IN AN ATTEMPT TO FIND A NORTHERN PASSAGE TO THE EAST INDIES Henry Hudson's log reported on June 15, 1608 that two of his company, Thoms Hill and Robert Raynor said that they had seen a mermaid, their descritption read: "From the Navill upward, her backe and breasts were like a womans. . . her skin was very white; and long haire hanging down behinde, of colour blacke; in her going downe they saw her tayle, which was like the tayle of a Porposse, and speckled like a Macrell".
A SCHOOL MASTER OF THURSO IN CAITHNESS, William Munro, wrote in a report in THE TIMES on September 8, 1809 that twelve years earlier he had been walking along Sandside Bay shore when he saw what he first thought was a naked woman, sitting on a rock and combing her light brown hair. The face was plump, with ruddy cheeks and blue eyes. If the rock where the woman sat had not been so dangerous for swimmers, Munro would have assumed it was human. After a few minutes it dropped into the sea and swam away. Others had seen it too. . . Munro's lengthy letter of this descrition read:
'It may be necessary to remark, that previous to the period I beheld this object, I had heard it frequently reported by several persons, and some of them persons whose veracity I have never disputed, that they had seen such a phenomenon as I have described, though then, like many other, I was not disposed to credit their testimony on the subject. I can say of a truth, that it was only by seeing this phenomenon, I was perfectly convinced of its existence.
'If the above narrative can in any degree be subservient towards establishing the existence of a phenomenon hitherto almost incredible to naturalists, or to remove the scepticism of others, who are ready to dispute everything which they cannot fully comprehend, you are welcome to it from, Dear Sir, Your most obliged, and most humble servant, William Munro.'
NEAR THE BULLERS O'BUCHAN, NORTH OF CRUDEN BAY, ON THE COAST OF ABERDEENSHIRE 1870, an old fisherman swore that he had not only seen but conversed with a mermaid beneath the red granite cliffs. It appears that it had been a fairly general belief that the caves on this rocky coast were the homes of mermaids.
THE SCHOOL MASTER OF RATHVEN, BANFFSHIRE, in the ABERDEEN CHRONICLE, April 20, 1814, a report that two fishermen at Portgordon, about a mile west of Buckie, whose character he was able to vouch for, were returning from fishing in Sprey Bay; 'about three or four o'clock yesterday afternoon, when about a quater of a mile from the shore, the sea being perfectly calm, they observed, at a small distance from their boat, with its back turned towards them, and half its body above the water, a creature of a tawny colour, appearing like a man sitting, with his body half bent. Surprised at this they approached towards him, till they came within a few yards, when the noise made by the boat occasioned the ceature to turn about, which gave the men a better opportunity of observing him. His countenance was swarthy, his hair short and curled, of a colour between a green and a grey: he had small eyes, a flat nose, his mouth was large, and his arms of an extraordinary length. Above the waist, he was shaped like a man, but as the water was clear my informants could perceive that from the waist downwards, his body tapered considerably or, as they expressed it, like a large fish without scales but could not see the extemity.' But this was not the end of their encounter for he dived and surfaced some distance away and was not alone. With him was what appeared to be a female of his species for she had breasts and hair that reached past her shoulders. The two men then rowed as fast as they could to land where they related their story to the school master.
CAMPBELTOWN, JOHN M'ISAAC, A FARMER, October 29, 1811, made a sworn statement to the Sheriff-substitute and the parish minister that he had met a mermaid in Campbeltown. The description he gave ran for more than five hundred words and was so convincing that Rev. Dr. George Robertson, Rev. Norman MacLeod, and James Maxwell, Esq., Chamberlain of Mull wrote that they were, 'satisfied that he was impressed with a perfect belief, that the appearance of the animal he has described was such as he has represented it to be.'
EXMOUTH, August 11, 1812, a Mr Toupin reported that not only had he seen a mermaid but he had heard her sing wild melodies, similer to the sound of an Aeolian harp.
THE ISLAND OF BENBECULA IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES, about 1830, women cutting seaweed reported they had met a creature of female form playing happily off the shore. A few days later her dead body was found two miles from where she had first been seen. The description of the creature was recorded thus, 'the upper part of the creature was about the size of a well-fed chid of three or four years of age, with an abnormally developed breast. The hair was long, dark and glossy. while the skin was white, soft and tender. The lower part of the body was like a salmon, but without scales.'
OFF THE ISLE OF YELL, 1833, six fishermen reported that their fishing line had become entangled with a mermaid. They said they had kept her on board their boat for three hours, and said that she was about three feet long. She 'offered no resistance nor attempted to bite,' but she moaned piteously. 'A few stiff bristles were on top of the head, extending down to the shoulder, and these she could erect and depress at pleasure, something like a crest.' She had neither gill nor fins and there were no scales on her body. The fishermen who were very superstitious threw her overboard eventually and said that she dived 'in a perpendicular direction.'
The story was heard from the skipper by a Mr Edmondson who in turn told the Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh:
'Not one of the six men dreamed of a doubt of its being a mermaid, and it could not be suggested that they were infulenced by their fears, for the mermaid is not an object of terror to fishermen, it is rather a wecome guest, and danger is apprehended from its experiencing bad treatment. . . . The usual resources of scepticism that the seals and other sea-animals appearing under certain circumstances operating upon an excited imagination and so producing ocular illusion, cannot avail here. It is quite impossible that six Shetland fishermen could commit such a mistake.'
OFF THE COAST OF BRITAIN, June 4, 1857, SHIPPING GAZETTE, reported Scotish seaman had spotted a creature, 'in the shape of a woman with full breast, dark complexion, and comely face.
ISLE OF MAN, date not given but it is reported that one crew affirmed they had found a mermaid in their herring drift-net. 'On examining their captive, by the largeness of her breasts and the beauty of her compexion, it was found to be female, nothing. . . could be more lovely, more exactly formed, in all parts above the waist resembling a complete young woman, but below that, all fish, with fins, and a huge spreading tail.' She was taken ashore but they could not get her to eat or drink and at the end of the third day when 'she began to look very ill with fasting,' they opened the door of the house. She then glided on her tail to the beach and plunged into the sea where she swam away surrounded by many others of her own species.
ON THE ISLAND OF MUCK, 1947, and eighty year old fisherman reported that he had seen a mermaid 'in the sea about twenty yards from the shore, sitting combing her hair on a floating herringbox used to preserve live lobsters. Unfortunately, as soon as the mermaid looked round, she realized that she had been seen, and plunged into the sea. But no questioning could shake the old fisherman's firm conviction: he was adamant that he had seen a mermaid.'
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