A Supposed Mermaid off the Isle of Wight (1810)

Mermaid mural CC license

 Mr Editor -
I received a letter a few days ago from a friend in the country, mentioning his having seen (while taking the diversion of puffin shooting in the Isle of Wight) an animal, which, from its appearance, he conceives to have been a mermaid. He describes her as having a ruddy complexion, long hair, growing very thick, of a greenish cast, and flowing considerably below her shoulders. Immediately on perceiving her, he levelled his gun and fired, and he supposes he must have wounded her, as she immediately gave a piercing shriek and sunk under the water; every exertion was made to discover the body, but all proved fruitless.
G. R--ke.
*In The Morning Post, March 13th 1810.

Mermaids in Sutherland - Loch Sandwood (1900), Loch Inchard (1939) and Cape Wrath

From an article on 'Sutherland', by Joan M. Winter.

Sandwood Bay, Sutherland. CC image by Manico.

The Mermaids.

The burn running down to the sea from the loch [Loch Sandwood] is silted up with sand; beyond the sandbanks lies the bay, about two miles wide, with at one end a great stark rock pointing up like a poplar tree. On the other side Cape Wrath is visible beyond the cliffs. Not a soul is in sight. The waves break endlessly on the sand reef, over many an old wreck. On the cliffs to northward are the apparent remains of two old hut circles.

Numerous stories of mermaids appearing in these parts are inevitable. One such came from Sandy Gunn, a name with suitable "Treasure Island" overtones. On Old Christmas Night, January 5, 1900, Mr. Gunn, who lived at Kinlochbervie, was looking for sheep between Sheigra and Sandwood Loch, when he saw a mermaid at the bottom of a gully. She was clearly marooned by the high tide.

In 1939 a lady staying at the Garbet Hotel in Kinlochbervie, while out fishing on Loch Inchard, saw a mermaid; and on another occasion, when they were rowing just south of Cape Wrath, Mr. John Falconer and two fisherman friends saw a merman of horrible aspect rise straight up out of the sea. They were all terrified and rowed away fast; the two fishermen died soon afterwards.

In the Birmingham Daily Post, 17th March 1961.

Yes these are quite vague stories and evidently much retold. I'll have to try and find Mr Gunn's story (reputedly told to R MacDonald Robertson). I love the north west of Scotland. I wish I'd kept better tabs on where we'd stopped and stayed on our tour of it. Well, I guess we'll just have to go back. Sandwood Bay certainly looks almost as remote as it's possible to be in the UK.

It's quite interesting that in the last story the two fishermen die - it reminds me of stories about the (not as nice as you think they might be) fairies.

Pembrokeshire mermaid, 1791.

Pen-y-holt and Linney Head. Crown copyright (via Edina Digimap), 1860s map.

A Story of a Mermaid.

The following curious story is related in a lively and agreeable work, entitled "A Tour to Milford Haven in the year 1791," written in a series of letters by a lady of the name of Morgan, and published in London by John Stockdale in the year 1795. Mrs Morgan [seems] to have been a lady of an elegant and cultivated mind, and to have mingled with the best society of Pembrokeshire during her sojourn in what was then almost a terra incognita to an Englishwoman. In her forty third letter, addressed to a lady, and dated Haverfordwest, Sept. 22, Mrs. Morgan says --

"If you delight in the marvellous, I shall now present you with a tale that is truly so; and yet, from the simple and circumstantial manner in which it was told by the person who believed he saw what is here related, one would almost be tempted to think there was some thing more than imagination in it. However, I will make no comments upon the matter, but give it you exactly as I copied it from a paper lent me by a young lady who was educated under the celebrated Mrs. Moore*, and who has acquired a taste for productions of the pen, and likewise for whatever may be deemed curious. [*Hannah More, J.P.P.]

Mr. M-- inquired of the gentleman who took down the relation from the man's own mouth, a physician of the first respectability, what credit might be given to it. He said the man was that integrity of character, and of such simplicity also that it seemed difficult to believe he should be either able or willing to fabricate this wonderful tale. Farther the doctor was silent, and so am I.

"Henry Reynolds, of Pennyhold, in the parish of Castlemartin, in the county of Pembroke, a simple farmer, and esteemed by all who knew him to be a truth-telling man, declares the following most extraordinary story to be an absolute fact, and is willing, in order to satisfy such as will not take his bare word for it, to swear to the truth of the same. He says he went one morning to the cliffs that bound his own lands, and form a bay near Linny Stack.

From the eastern end of the same he saw, as he thought, a person bathing very near the western end, but appearing, from almost the middle up, above water. He, knowing the water to be deep in that place, was much surprised at it, and went along the cliffs, quite to the western end, to see what it was. As he got towards it, it appeared to him like a person sitting in a tub. At last he got within ten or twelve yards of it, and found it then to be a creature much resembling a youth of sixteen or eighteen years of age, with a very white skin, sitting in an erect posture, having from somewhat about the middle of its body quite above the water; and directly under the water there was a large brown substance, on which it seemed to float. The wind being perfectly calm and the water quite clear he could see distinctly when the creature moved, that this substance was part of it.

-- From the bottom there went down a tail much resembling that of a large Conger Eel. Its tail in deep water was straight downwards, but in shallow water it would turn on one side. The tail was continually moving in a circular manner. The form of its body and arms was entirely human, but its arms and hands seemed rather thick and short in proportion to its body. The form of the head and all the features of the face were human also, but the nose rose high between its eyes, was pretty long, and seemed to terminate very sharp. Its head was white like its body, without hair; but from its forehead there arose a brownish substance, of three or four fingers' breadth, which turned up over its head, and went down over its back, and reached quite into the water. This substance did not at all resemble hair, but was thin, compact and flat, not much unlike a ribbon. It did not adhere to the back part of its head, or neck, or back; for the creature lifted it up from its neck, and washed under it.

-- It washed frequently under its arms and about its body; it swam about the bay, and particularly round a little rock which Reynolds was within ten or twelve yards of. He staid about an hour looking at it. It was so near him, that he could perceive its motion through the water was very rapid; and that, when it moved it turned, it put one hand into the water , and moved itself round very quickly. It never dipped under the water all the time he was looking at it. It looked attentively at him and the cliffs, and seemed to take great notice of the birds flying over its head. Its looks were wild and fierce; but it made no noise, nor did it grin, or in any way distort its face. When he left it, it was about a hundred yards from him; and when he returned with some others to look at it, it was gone.

This account was taken down by Doctor George P---, of Prickerston, from the man's own mouth in presence of many people, about the latter end of December, 1782."

The physician who took down the foregoing statement from the mouth of the eyewitness was George Phillips, M.D., of Haverfordwest, a gentleman of high social position. -- Notes and Queries.


Reprinted in the Armagh Guardian, 18th May 1860.

Pen-y-Holt Stack. Image CC David Lewis

I have to say, I do like this a lot. It smacks a lot of a genuine experience because of the nature of some of the things reported ('it seemed to take great notice of the birds flying over its head..'). Also why would you want to make yourself look like a gullible idiot in front of the local Gentlemen of High Social Position? He saw something - you might or might not think it was a bona fide mermaid - but for me this is the best kind of mermaid story. Or should we say merman story.

Herefordshire gets on the mermaid exhibition bandwagon (1837)

A mermaid admiring Svalbard at sunrise, by Fridtjof Nansen.

A Mermaid!

At our Guildhall on Monday, a person made his appearance to prefer some complaint against the police, by whom a relative of his, the exhibitor of a mermaid  and a merman in this city during the week, had been taken into custody and detained until he consented to repay half-a-crown to a person who swore that such a piece was given in mistake for a penny for witnessing the interesting exhibition.

The magistrates expressed their willingness to hear any complaint, but observed that the man was guilty of an act of vagrancy and swindling in exhibiting something for a creature which he knew had no real existence.

The complainant, who seemed to believe in the reality of the fabled syren, then left the hall very dissatisfied with the police.

A gentleman present observed that the article, which appeared to be partly formed of wax, was a very clumsy deception.

Hereford Journal, Wednesday 17th May 1837.

It seems that enterprising people were quite happy to make some money out of the mermaid craze, even if their creative efforts weren't very good. Perhaps they hoped mermaid-hunters in the provinces wouldn't be as fussy as those in London.

A half crown and a penny were similar size I think, but surely different colours. Besides, surely you have to be careful what you're handing out (the half crown being worth 30x the penny).

Other exhibited (and lucrative) chimaeras

An Etruscan sculpture of the original Chimera. CC image by Sailko.

The Mermaid.

I need scarcely remind the reader that the preparation lately exhibited under the name of a mermaid is quite fictitious, or rather factitious - a species of fraud which is often practised by knaves upon collectors of curiosities. When I was visiting, some years ago, the fine botanic garden of Mr. Templeton, near Belfast, a boy brought him a very singular looking production, a very pretty daisy and a shamrock growing from the same stem. It was a fraud: but so neatly executed that it was only after several hours' minute examination that we detected the artificial joining of the two plants.

In the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow is a specimen of a beetle got up in this way, for which Dr. Hunter gave no less, if I recollect right, than fifty guineas. It was the body of one species of beetle united to the head of another species, and, as the specimen appeared to be of uncommon beauty and rarity, it was considered of great value. To add to the interests, it was said to have been found floating in the Ganges.

Such seems to be the exhibited preparation called the mermaid, an ingenious union of the head of some monkey to the body of a fish. -- Professor Rennie.

Trinity House in Newcastle. CC image by Andrew Curtis

Newcastle Journal - 23rd June 1832.

I.W.M. informs me that some time ago a relation of his visited the Newcastle Trinity House, and was shown, among other things, a mermaid. The head was human, the expression of the face intelligent, but below the waist the body was fashioned like a fish, with scales and fins. At least, this was the account which was given to I.W.M., who now asks me to say whether it is true or not. As I have never been into this particular Trinity House, I am not in a position to express an opinion on the subject. I confess I did not know that this peculiar class of being had any existence except in popular mythology, although stuffed mermaids have been exhibited since the days of Bartholomew Fair downwards.

 All the world over, however, there are legends about these mysterious creatures. The Ottawas and other American Indians have their man-fish and woman-fish, and the Chinese tell stories not unlike our own about the sea-woman of their Southern seas. We are taught on the most excellent evidence that a mermaid was captured at Bangor, on the shores of the Belfast Lough, in the sixth century, while another caught at Edam in 1403 was carried to Haarlem and kept there for many years.

Perhaps the authorities at the Newcastle Trinity House will unburden themselves of their secret. If they have a mermaid in their possession it is hardly fair to keep the bewitching maiden all to themselves.

Pearson's Weekly, 25th May 1895.

I don't know if Professor Rennie was talking about the mermaid exhibited in London, or a Newcastle mermaid. Anyway it seems appropriate that 60 years later there was a mermaid at Trinity House, as that was / is on the quayside and still provides services for seafarers.

Next to track down Liban, the mermaid from the lough at Belfast.

Sailing advice from a mermaid

The Great Storm of 1703. No artist mentioned for this super engraving.

Superstition of the Sailor.

Sailors have in general a very proper sense of religion, though often strongly tinctured with superstition. They believe in mermaids, ghosts, and goblins; and the story of the devil taking the ship's broker into Mount Stromboli is received by them as a fact. They have a great idea of the transmigration of souls, as far as relates to the Simia tribe, many of whom they believe to be captains of Guineamen in a state of punishment.

I was assured by a north-sea pilot, in conformation of his belief in mermaids, that in the great gale of 1702, when so many colliers were lost on the east coast of England, one of the fleet was saved by the kind interference of a mermaid, who hailed her by name in the following prophetic words: -

"Sea Adventure! Sea Adventure! Clew up all your sails and let go your sheet anchor:" the prudent master took the warning, and saved the ship.

Seamen will never throw a cat overboard; nor whistle, for fear of bringing on a gale - either of these causes having been known to produce the most serious effects. A horse-shoe is almost invariably nailed to the foremast, both in the King's and merchant service, to keep away the witches, of whom the Norway breed are supposed to be by far the most mischievous. -- United Service Gazette.

 In the Worcester Herald, Saturday 4th May 1833.

How do mermaids know about sailing a ship, I wonder? Also this one knew how to read the name of the ship, which was handy.  

If I were to take this allegedly 130 year old tale (at the time) unnecessarily literally, and believe the captain really did hear a voice - perhaps he did hear a voice from inside his head telling him what to do in his state of extreme stress. (Is that replacing one fortean thing with another controversial idea?)

Also I am glad seamen don't throw cats overboard, it seems a mean thing to do. 

Morecambe Mermaid

Morecambe Bay at low tide. Photo by Eiffel.

Are there really mermaids? Shakespeare has said that there are more things in earth and heaven than our philosophy has dreamed of. Rumours have reached us that a mermaid has actually been seen at a certain spot lower down the coast. If a mermaid has really been seen, then Shakespeare was right.

Now, if a mermaid were to come swimming into Morecambe Bay and start combing her tresses within sight of the promenade, there would be some possibility of finding out whether it was really a mermaid. This mermaid, who is said to have been seen, is apparently a coy wench, and she shirks the popular places on the coast, seeming to prefer to choose a spot on the long lonely stretches of sand, where she can bask in the sunshine, uninterrupted by curious holiday makers.

Still, despite her desire for seclusion, the story is told of how a young man and a young woman walking along the sands one morning saw a mermaid sitting on a boulder near the edge of the tide. The shimmering sheen of her tail and her long flowing hair attracted attention, and they eagerly went closer. The mermaid, however, saw them approaching and, so it is said, darted into the water and made off. A polite young mermaid she is, however, supposed to be, because when she got some way out, she waved her tail as a good-bye signal.

The young man and woman went back to the village where they were staying and started talking about what they had seen. Everbody, of course, thought they were "pitching a yarn," but a few days later a young fisherman came in with a story that he had seen the mermaid, but when he gave chase she swam so fast that he could not catch up with her. A local journalist heard about these stories and interviewed the young couple and the fisherman. As he was making his way to the telegraph office to send off the story of the discovery to his newspaper, the Chairman of the Parish Council met him and said, "I say, are you going to send that story of the mermaid away?"
"I was," said the reported.
"Look her, young man," said the chairman, "don't you do it. It's probably all bosh, but just imagine what will happen if you send away the news that a mermaid has been found here. The place will be absoluted raided by sightseers and you know quite well that there are not enough hotels or houses in the village to put the people up if they come. It will simply mean chaos, and if the mermaid is really about, the confusion will frighten her away."
"There is a lot in what you say," agreed the reporter.

"Look here, then; I've often done you a good turn in the past, do me one now. Send your story about the mermaid being seen but don't say where it is. Explain to your Editors that the Parish Council ask for the name of the place to be suppressed so as to avoid the place being overwhelmed with curious sight-seers. For our part, the Parish Council will do all that is possible to catch the mermaid, if there is one, and you shall be the first to interview her."

Realising that the chairman was quite correct that the village would be worst than Morecambe on a Bank Holiday if the name of the place got out, the reporter agreed. Probably the bait of the first interview with the mermaid if she was caught decided him. Knowing this correspondent, we are inclined to think there may be something in the story, and we hope that the Parish Council, or soemone else, will catch her. Oh, if only she had come, or would come to Morecambe. We should not worry about the crowds.

Morecambe Guardian, 18th July 1930.

Standing up for reason

An illustration from 1817, held by the Wellcome Trust.

To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.

Sir. -- The credulity of the good people of England has often been noticed and commented on, and many a fine fortune has been realized thereby in the hands of the acute natives of France and Italy, &c. yea, the heavy tobacco-headed German, has not failed in the business. While the facility with which the native rogues have managed to impose on their unsuspecting countrymen has been proved in but too many instances. All of these considerations seem to have incited brother Jonathan to try his hand at imposing on brother John, by getting up a monstrous composition under the name and form of a Mermaid forsooth, and impiously and impudently to attribute the abominable forgery to the Divine Being, as his handy work.

In order that you may be aware of the grounds on which I make the foregoing assertions, I have to inform you that the composition was brought from Japan (where I believe it to have been manufactured for the purpose of levying contributions from off the ignorant and unsuspecting). The lower part is a real fish (of a species found in the rivers of China and Japan) the head and shoulders being cut off and replaced by a skeleton, artificially composed, and covered with the muscles, arms, and skin, stripped from off the bust of an old Japanese woman, all which being tolerably well put together, and afterwards smoke-dried, became the "Wonderful Mermaid" now exhibiting in London.

I handled, and minutely inspected the creature, on its arrival at Batavia from Japan, and on that inspection formed my opinion as expressed above. Many blunders have been committed in the  making up of the fabric, too numerous to be here distinctly detailed, nor is it necessary, as it will be readily perceived by any anatomist if opportunity be afforted for the purpose.

I therefore assert that the thing is a composition, and if that be denied, do challenge the proprietor to submit it to be dissected  by a person or persons appointed by the Royal College of Surgeons; and if it he then found to be a real production of natuer, I will then come forward and reimburse the loss, if any, which a Jury may pronounce him to have incurred thereby..
I am, yours obediently,
"SAWNEY."

 Liverpool Mercury, 8th November 1822.

The muscles etc. of an old Japanese woman - that's a bit grim. I'd like to think not though.

Mermaid on St Kilda

Cliffs off St Kilda. CC image by Mike Pennington.

 A poor Welch seaman, who was last summer cast away in a squall on the island of St Kilda, applied to a gentleman in Ayr last week for pecuniary aid to help him on to Carnarvon. He stated in consequence of the little intercourse which exists between the island and the mainland, he had been detained there till lately, and related a variety of circumstances as to the habits and opinions of the St Kildians, which removed all doubt as to the authenticity of his story.

A belief in the existence of mermaids, it seems, is universal among this little known people, and although the Welchman at first was extremely sceptical on the subject, he was finally converted by the convincing evidence of ocular demonstration.

To secure to himself the means of a precarious subsistence he was obliged to participate in the dangerous labours of the islanders, and one day while he hung suspended over one of those dreadful precipices, from which "The crows and choughs that wing the midway air Show scarce so large as beetles" in search of feathers and birds' eggs, the staple produce of the island, his attention was drawn to the unruffled sea beneath by a strange unearthly sound, as if some monster of the deep were raising its voice in song, in mockery to the human race. At the same moment a native similarly engaged on the rocks near him, exclaimed, "The mermaid, the mermaid!" and the astonished Welchman descried on the surface of the magnificent waters a being resembling humanity; but yet so curious withal, as to start a doubt in his mind as to the reality of the vision.

The description which he gave our informant of its form and features, varied little from the accounts of other historians of veracity, who have had the luck to behold these ominous creatures. Under a very short forehead were two small round eyes, separated by a flat nose, and the cheeks, which were exceedingly broad, were split across by a mouth which nearly reached from ear to ear. The chin and neck were short, and altogether it presented that dumpy appearance which has been often assigned to the rustic maidens of the Welch mountains -- Ayr paper.

Caledonian Mercury, 19th December, 1825.

Even accusations of fraud can be turned to business advantage.

Advertisement - The Mermaid in the Sporting World.

So much has been said for and against this wonderful ainimal, and perhaps with a view to bring the period of dissection earlier than is intended by the proprietor, and we understand it is his determination to satisfy the public opinion on this important question, by some of our first medical men and naturalists, as soon as the bare expenses that he has incurred by bringing it to this country are liquidated, which cannot be long now, from the many hundreds of spectators that daily call to view it, among the number many of our Noble Families, it has also been honoured by visits of Royalty.

The difference of opinion is now so great, whether it will turn out a natural production or a made-up deception, that a great deal of betting has taken place on the event; and as many persons back the strength of their opinion for and against the Mermaid, the sporting men will have a fine opportunity of making a good book, as some are laying 5 and 6 to 4 on the Mermaid being a natural production, while others are laying the same odds and even 2 to 1 against it. A sporting Gentleman, who is supposed to have some concern in this Mermaid, has taken many bets and some long odds to a large amount, that it really is what is represented - a Mermaid.

It is now exhibiting at Watson's, Turf Coffee-house, St. James's-street.

Morning Chronicle, 20th November 1822.

In common with everybody else who could raise a shilling, we yesterday went to see this interesting specimen at the Turf Coffee-house, St James's-street. The visitors were too numerous to permit us to make so close an examination of it as we yet hope to do. Its head has some resemblance to that of a baboon, and there is still a remnanat of pendant hair upon it. The hands, and fingers with nails, seem perfectly human. Its mammae are small but perfect, and its lower part bears considerable resemblance to that of a salmon.

It was obtained by a Dutchman from the natives of the Molaccas, in whose possession it had been some time. It proves that they know how to preserve animals. The skin is much shrivelled, and we should say that the animal was aged, though it is not large; being with the tail straitened, not more than a yard in length.

We are told that Sir Everard home had it for some hours to inspect, and could discover nothing like deception in it. It has also been examined Mr. Brooks and other celebrated anatomists. We shall give more particulars of it hereafter. A vast number of females go to see it; but we think it right for their information, to caution them that it is, however curious, a most hideous looking animal, and its beauty has acquired no addition by the means used to preserve it in a dried state.

(True Briton).

In the Manchester Mercury, 12th November 1822.

Westmorland Gazette on a London mermaid

Another Mermaid of better manufacture than the former has just been brought to London, for exhibition. The cockneys swallowed the last tolerably for a while, we wonder how this will go down.  -- The Duke of Gloucester has been to see it!
A Swiss Giantess, is now exhibiting in London, measuring six feet five inches high, and being proportionally stout.
The cockneys we understand are flocking in crowds to see  the invisible girl at the Lower Room, Spring Gardens.

Westmorland Gazette,  26th June, 1824.

 

 

 Here's the Duke referred to.  He looks pretty wide eyed. Perhaps he was quite decent: he was all for the abolition of slavery. But he did have a nickname: Silly Billy. Perhaps that was all part of why the Westmorland Gazette thought they'd take the piss.

Horniman museum has a mermaid

If you want to visit a Feejee mermaid, they have one at the Horniman Museum in London. It's been CAT-scanned and otherwise investigated. You can read about it

at the Guardian,

and also on the Horniman Museum's website itself.

A longer article from the Journal of Museum Ethnography can be downloaded from here.

A rather similar creature, CC image from the Wellcome Trust

Norwich mermaids

Mermaid -- There are now exhibiting about this city, two curious nondescripts; they are termed the Mermaid and Merman. They were caught by a fisherman on the Isle of Sanda, one of the Orkney Islands, on the 2nd January last. -- Norwich Mercury.

In the Leicestershire Mercury, 20th July 1839.

CC image Danielclauzier

Mermaid court case

In the Court of Chancery, on Wednesday, Mr. Hart applied for his Lordship's injunction to restrain a Mr. Eles for removing a certain Mermaid or dried specimen, from the room in which it was now exhibiting in St. James's-street, and from selling or disposing of it. He moved upon the affidavit of Mr. Stephen Ellery, the plaintiff, who stated that in the year 1817 he became interested jointly with Eles, the defendant, in a vessel called the Pickering. The plaintiff's share was seven-eights, and the defendant the remaining one eighth; in consideration of which he was to act as master and commander of the vessel. He proceeded on a fishing expedition, and afterwards to other ports, taking up merchandize and disposing of them again, and generally carrying on a running trade. Communications were made by the defendant to the plaintiff from time to time as to the success or loss of his traffic.

Mermaid in the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille. CC image Morburre.

In December, 1821, the plaintiff received a letter from him, stating that he had received a cargo at Battavia, and was coming to Europe. In January, 1822, he received another letter, informing him that the defendant had sold the ship and cargo for 6,543l. and was returning to Antwerp for the purpose, as he alleged, of soliciting a remuneration for himself and crew, for having saved a Dutch man of war. He did not go to Antwerp, but came to London. His reason for thus changing his destination was that a vessel having arrived at Battavia bringing the mermaid, or specimen, which the defendant bought for the sum of 5,000 dollars. This money had been procured from the sale of the vessel and caargo, seven-eights of which belonged to the plaintiff. Upon the defendant's arrival in London he had taken a room for the exhibition of this mermaid, and retained the possession and the profits of his traffic for his own use.

The affidavit stated that the plaintiff believed that the defendant had no money of his own, having regularly remitted his one-eighth of the profits of his traffic for the support of his wife and family. The defendant threatened that if any claim was made he would remove the mermaid, and thus the plaintiff would be defrauded of his just share of the profits. The Lord Chancellor said that whether man, woman, or mermaid, if the right to the property was clearly made out, it was the duty of the Court to protect him. He asked whether the plaintiff swore positively to his belief that it was purchased with his money.

Mr. Hart said it was so sworn, and that he believed this purchase was the motive of the defendant's return to England. No account of the profits had been given to the plaintiff. The Lord Chancellor pronounced the injunction, and directed that the service of the minutes on the servants or agents of the defendant should be good.

The Sunday Times, 24th November 1822.

Don't miss it

PD image

POSITIVELY THE LAST WEEK.

The most astonishing Phenomenon ever offered to public inspection, viz.
THE MERMAID!!
Now exhibiting at the ROTUNDA, must positively close on SATURDAY next, it being about to proceed to the Continent immediately.
Admission One Shilling British.


An advertisement in Saunders's News-Letter, 25th August 1823.

Possibly, the Rotunda referred to. CC Kleon3.

Mermaids near Padstow, Cornwall

Mermaids on the Coast of Cornwall.
From The Plymouth Journal. -- The following is an extract of a letter received on Sunday last from our Correspondent at St. Columb:-- "Within these last two or three days there have been several mermaids seen on the rocks at Trenance, in the parish of Mawgan. I will state the particulars at length, as I have been enabled to collect them, and which are from undoubted authority, and you can make what extracts you think proper. One evening this week, a young man who lives adjoining the beach at Mawgan Porth, had made an appointment to meet another person on the beach to catch sprats with him. He went out about ten o'clock at night, and coming near a point which runs into the sea, he heard a screeching noise proceeding from a large cavern which is left by the tide at low water, but which has some deep pools in it, and communicates with the sea by another outlet. He thought it was the person he had appointed to meet, and called out to him, but his astonishment is not to be described when on going up he saw something in the shape of a human figure staring on him, with long hair hanging about it. He then ran away, thinking, as he says, that he had seen the devil.

The next day, some men being on the cliffs near this place, saw three creatures of the same description. the following day five were seen. The persons who saw the last five describe them in this manner:
The mermaids were about forty feet below the men (who stood on the cliff), and were lying on a rock, separated from the land some yards by deep water; two of them were large, about four feet and a half to five feet long, and these appeared to be sleeping on the rock; the other small ones were swimming about, and went off once to sea and then came back again. The men looked at them for more than an hour, and flung stones at them, but they would not move off. The large ones seemed to be lying on their faces; their upper parts were like those of human beings, and black or dark coloured, with very long hair hanging  around them; their lower parts were of a bluish colour, and terminating in a fin, like fish. The sea would sometimes wash over them and then leave them dry again. Their movements seemed to be slow. the hair of these mermaids extended a distance of nine or ten foot.

In The Dublin Evening Mail, 9th July 1827.



The Mermaids.
We have received a letter from St. Coulumb, stating, that the persons on whose authority the appearance of the mermaids near Padstow has been asserted, continue to declare that the account in the Plymouth Journal which we copied last week, and respecting which we felt some hesitation, is perfectly correct, except that the colour of the bodies of these animals is "exactly like that of a Christian;" that one of the men did not observe that the animals had arms, but that another saw short ones, resembling fins, and that all saw the long flowing hair, &c. &c. --West Briton.

In The Globe, 16th July 1827.

Mawgan Porth. CC image Nilfanion

Exhibited Merman (and Mermaid) in Piccadilly

A.k.a. a DIY guide to making your own genuine mermaid, I think.
 

THE MERMAN.

There is a Merman now exhibiting in a lodging-house in Piccadilly, and it has followed the Mermaid from Batavia. Both were manufactured by the Japanese; both were purchased (we believe unsuspectingly) by Captains of ships, and they are alike genuine. The Mermaid was the better piece of work of the two, and if exhibited, as we mentioned at the time, as an example of the mechanical ingenuity of the curiosity-caterers in Japan, would have been praiseworthy.

The head was that of the green African monkey, the arms those of the monkey and ape, the body and tail the salmon's, the skin of which was, when fresh taken off, in a gelatinous state, then dried, fined down with pummice-stone, gummed, and laid on over the dorsal bones (of a fish) so as to display the vertebrae, and finally exposed to the air and insects, so as to acquire the discolouration and perforation of antiquity. The arms in the Mermaid being those of the ape and monkey, the nails being well cut out of birds' quills, and the whole figure was capitally managed for a show.

But not so this Merman, who is (probably as a distinction of his sex) constructed of ruder materials. The head is hideous; and if, like Cerberus, "op'ning his greedy grinning jaws," he does not "gape with three enormous mouths," he has one mouth bigger and more hideous than them all. The head is exactly that of the catfish, which is remarkable for its round head and projecting teeth (as in this figure); the distended and deformed face is an artificial mask, manufactured upon the fish-skull; but the most clumsy contrivance of all, is the hair upon the head. Now surely a Merman or Mermaid ought, were it only in common courtesy to the best authenticated accounts, ancient and modern, to have the green hair flowing in graceful curls down the shoulders, so as to permit the elegant action of throwing it aside when buffetting the "angry deep;" then we can understand Shakspeare's
"Mermaid on a dolphin's back
"Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
"That the rude sea grew civil at her song."
But what will the reader think when he is informed that the Piccadilly Merman has a fine well-brushed head of hair, rising perpendicularly from the crown of the head in the newest Dandy fashion?

It is soft and downy, resembling in length the best muff fur - it is in fact, nothing more nor less than the thinner coat of hair of the young fox or jackall, the colour almost that of the common animal, light reddish brown with a gray root. We imagine they are not much in the habit in Japan of seeing the seal or other marine animals which are tufted with hair, or they would have seen that such hair is long and fibrous, and from the nature of the element it lives in, always clinging along the skin, and in its growth and texture bearing no resemblance to that of land animals. It would have been just the same trouble to have manufactured the one hair as the other, and there is no doubt that the Japanese will improve upon the model.

The arms are entirely artificial, and in that respect the Merman is very inferior to the Mermaid. If anyone will take the trouble to observe the articulation of the shoulders, they will see a very imperfect imitation of the ball and socket, and then again, the fingers at the palm of the hand; on the back, the shape and flexibility of the fingers is given, but no so in the inner side, there is no attempt made there to define the shape which gives to them the lateral or circular motion, or for lodging the tendons of what are called "the flexor muscles." These fingers could not bend - they want all the beautiful mechanism of anatomy: the Japanese must also improve in that science, before they send us another Merman.

As to the shape of the rest of the body, it is that of the common salmon, or cod-fish, the skin of which, a good full grown scaly one being procured, is exposed to the process of drying and darkening as we have already mentioned; it has not been fined down as in the Mermaid, and therefore the wrinkles are coarser, and the vertebrae (the regular fish-bone) not so well displayed; the skin, has, however, collapsed sufficiently upon the bones to give the full outline.

The tail of the Mermaid is coiled up, to give the figure a capacity for moving perpendicularly in the water; through a mistake the Merman's finny extremity has only the common fish's tail, and is only capable of lateral motion: so that, supposing this figure to have life, the impulse of its motion must be horizontal - its face being thus downwards in the water, its eyes become useless, and deprived of exposure to the rays of light; perhaps the laws of nature differ, however, for Mermen. Let some intelligent Merman  resolve this optical axiom.

This is our opinion of the Merman, but every spectator can judge for himself. We are not unaware of the danger of opposing the "well-authenticated accounts" of Mermen and Mermaids, from the "wilde or sauvage man in the sixt yeare of King John's raigne at Oreford, in Suffolk," caught by the fishermen "in theyr nettes," and a full account of whom will be found, and how he ultimately "fledded secretlye to the sea, and was never after seene nor hearde off," in The Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, down to the "syren  or mermaid," shown "sporting about in the vessel of water at the fair of St. Germain's in the year 1758, (see The Gentleman's Magazine for 1759); but we still want to have better evidence of the fact. We know there are affidavits in abundance to verify "sights" seen at moonlight upon the ocean; and a black man who waits upon the Merman in Piccadilly, has lately sworn before the Lord Mayor, first (and we are glad to hear it) that "he was educated in the Christian religion," and secondly, that about 20 years ago, he saw (not this animal, but ) "an animal alive at Manilla, which was called a Mermaid," that it was kept at the Governor's house, but "its distressing cries" induced him, after three days' keeping, to put it back into the river, and restore it to its natural element.

It is somewhat singular, that it was left to the poor black man, after a lapse of years, to remember what must have been known at the time, according to his statement, throughout the whole Philippine islands, but which was not sooner brought to light; and yet we do know that Sir Joseph Banks took great pains by an extensive correspondence throughout the world, to investigate all the rumours and affidavits of these Mermaids, and was, after a laborious inquiry, satisfied that their existence must be consigned to the imagination of poets.

Barnum's mermaid

The exibitor of this Merman states the probable retreat of the Mermaids to be "in the most remote and fathomless depths of the sea." This is as it should be - Poets make ghosts "choose the darkest part o' th' grove," and say of "the ugly subjects" of night, that -
"Asham'd and fearful to appear,
"They skreen their horrid shapes with the black hemispher."
The witches of old, too, before "ill tongues" which are now upon the Mermaids were upon them, always performed their incantations by night. We agree in the propriety of having a "fathomless abyss" for the Mermen. 

The exhibitor is quite shocked at the idea of being called upon to expose the figure to dissection, "merely to gratify idle wanton curiosity;" but he declares, "that so soon as a moderate sum is realized by the exhibition, he will offer it to the faculty, to add the final proof of its genuineness, and thus show that Mermaids and Mermen  form a part of the creation." The time of this dissection will never come; in the interim, why do not some of the ingenious pupils of Mr. Brookes construct a Mermaid from some of the ample materials in his museum, which would bear dissection? Why are Captains of ships stopped in their voyages at Batavia, by the Japanese mermaid-agents, and poor natives brought from the Philippine islands to make affidavits of what they saw 20 years ago, for a commodity, which if the experiment be made, can, from our better knowledge of anatomy, be made cheaper and more perfect at home?

From The Times, June 26th, 1824.

Mermaid near Rothsay, Isle of Bute

The following appears in a Glasgow paper:-- "A Gentleman, on whose veracity we can rely, informs us, that, as he was passing along the east coast of Bute, within a mile of Rothsay, on Wednesday last, betwixt two and three o'clock, along with two other persons, they saw, within one yard of the shore, one of those animals, so long considered fabulous - a mermaid - combing her fine black locks with the utmost deliberation, and apparently quite unconscious of the presence of more civilized beings! What rendered the occurrence more extraordinary, was the appearance, in the vicinity, of another large sea monster, having a body resembling that of a man, but with the head of a brute; and which disappeared whenever three Gentlemen came in sight!"

In the Morning Post, July 25th 1826.

Herbert James Draper's 'Ulysses and the Sirens'

Mermaid in Loch Fyne (or not)

Loch Fyne. CC image by Julian Nizsche

From the North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality, 20th September 1865.

A MERMAID SEEN IN LOCHFYNE.

The Inverary correspondent of the Glasgow Herald communicates the following: "One morning, recently, before sunrise, a labourer, setting out for his work along the shores of Lochfyne, about five miles from Inverary, saw, or he imagined he saw, what is seldom seen by mortal eyes. On a smooth rock by the water's edge was reclining a creature which, in the struggling light, he thought to be a seal. When he approached, it splashed into the water, and, as he saw its head bobbing up and down, and its long grey hair floating on the wave, he altered his opinion, and became convinced that it was an ancient mermaid. Unromantic wretch that he was, he began to throw stones, to avoid which, the creature moved further from the shore, but soon, for some reason not explained, changed its purpose, and made straight again for the rock, on which it landed.

The man, no doubt from the laudable desire of furnishing the British Museum with a true specimen of a mermaid (a person could hardly send such a creature to the Zoological Gardens among wild beasts), drew a large knife from his pocket and advanced. He had hitherto kept at a respectful distance. But he stopped suddenly, for to his amazement the creature spoke. To hear in the early dawn of a peaceful autumn morning, a mermaid speak! - that surely were bliss beyond compare. Not so thought the labourer; terror added wings to his feet and he fled, circulating over the parish, that surely his end was near, for he had seen a mermaid, and heard her tongue. Eventually however, his delusion was dispelled, for the mermaid turned out to be the wife of a Glasgow professor, who had come down to spend his holidays on the shores of Lochfyne. It is superfluous to add that the lady had gone out to bathe. We understand that the man is still living.

Why bother with the expense of a mermaid?

South Wales Daily News, 16th January 1894.

THERE WAS NO MERMAID

A remarkable incident happened at Croydon on Saturday evening last. A negro hired a shop in Surrey-street, Croydon, on Saturday night, and announced that he had a mermaid inside. People paid their pennies to see the mermaid, but when they got inside they were only shown some conjuring tricks and fire-eating. When they asked for the mermaid they were shown through a door and found themselves in the street. This went on for about two or three hours. At last the disappointed audiences made an assault on the place. Everything was smashed to atoms. The negro had his clothing torn from him, was severely handled, and had to fly for his life. The police did not interfere.

CC image by Troy Tolley