Princess Augusta, later remembered in legend as the Palatine, reached Block Island after a troubled Atlantic passage in 1738. Contemporary evidence indicates that passengers landed, although later folklore claimed islanders plundered and burned the vessel. Reports of a phantom burning ship became part of Rhode Island maritime tradition.

John Greenleaf Whittier retold the supernatural legend in his poem The Palatine, preserving a version shaped by New England folklore rather than firm historical evidence. The poem demonstrates how a real migration voyage could become a ghost-ship narrative about guilt and communal memory.