Letter from Miss Mackay, daughter of the Rev. David Mackay, Minister of Reay, to Miss Innes Dowager, of Sanside.
Reay Manse, May 25, 1809.
Madam, - To establish the truth of what has hitherto been considered improbable and fabulous, must be at all times a difficult task, and I have not the vanity to think that my testimony alone would be sufficient for this purpose; but when to this is added that of four others, I hope it will have some effect in removing the doubts of those, who may suppose that the wonderful appearance I reported having seen in the sea on the 12th of January, was not a mer-maid, but some other uncommon, though less remarkable inhabitant of the deep. As I would willingly contribute to remove the doubt of the sceptical on this subject, I beg leave to state to you the following accounts, after premising that my cousin, whose name is affixed along with mine, was one of the four witnesses who beheld with me this uncommon spectacle.
While she and I were walking by the sea shore on the 12th of January, about noon, our attention was attracted by seeing three people, who were on a rock at some distance, shewing signs of terror and astonishment at something they saw in the water; on approaching them, we distinguished that the object of their wonder was a face resembling the human countenance, which appeared floating on the waves; at that time nothing but the face was visible; it may not be improper to observe, before I proceed further, that the face, throat, and arms are all I can attempt to describe; all our endeavours to discover the appearance and position of the body being unavailing. The sea at that time ran very high, and as the waves advanced, the mer-maid gently sunk under them, and afterwards re-appeared. The face seemed plump and round, the eyes and nose were small, the former were of a light-grey colour; and the mouth was large, and from the shape of the jaw-bone, which seemed straight, the face looked short; as to the inside of the mouth I can say nothing, not having attended to it, though sometimes open. The forehead, nose, and chin were white, the whole side face of a bright pink colour. The head was exceedingly round; the hair thick and long, of a green oily cast, and appeared troublesome to it, the wave generally throwing it down over the face; it seemed to feel the annoyance, and as the waves retreated, with both its hands frequently threw back the hair and rubbed its throat, as if to remove any soiling it might have received from it.
The throat was slender, smooth and white; we did not think of observing whether it had elbows, but from the manner in which it used its arms, I must conclude that it had. The arms were very long and slender, as were the hands and fingers; the latter were not webbed. -- The arms, one of them at least, was frequently extended over its head; as if to frighten a bird that hovered over it, and seemed to distress it much; when that had no effect, it sometimes turned quite round several times successively. We saw nothing like hair or scales on any part of it; indeed the smoothness of the skin particularly cuaght our attention. The time it was discernable to us was about an hour. The sun was shining clearly at the time; it was distant from us a few yards only. These are the few observations made by us during the appearance of this strange phenomenon.
If they afford you any satisfaction, I shall be particularly happy; I have stated nothing but what I clearly recollect; as my cousin and I had frequently, previous to this period, combated an assertion, which is very common among the lower class here, that mermaids have been frequently seen on this coast, our evidence cannot be thought biassed by any former prejudice in favour of the existence of this wonderful creature.
To contribute in any degree to your pleasure or amusement, will add to the happiness of, Madam, your greatly obliged,
EL. MACKAY,
C. MACKENGER.
From the Liverpool Mercury, 4th September, 1812.
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| by Wilhelm Pederson |
From the Kentish Gazette, 8th September 1809.
Mermaids or Sea-Women.
The existence of Mermaids or Sea-women (hitherto generally supposed to be fabulous) seems now to be established, by the evidence of the following copies of original letters, which were transmitted to a Gentleman in Sussex, by Sir John Sinclair, the principal person in the neighbourhood where the extraordinary creatures therein mentioned were seen. [Letter no. 1 is from Miss Mackay as above].
No. II.-- Letter from Mr. Wm. Munro, Schoolmaster, of Thurso, to Doctor Torrence, regarding a Mermaid seen by him some years ago.
Thurso, 9th June, 1809.
Dear Sir -- Your queries respecting the Mermaid are before me. From the general scepticism which prevails among the learned and intelligent about the existence of such a phenomenon, had not your characcter and real desire for investigation been too well known to me, for supposing that you wished to have a fertile imagination indulged by a subject of merriment, I would have been disposed to have concluded, that in this instance you aimed at being ranked among the laughing philosopher at my expence. Sensible, however, that this is not the case, and taking it for granted that you are sincere, I shall endeavour to answer your queries, though there is little probability that any testimony which I can give respecting the Mermaid will operate towards convincing those, who have not hitherto been convinced by the repeated testimonies adduced in support of the existence of such an appearance.
About twelve years ago, when I was Parochial Schoolmaster at Reay, in the course of my walking on the shore of Sandside Bay, being a fine warm day in summer, I was induced to extend my walk towards Sandside Head, when my attention was arrested by the appearance of a figure resembling an unclothed human female, sitting upon a rock extending into the sea, and apparently in the action of combing its hair, which flowed around its shoulders, and of a light brown colour. The resemblance which the figure bore to its prototype in all its visible parts, was so striking, that had not the rock on which it wa sitting been dangerous for bathing, I would have been constrained to have regarded it as really an human form, and to any eye unaccustomed to the situation, it must have undoubttedly appeared as such.
The head was covered with hair of the colour above mentioned, and shaded on the crown, the forehead round, the face plump, the cheeks ruddy, the eyes blue, the mouth and lips of a natural form, resembling those of a man, the teeth I could not discover, as the mouth was shut; the breasts and abdomen, the arms and fingers of the size of a full grown body of the human species; the fingers, from the action in which the hands were employed, did not appear to be webbed, but as to this I am not positive.
It remained on the rock three or four minutes after I observed it, and was exercised during that period in combing its hair, which was long and thick, and of which it appeared proud, and then dropped into the sea, which was level with the abdomen, from whence it did not reappear to me. I had a distinct view of its features, being at no great distance on an eminence above the rock on which it was sitting, and the sun brightly shining. Immediately before its getting into its natural element it seemed to have observed me, as the eyes were directed towards the eminence on which I stood.
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 never heard disputed, that they had seen such a phenomenon as I have described, though then, like many others, I was not disposed to credit their testimony on this subject. I can say of a truth, that it was only by seeing the 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 every thing which they cannot fully comprehend, you are welcome to it, from
Dear Sir, your most obliged, and most humble servant (signed) WM. MUNRO.
THE MERMAID (extract from the Glasgow Courier).
To the Editor.
Sir,-- The letters from Caithness respecting the Mermaid, which have recently appeared in the public prints, having excited considerable attention, the Glasgow Philosophical Society, by their Secretary, wrote to the Rev. Mr. Mackay, Minster of Reay, to ascertain the authenticity of these documents. The following polite answer was, in due course, received by the Society. -- I am, &c., JAMES WATT, Pres.
"Society's Hall, Oct. 16, 1809.
"SIR -- In terms of your and the Philosophical Society's request, I have to inform you, that my daughter wrote a letter to Mrs Innes, Dowager of Sandside, concerning the strange phenomenon seen near this place, merely for private information, without the smallest suspicion of any other use to be made of it. But having excited Sir John Sinclair's curiosity, he obtained a copy of this letter, and it seems that by one of his friends it found its way to the English newspapers. Though I never saw the letter, either originally or in the papers, I have good reason to suppose that it is a genuine document.
"With regard to the animal's timidity, I have only to say, that two servant maids and a boy being at the time down among the rocks, it was the cries of the boy that made it first disappear. It soon reappeared farther out to the sea, and ultimately disappeared, after having taken its course a considerable way along the shore, the spectators following, and walked on until they lost hope of its coming up again. The schoolmaster of Thurso's letter is also genuine; and he is a Gentleman whose veracity is not called in question. I am, respectfully, Sir,
"Your most obedient humble Servant.
"DAVID MACKAY, Reay, Oct 3, 1809.
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