices were held at their burial. Their seven graves may now be seen in the northwest corner of the Island cem- etery. Capt. Scudder and his mate, it is said, have been removed by their friends, who expressed a happy surprise in finding the dead so decently buried by the hands of strangers.
The total number of lives lost on the Warrior was probably twenty-one. The bodies of seven men and a colored woman were rescued, while the rest floated away as did the goods and pieces of the wreck into the ocean. Mr. Anthony Littlefield, whose house was near the disas- ter, says that not long after the wreck he was in Boston and heard a man say that he was on board the Warrior just before she sailed, and that she then had in all twenty- one-eighteen men, two women, and a colored servant. Mrs. Anthony Littlefield laid out the body of the colored woman, who was buried near Sandy Point, and all the other bodies were taken to the house of her husband.
This fearful wreck was the result of carelessness, as is supposed, on the part of the watch. She, with two others, becalmed the previous evening, anchored at the westward of Sandy Point, upon which she was driven in the morning. The other two vessels, one of them being the smack Luna, escaped from their dangerous position.
Mr. Weeden Gorton says he saw men jump overboard like sheep while the Warrior was going to pieces.
THE JASPER
Was a schooner bound from Boston to New York, laden with cut stone, in 1839. She came ashore on the east side of the Island, and was got off, considerably dam-
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aged, throwing her cargo overboard. Some of the stones were rescued from the deep by the Islanders, and may now be seen at their houses, used as steps. One at the Spring House, and another at the residence of Mr. Lo- renzo Littlefield, and others at the Central House, have attracted attention by their size and beauty. Another vessel, laden with cut stone, was wrecked on the east beach.
THE PALMETTO, Capt. Baker,
Was a large steamer, the only one totally wrecked near, or on the Island. In the year 1857, bound from Phila- delphia to Boston, she came near enough to strike a concealed rock, known as Black Rock. The Captain attempted, then, to run her ashore in the dense rain and fog, but she filled so rapidly that he took the crew and passengers into life boats and piloted them around from the south end of the Island to the harbor, while she and a valuable cargo sank to the bottom, in seven fathoms of water. She soon went to pieces, and her merchandise for weeks was seen floating in fragments about the shore. One citizen still has some of the sole leather which he rescued, more than he is likely to wear out.
THE MOLUNCUS,
A brig, came ashore on Grace's Point, west side of the Island, in the year 1855, laden with molasses. At that time a Wrecking Company here was in readiness to do good service. A very severe storm drove her ashore. She was soon boarded, in the evening, for a contract to get her off. As she was so fast aground, the Captain, crew, and Islanders all left her, and came ashore to the house of Robert C. Dunn, where they were more comfort- able. There they bantered considerable time about the price of getting her off, and into port. At last the agree- ment was made, the condition being $2,500. The con-
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tract was drawn and signed by both parties, each taking a copy. By this time it was quite dark, and the wind was blowing a gale. But the Island wreckers undertook to examine the brig as far as possible to decide upon the gear necessary to get her off, and accordingly went out to see her, when, to their great astonishment, they could see nothing of her-she was gone ! Here was a case to try their metal, as sailors and wreckers. The furious waves were coming towards them and madly breaking at their feet. These were accompanied with winds howling fear- fully, and over all brooded thick darkness. Rain was falling in torrents, and the wind moved an Island ·barn from its foundations. They had neither light nor com- pass, and only a frail surf-boat with which to venture upon such a sea. Yet, without parley, with a reckless daring unexcelled, the more venturesome of the wreckers seized their boat, shoved it into the water, and one after another leaped in and pushed off, until Capt. N. L. Willis, Frank Willis, Sylvanus Willis, (brothers,) Simon Ball, Wm. P. Ball, Silas Mott, S. R. Allen, Luther Dickins, and Thomas Rathbone, were fairly launched, and out at sea looking in almost pitch-black darkness for the lost brig. Soon they were far from the Island, tossed here and there, not knowing to what point they might be driven by the wind and tide. The direction of the wind was their only guide. All eyes were strained for the faintest outlines of a vessel, but none could be seen. An occasional thought of their own danger would now and then flash across their minds and intensify their anxiety. Were they not earning their money, in case they should find her, and should ever come ashore again ? Were there not anxious hearts then upon the Island ? At last, through the spray and darkness something like a shadow of a ship was seen. "Steady, boys ! haul steady to the wind'ard for your lives !" said the Captain, in an old "sea-dog "
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