Mermaid at Ardsheal, Loch Linnhe, Argyll (1814)

CC image near Ardsheal by Alan Reid.

MERMAID.
Extract of a letter, dated Ardsheal, Argyleshire, 3d August, (fourteen miles from Fort William):--

"Our curiosity has been greatly excited by the appearance of a Mermaid on this coast. I dare say you will give an incredulous smile, but really we have had such distinct accounts of it from different people, that we can have no doubt of the fact, though we are all very anxious you may be sure to have ocular demonstration. The last time she was seen is nearly a fortnight ago; since that the weather has been very stormy. When it settles we may have a chance of seeing, or at least having more accounts of this strange animal, which I hope has not left our shores.

"It is some time since she was first seen, very early one morning by a lad lying on the shore at Ardsheal. He was at a considerable distance, and thought it was some person hiding himself in the sea weed, with an intention of frightening him, but one coming nearer he saw that though the upper part was like the human being, the lower part was like an immense fish. He was so frightened that he ran off; and, when he mentioned what he had seen, people only laughed at him, and thought no more about it. Near a month afterwards some children were gathering black-berries, on the top of a rock immediately above the sea, about a mile further down than Ardsheal; they thought that they saw a woman drowning, and trying to get on the rock; some of them ran home to tell, and the rest stayed to see what would become of the woman, as they thought; but, on looking more attentively, they discovered that it was not a human being; they gave a very distinct account of what they saw.

The upper part was exactly like a woman, and the skin appeared very white, and a good deal of colour in the cheeks, and very long darkish looking hair, the arms were well proportioned above, but tapered very much towards the hands, which were no larger than a child's of eight or ten years old, the tail was like an immense large cuddy fish or scith, in colour and shape. By the time the people of the farm came, it was about a gun shot from the shore, sitting quite upright on the water. One of the men proposed to shoot her, but the rest opposed this, so he did not do it; he whistled, on which she turned round but did not go away; she remained in sight above two hours, at times making a hissing noise like a goose. When she disappeared she laid herself gently down on the water, and swam away, the head only appearing above the water. She was seen a little distance from shore twice after this, always early in the morning, and when the sea was calm."

From the Derby Mercury, September 1st 1814.