AMONG THE MERMAIDS

A MTO NG HE MERMAIDS
Facts, Myths, and Enchantments from the Sirens of the Sea Varla Ventura

First published in 2013 by Weiser Books Red Wheel/Weiser, llc With offices at: 665 Third Street, Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94107 www.redwheelweiser.com Copyright 2013 by Weiser Books All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, llc. Reviewers may quote brief passages. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ventura, Varla, 1958 Among the mermaids : facts, myths, and enchantments from the sirens of the sea / Varla Ventura. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-57863-545-0 1. Mermaids. I. Title. GR910.V46 2013 398.21dc23 2013006176 Cover design by www.levanfisherdesign.com / Barbara Fisher Interior by Dutton & Sherman Typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro text and Incognito display Printed in the United States of America MAL 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

Dedicated to Sarah Elizabeth Kahn, who dove into murky and frightening waters and emerged, smiling, with a shimmering pearl.

Who would be A mermaid fair, Singing alone, Combing her hair Under the sea, In a golden curl With a comb of pearl, On a throne? Lord Alfred Tennyson, The Mermaid

CONTENTS

Introduction: A Maid Upon the Waves

xiii

1. THE EMERALD SEA The Mermaid by George A. Birmingham Nautical Terms Batten Down the Hatches!

1 2 22 25

2. MY HUSBAND WILL EAT MY CHILDREN

Lutey and the Mermaid by Mabel Quiller-Couch Lady of the Lake Mermaid Legends

29 30 47 51

 3. IT MOANS ON LAND AND SEA

Flory Cantillons Funeral by T. Crofton Croker The Practicalities of Piracy No Swimming

55 56 63 64

4. SEAL WITH A KISS

The Selkies by Elizabeth Pepper and Barbara Stacy Amongst the Selkies Amongst the Mermaids by Norman Roe The Selkie That Deud No Forget by Norman Roe The Mermaid of San Francisco Bay The Mermaid of Lighthouse Point by Bret Harte

65 65 67 68 76 87 88

5. MERMAIDS: FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS AND LIVING, BREATHING (UNDERWATER) MERMAIDS!

The Mer-Life of Hannah Fraser Underwater Visionaries

91 91 94

Haenyeo: Free Diving Mermaids Dreamtime Mermaids Mermaid Mizuko Fishermen Tales Puts Nessie to Shame

94 95 100 109 110

6. ALL ABOARD! The Mermaid of Zennor by Lyonnese Ten Little Mermaids The Ghost Ship Strange and Sumptuous Seaweed

111 112 115 120 124

7. MERMAID JOY RIDE

Sorry Kids! The United States Government Officially Denies Mermaids Exist The Mermaids Prophecy by Anonymous

129

The Mermaid of Druid Lake by Charles Weathers Bump 132

149 151

 8. COOMARAS CALLING
Lobster Pots The Soul Cages by T. Crofton Croker The Merrow by W.B. Yeats

157 158 159 183

9. AUNT JUDYS AQUARIUM

Among the Merrows: A Sketch of a Great Aquarium by Juliana Horatia Ewing

185 187

THE TAIL END OF THIS BOOK

Mermaid Movie Madness Shopping Recommended Reading

219 219 224 226

Bibliography and Online Resources Acknowledgments

233 237

INTRODUCTION: A MAID UPON THE WAVES

What would life be like as a mermaid? How would it feel to dash from kelp bed to sandy shore, surrounded by the luscious enchantments of the briny deep? If you were a tropical mermaid, youd no doubt have a personality as colorful as your coral reef playground. Surely youd be cheerful and youd sing songs with a decidedly calypso beat, luring the passing sailors and foolish tourists into your playground just to have them to the underwater party you would always be hosting. If you were a mermaiden of chillier watersperhaps living in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean or in the brash Irish Seamaybe your personality would be more biting. You would be more inclined to spitefulness, and would capture out of boredom. Youd wait among the sloshing seaweed,

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singing at a pitch just above the crashing waves, and do most of your hunting at night. And what if you were a mermaid of the arctic waters? Youd be a more solitary type, preferring the company of polar bears and penguins to fellow merrow, singing Bjork-like melodies for passing whales to harmonize with. Regardless of your latitude or longitude, youd have long hair. This would be more enchanting to your victims, for when they would slip into an aquatic slumber, they would confuse it with harmless tendrils of kelp. And you would definitely be svelteall that swimming and the steady diet of omega-rich seafood would keep your figure in top shape. And for those of you who fancy yourselves mermen instead of mermaids, you would be rippedthe constant flicking of your tail would lead to some serious six-pack abs. Our fascination with mermaids has a very long history. Mermaids are one of the oldest mythological creatures. The first known story of a mermaid dates to about 1000 BC, when the Assyrian goddess Atargatis, ashamed at having killed a mortal man that she loved, tried to conceal herself in

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a lake. When the waters failed to hide her, she turned herself into a creature that was half woman, half fish. Mermaids have made appearances in fiction and fairy tales, and were especially popular in areas surrounded by water, such as Ireland and the islands of the Caribbean Sea. Mermaids waver between being trapped (The Little Mermaid) and being dangerous (the sirens of The Odyssey), but most consistently seem to possess a certain superiority to mere mortals. When in love, they are vulnerable, so often falling for gruff sailors or fishermen. Or they are bewitching, enchanting said men to a watery demise. Today, mermaids are still as popular as ever. Hundreds of fun water-side festivals take place across the country. Every year, Coney Island hosts a Mermaid Parade. This annual tradition began in 1983, and for the past several years has included an after-party for participants and parade goers: a Mermaid Ball. For more than fifty years, the Webster Lions Club in Rochester, New York, has played host to the yearly Mermaid Festival. And in 2011, the first annual Mer-Con took place at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, complete with mermaid performers, vendors (selling waterproof mermaid tails, adult and child sizes available), and the World Mermaid Awards. And lest you think these siren-obsessed are all costumed comics, you should read about the real-life

Introduction: A Maid Upon the Waves

xv

mermaid, Hannah Fraser. A mermaid-performer by trade, this aquatic Australian is far more than a pretty piece of tail: she works tirelessly as an eco-activist fighting to keep her beloved oceans clean and to save her fellow creatures of the deep. This collection contains an array of stories from mermaids of a variety of sorts. From funerals to weddings, births to deaths, the themes that run from beginning to end include love, betrayal, kinship, confusion, and escape. These stories are set across the globefrom Ireland to China, and from Bermuda to the San Francisco Bay. I hope this collection will delight you, enchant you, and reinforce your belief in the mermaid legend.

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CHAPTER

THE EMERALD SEA

And Wendy, there are mermaids. Mermaids! With tails? Such long tails. Oh, cried Wendy, to see a mermaid! J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan, 1904 Its fairly obvious by the title of this book that I have a fascination with mermaids. But what delighted me most about this Irish story by George A. Birmingham was its setting. Many years ago, I went on a soul-seeking journey to the remote Aran Islands, off the coast of Galway in Ireland. As in Birminghams story, it is quite true (and especially if you visit in the off-season months) that everyone on the island lives

there or has kin living there (and many of the Islanders are kin to each other). When I read the first page of this story, I was transported right back to those craggy limestone cliffs and bitter winds. Like all of Ireland, the Aran Islands are a very magical place, and it is not at all hard to imagine a mermaid in those gray-green waters, her kelpy hair spreading out across the crest of a wave, her long arms waving in a friendly, comehither gesture. George Birmingham was the pen name of an Irish clergyman named James Owen Hannay. He wrote more than fifty novels and a number of plays, essays, and commentaries on rural Irish life as well as politics. To my knowledge, this is his only mermaid story. It is from a 1919 collection of stories he called Our Casualty and Other Stories.

The Mermaid
by George A. Birmingham
We were on our way home from Inishmore, where we had spent two days; Peter OFlaherty among his relativesfor everyone on the island was kin to himI among friends who give me a warm welcome when I go to them. The island lies some seventeen miles from the coast. We started on

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our homeward sail with a fresh westerly wind. Shortly after midday it backed round to the north and grew lighter. At five oclock we were stealing along very gently through calm water with our mainsail boom out against the shroud. The jib and foresail were drooping in limp folds. An hour later the mainsheet was hanging in the water and the boat drifted with the tide. Peter, crouching in the fore part of the cockpit, hissed through his clenched teeth, which is the way in which he whistles for a wind. He glanced all round the horizon, searching for signs of a breeze. His eyes rested finally on the sun, which lay low among some light, fleecy clouds. He gave it as his opinion that when it reached the point of setting it might draw a light air after it from the eastward. For that it appeared we were to wait I shrank from toil with the heavy sweeps. So, I am sure did Peter, who is a good man in a boat but averse from unnecessary labour. And there was really no need to row. The tide was carrying us homeward, and our position was pleasant enough. Save for the occasional drag of a block against the horse we had achieved unbroken silence and almost perfect peace.

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We drifted slowly past Carrigeen Glos, a low, sullen line of rocks. A group of cormorants, either gorged with mackerel fry or hopeless of an evening meal, perched together at one end of the reef, and stared at the setting sun. A few terns swept round and round overhead, soaring or sliding downwards with easy motion. A large seal lay basking on a bare rock just above the waters edge. I pointed it out to Peter, and he said it was a pity I had not got my rifle with me. I did not agree with him. If I had brought the rifle Peter would have insisted on my shooting at the seal. I should certainly not have hit it on purpose, for I am averse from injuring gentle creatures; but I might perhaps have killed or wounded it by accident, for my shooting is very uncertain. In any case I should have broken natures peace, and made a horrible commotion. Perhaps the seal heard Peters remark or divined his feeling of hostility. It flopped across the rock and slid gracefully into the sea. We saw it afterwards swimming near the boat, looking at us with its curiously human, tender eyes. A man might mistake it for a mermaid, I said. Hed have to be a fool altogether that would do the like, said Peter.

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He was scornful; but the seals eyes were human. They made me think of mermaids. Them ones, said Peter, is entirely different from seals. You might see a seal any day in fine weather. Theyre plenty. But the other onesBut sure you wouldnt care to be hearing about them. Ive heard plenty about them, I said, but it was all poetry and nonsense. You know well enough, Peter, that theres no such thing as a mermaid. Peter filled his pipe slowly and lit it. I could see by the way he puffed at it that he was full of pity and contempt for my skepticism. Come now, I said: did you ever see a mermaid? I did not, said Peter, but my mother was acquainted with one. That was in Inishmore, where I was born and reared. I waited. The chance of getting Peter to tell an interesting story is to wait patiently. Any attempt to goad him on by asking questions is like striking before a fish is hooked. The chance of getting either story or fish is spoiled. There was a young fellow in the island them times, said Peter, called Anthony OFlaherty. A kind of uncle of my fathers he was, and a very fine man. There wasnt his equal at running or lepping, and they say he was terrible daring on

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the sea. That was before my mother was born, but she heard tell of what he did. When she knew him he was like an old man, and the heart was gone out of him. At this point Peter stopped. His pipe had gone out. He relit it with immense deliberation. I made a mistake. By way of keeping the conversation going I asked a question. Did he see a mermaid? He did, said Peter, and whats more he married one. There Peter stopped again abruptly, but with an air of finality. He had, so I gathered, told me all he was going to tell me about the mermaid. I had blundered badly in asking my question. I suppose that some note of unsympathetic skepticism in my tone suggested to Peter that I was inclined to laugh at him. I did my best to retrieve my position. I sat quite silent and stared at the peak of the mainsail. The block on the horse rattled occasionally. The suns rim touched the horizon. At last Peter was reassured and began again. It was my mother told me about it, and she knew, for manys the time she did be playing with the young lads, her being no more than a little girleen at the time. Seven of them there was, and the second eldest was the one age with my mother. That was after herself left him. Herself was vague enough; but I did not venture to ask another question. I took my eyes off the peak of the mainsail

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and fixed them inquiringly on Peter. It was as near as I dared go to asking a question. Herself, said Peter, was one of them ones. He nodded sideways over the gunwale of the boat. The sea, though still calm, was beginning to be moved by that queer restlessness which comes on it at sunset. The tide eddied in mysteriously oily swirls. The rocks to the eastward of us had grown dim. A gull flew by overhead uttering wailing cries. The graceful terns had disappeared. A cormorant, flying so low that its wing-tips broke the water, sped across our bows to some far resting-place. I fell into a mood of real sympathy with stories about mermaids. I think Peter felt the change which had come over me. Anthony OFlaherty, said Peter, was a young man when he saw them first. It was in the little bay back west of the island, and my mother never rightly knew what he was doing there in the middle of the night; but there he was. It

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was the bottom of a low spring tide, and theres rocks off the end of the bay thats uncovered at the ebb of the springs. Youve maybe seen them. I have seen them, and Peter knew it well I have seen more of them than I want to. There was an occasion when Peter and I lay at anchor in that bay, and a sudden shift of wind set us to beating out at three oclock in the morning. The rocks were not uncovered then, but the waves were breaking fiercely over them. We had little room for tacking, and I am not likely to forget the time we went about a few yards to windward of The stretch of wild them. The stretch of wild surf unsurf under our der our lee looked ghastly white in lee looked ghastly the dim twilight of the dawn. Peter white in the dim knew what I was thinking. twilight of the It was calm enough that night dawn. Anthony OFlaherty was there, he said, and there was a moon shining, pretty near a full moon, so Anthony could see plain. Well, there was three of them in it, and they playing themselves. Mermaids? This time my voice expressed full sympathy. The sea all round us was rising in queer round little waves, though there was no wind. The boom snatched at the blocks as the boat

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rocked. The sail was ghostly white. The vision of a mermaid would not have surprised me greatly. The beautifulest ever was seen, said Peter, and neither shift nor shirt on them, only just themselves, and the long hair of them. Straight it was and black, only for a taste of green in it. You wouldnt be making a mistake between the like of them and seals, not if youd seen them right the way Anthony OFlaherty did.

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Peter made this reflection a little bitterly. I was afraid the recollection of my unfortunate remark about seals might have stopped him telling the story, but it did not. Once Anthony had seen them, he said, he couldnt rest content without hed be going to see them again. Many a night he went and saw neither sight nor light of them, for it was only at spring tides that theyd be there, on account of the rocks not being uncovered any other time. But at the bottom of the low springs they were there right enough, and sometimes theyd be swimming in the sea and sometimes theyd be sitting on the rocks. It was wonderful the songs theyd singlike the sound of the sea set to music was what my mother told me, and she was told by them that knew. The people did be wondering what had come over Anthony, for he was different like from what he had been, and nobody knew what took him out of his house in the middle of the night at the spring tides. There was a girl that they had laid down for him to marry, and Anthony had no objection to her before he seen them ones; but after he had seen them he wouldnt look at the girl. She had a middling good fortune too but sure he didnt care about that.

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I could understand Anthonys feelings. The air of wind which Peter had promised, drawn from its cave by the lure of the departing sun, was filling our head-sails. I hauled in the main-sheet gently hand over hand and belayed it. The boat slipped quietly along close-hauled. The long line of islands which guards the entrance of our bay lay dim before use. Over the shoulder of one of them I could see the lighthouse, still a distinguishable patch of white against the looming grey of the land. The water rippled mournfully under our bows and a long pale wake stretched astern from our counter. Fortune, banked money, good heifers and even endurThey must have seemed ingly fruitful fields seemed still less, far less, to very little matters to me then. Anthony OFlaherty They must have seemed still after he had seen those less, far less, to Anthony white sea-maidens with OFlaherty after he had seen their green-black hair. those white sea-maidens with their green-black hair. There was a woman on the island in those times, said Peter, a very aged woman, and she had a kind of plaster which she made which cured the cancer, drawing it out by the roots, and she could tell what was good for the chin cough, and the women did like to have her with them when their children was born, she being knowledgeable in

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them matters. Im told the priests didnt like her, for there was things she knew which it mightnt be right that anyone would know, things thats better left to the clergy. Whether she guessed what was the matter with Anthony, or whether he up and told her straight my mother never heard. It could be that he told her, for many a one used to go to her for a charm when the butter wouldnt come, or a cow, maybe, was pining; so it wouldnt surprise me if Anthony went to her. Peter crept aft. He took a pull on the jib-sheet and belayed it again; but I do not believe that he really cared much about the set of the sail. That was his excuse. He wanted to be nearer to me. There is something in stories like this, told in dim twilight, with dark waters sighing near at hand, which makes men feel the need of close human companionship. Peter seated himself on the floorboards at my feet, and I felt a certain comfort in the touch of his arm on my leg. Well, he went on, according to the old hagand what she said was true enough, however she learnt itthem ones doesnt go naked all the time, but only when theyre playing themselves on the rocks at low tide, the way Anthony seen them. Mostly they have a kind of cloak that they wear, and

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they take the same cloaks off of them when theyre up above the water and they lay them down on the rocks. If so be that a man could pat his hand on eer a cloak, the one that owned it would have to follow him whether she wanted to or not. If it was to the end of the world shed have to follow him, or to Spain, or to America, or wherever he might go. And whats more, shed If so be that a man have to do what he bid her, be the could pat his hand same good or bad, and be with him on eer a cloak, the if he wanted her, so long as he kept one that owned it the cloak from her. Thats what the would have old woman told Anthony, and she was a skilful woman, well knowing to follow him the nature of beasts and men, and of whether she wanted them thats neither beasts nor men. to or not. Youll believe me now that Anthony wasnt altogether the same as other men when I tell you that he laid his mind down to get his hand down on one of the cloaks. He was a good swimmer, so he was, which is what few men on the island can do, and he knew that hed be able to fetch out to the rock where them ones played themselves. I was quite prepared to believe that Anthony was inspired by a passion far out of the common. I know nothing

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more terrifying than the chill embrace of the sea at nighttime. To strike out through the slimy weeds which lie close along the surface at the ebb point of a spring tide, to clamber on low rocks, half awash for an hour or two at midnight, these are things which I would not willingly do. The first time he went for to try it, said Peter, he felt a bit queer in himself and he thought it would do him no harm if he was to bless himself. So he did, just as he was stepping off the shore into the water. Well, it might as well have been a shot he fired, for the minute he did it they were off and their cloaks along with them; and Anthony was left there. It was the sign of the cross had them frightened, for that same is what they cant stand, not having souls that religion would be any use to. It was the old woman told Anthony that after, and youd think it would have been a warning to him not to make or meddle with the like of them any more. But it only made him the more determined. He went about without speaking to man or woman, and if anybody spoke to him hed curse terrible, till the time of the next spring tide. Then he was off to the bay again, and sure enough them ones was there. The water was middling rough that night, but it

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Among the Mermaids

didnt daunt Anthony. It pleased him, for he thought hed have a better chance of getting to the rocks without them taking notice of him if there was some noise loud enough to drown the noise hed be making himself. So he crept out to the point of the cliff on the south side of the bay, which is as near as he could get to the rocks. You remember that? I did. On the night when we beat out of the bay against a rising westerly wind we went about once under the shadow of the cliff, and, almost before we had full way on the boat, stayed her again beside the rocks. Anthonys swim, though terrifying, was short. That time he neither blessed himself nor said a prayer, but slipped into the water, and off with him, swimming with all his strength. They didnt see him, for they were too busy with their playing to take much notice, and of course they couldnt be expecting a man to be there. Without Anthony had shouted they wouldnt have heard him, for the sea was loud on the rocks and their own singing was louder. So Anthony got there and he crept up on the rock behind them, and the first thing his hand touched was one of the cloaks. He didnt know which of them it belonged to,

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and he didnt care. It wasnt any one of the three in particular he wanted, for they were all much about the same to look at, only finer than any woman ever was seen. So he rolled the cloak round his neck, the way hed have his arms free for swimming, and back with him into the water, heading for shore as fast as he was able. And she followed him? I asked. She did so. From that day till the day she left him she followed him, and she did what she was bid, only for one thing. She wouldnt go to mass, and when the chapel bell rang shed hide herself. The sound of it was what she couldnt bear. The people thought that queer, and there was a deal of

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talk about it in the bland, some saying she must be a Protestant, and more thinking that she might be something worse. But nobody had a word to say against her any other way. She was a good enough housekeeper, washing and making and mending for Anthony, and minding the children. Seven of them there was, and all boys. The easterly breeze freshened as the night fell I could see the great eye of the lighthouse blinking at me on the weather side of the boat. It became necessary to go about, but I gave the order to Peter very reluctantly. He handled the headsheets, and then, instead of settling down in his old place, leaned his elbows on the coaming and stared into the sea. We were steadily approaching the lighthouse. I felt that I must run the risk of asking him a question. What happened in the end? I asked. The end, is it? Well, in the latter end she left him. But there was things happened before that. Whether it was the way the priests talked to him about herthere was a priest in it them times that was too fond of interfering, and thats what some of them areor whether there was goings-on within in the inside of the house that nobody knew anything aboutand there might have been, for you couldnt tell what one of them ones might do or mightnt. Whatever way it was, Anthony took to drinking more than he ought. There was poteen made on the island then, and whisky was

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easy come by if a man wanted it, and Anthony took too much of it. Peter paused and then passed judgment, charitably, on Anthonys conduct I wouldnt be too hard on a man for taking a drop an odd time. I was glad to hear Peter say that. I myself had found it necessary from time to time, for the sake of an old friendship, not to be too hard on Peter. Nobody would have blamed him, Peter went on, if he had behaved himself when he had a drop taken; but thats what he didnt seem able to do. He bet her. Sore and heavy he bet her, and thats what no woman, whether she was a natural woman or one of the other kind, could be expected to put up with. Not that she said a word. She didnt. Nor nobody would have known that he bet her if he hadnt taken to beating the young lads along with her. It was them told

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what was going on. But there wasnt one on the island would interfere. The people did be wondering that she didnt put the fear of God into Anthony; but of course thats what she couldnt do on account of his having the cloak hid away from her. So long as he had that she was bound to put up with whatever he did. But it wasnt for ever. The house was going to rack and ruin with the way Anthony wouldnt mind it on account of his being three-parts drunk most of the time. At last the rain was coming in through the roof. When Anthony saw that he came to himself a bit and sent for my grandfather and settled with him to put a few patches of new thatch on the worst places. My grandfather was the best man at thatching that there was in the island in them days, and he took the job though he misdoubted whether hed ever be paid for it. Anthony never came next or nigh him when he was working, which shows that he hadnt got his senses rightly. If he had hed have kept an eye on what my grandfather was doing, knowing what he knew, though of course my grandfather didnt know. Well, one day my grandfather was dragging off the old thatch near the chimney. It was middling late in the evening, as it might be six or seven oclock, and he was thinking of stopping his work when all of a sudden he came on what he thought might be an old petticoat bundled away in

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the thatch. It was red, he said, but when he put his hand on it he knew it wasnt flannel, nor it wasnt cloth, nor it wasnt like anything hed ever felt before in all his life. There was a hole in the roof where my grandfather had the thatch stripped, and he could see down into the kitchen. Anthonys wife was there with the youngest of the boys in her arms. My grandfather was as much in dread of her as every other one, but he thought it would be no more than civil to tell her what hed found. Begging your pardon, maam, he said, but Im after finding what maybe belongs to you hid away in the thatch. With that he threw down the red cloak, for it was a red cloak he had in his hand. She didnt speak a word, but she laid down the baby out of her arms and she walked out of

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the house. That was the last my father seen of her. And that was the last anyone on the island seen of her, unless maybe Anthony. Nobody knows what he saw. He stopped off the drink from that day; but it wasnt much use his stopping it. He used to go round at spring tides to the bay where he had seen her first. He did that five times, or maybe six. After that he took to his bed and died. It could be that his heart was broke. We slipped past the point of the pier. Peter crept forward and crouched on the deck in front of the mast. I peered into the gloom to catch sight of our mooring-buoy. Let her away a bit yet, said Peter. Now luff her, luff her all you can. The boat edged up into the wind. Peter, flat on his stomach, grasped the buoy and hauled it on board. The fore-sheets beat their tattoo on the deck. The boom swung sharply across the boat. Ten minutes later we were leaning together across the boom gathering in the mainsail. What became of the boys? I asked. Is it Anthony OFlahertys boys? The last of them went to America twenty years ago. But sure that was before you came to these parts.

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Nautical Terms
The term boot camp originated during the SpanishAmerican war, when sailors wore leggings called boots. Recruits were nicknamed after these leggings, and their training camps became known as boot camps. The term clean bill of health was first used in reference to a ship whose captain could produce documents proving that the port his boat sailed from had not been host to an epidemic or infection. The saying down the hatch comes from the term for lowering cargo into the hatch.

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The term proof (and the practice of identifying alcohol based on proof ) came from sailors who would put gunpowder into the rum. If it ignited, the rum was 100 proof, or at least 57 percent alcohol. If not, someone had watered down the rumand that someone was going to walk the plank! The term dungarees, meaning sailors work clothes, comes from the Hindi word Dungri, a type of Indian cloth. The word mayday, a radio distress call, comes from the French maidez, which means help me. The word scuttlebutt refers to the cask of drinking water on shipsa butt is a wooden cask used for holding water, while to scuttle is to drill a hole, as in, This butt has been scuttled so that we could drink from it. When sailors gathered at the scuttlebutt for water, they took the opportunity to gossipand so scuttlebutt became slang for rumors. Today we have our modern equivalent of talking around the office water cooler. The term fathom is a nautical word used to measure the depth of the water. One fathom is six feet, a measurement

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based on the length from a sailors fingertip to fingertip when his arms were outstretched. It was once defined by Parliament as the length of a mans arms around the object of his affections, and derives from the Old English word faethm, meaning embracing arms. The phrase showing your true colors originated from the days when warships and pirate ships would hide their flags when approaching an enemy (or a victim), then unfurl them once it was too late for the oblivious ship to take aim and return fire. A smoking lamp was once used to signify that a space on the ship was designated for smoking. This method was used to reduce the risk of setting the ship on fire, and it being reduced to ash, because a sailor wanted a cig. Sailors

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could light their pipes on the lamp (before the invention of matches). When the lamp was out, it meant conditions or other responsibilities dictated that smoking was forbidden, and officers still announce that the smoking lamp is out when they want the crew to put em out. Ever been asked to just toe the line? The phrase comes from an old sailors punishment. Decks used to be made by sealing planks with a mixture of pitch and tar, creating a series of parallel lines. Each Sunday, a warships crew had to fall in at quarters, or divide up and form a line, using the seals on the deck to keep the formation straight. On other days, a young ships boy or a boot (a new sailor in training) would fidget or talk when he shouldntand the captain would send him to toe the line. Hed have to stand with his toes to the line, sometimes for hours in harsh weather.

Batten Down the Hatches!

Since the first stories were told, the sea has been the source of folklore, myth, and mystery in every corner of the earth, and the life-sustaining and life-threatening center of every coastal culture. Its sheer vastness holds a promise of power and the unknown, and leagues under the surface lives a world as different from ours as another planets. From
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The Emerald Sea

Homers wine-dark waves, to Charles Weathers Bumps The Mermaid of Druid Lake, from the Welsh tales Wirt Sikes tells in It Moans on Land and Sea, to the infamous Loch Ness monster, it seems that everyone agreestheres something supernatural about the water. No self-respecting headline would read, Aliens Found in the Deep Sea, or, Mermaid Sighted off Small Fishing Boat. Why? It is certainly true that no matter how much we study and map and dive and explore, there will always remain something inexplicable about the ocean. Here are a few strange-but-true tales of the sea that did make headlines, or at least turned a head or two. In the summer of 1997, underwater microphones placed in the ocean by the United States Navy detected an ultralow-frequency sound, the source of which has remained a mystery. The sound, which became known as the Bloop, was detected several times over a range of 5,000 kilometers. Scientists say the Bloop matches the sound profile of a living creature, but they have yet to identify which one. The Bloop is too big and powerful to have been made by a whale. In fact, scientists dont know of any animal on earth that could have made the soundunless its an animal that hasnt been discovered yet. More recent evidence has surfaced that NOAAthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationclaims to solve the mystery of the Bloop. They

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believe it to be the sound of cracking ice in Antarcticain short, an "icequake." (But they also publicly announced that mermaids weren't real, so can you really trust them?) In 2012, in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, 300 feet down, deep-sea divers discovered a mysterious object that seemed to defy identification. Using remote controlled cameras, further investigations revealed something that looks eerily similar to the Millennium Falcon. Skeptics declare it merely a coincidental collection of rocks, but ufologists and paranormal investigators wont be swayed by this explanation. Scientists have also speculated that it is the remains of a nineteenth-century warshipwhich would also be cool! Also in 2012, Al McGlashan discovered the carcass of a thirteen-foot squid near South Wales, Australia. In all my time on the waterand Ive spent 200-plus days out thereIve never seen anything like it, McGlashan said. He

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also described the deep sea monster as one of those mystical things you hear of in those stories about ancient mariners. Creepy. In Oregon, a concrete dock mysteriously washed ashore. It was seventy feet long, seven feet tall, and nineteen feet wide, made of metal and concrete. While imaginations ran wildwas it a chunk of Neptunes deep-sea palace?it was most likely from the 2011 massive tsunami in Japan. This is remarkable in and of itself as the block of concrete traveled more than 4,000 nautical miles in just over a year. Eyewitness Kirk Tite, who made the discovery while walking along the beach with his two sons, described it as a massive hunk of concrete and metal covered in sea creatures. And in October of 2012, Floridas Sun Sentinel paper ran the following headline: Huge Eyeball from Unknown Creature Washes Ashore on Florida Beach A man named Gino Covacci was walking along Pompano Beach, just north of Ft. Lauderdale on Floridas sunny east coast, when he made a rather gruesome discovery: a giant eyeball, which he reportedly kicked over, thinking it was a softball. Later, sources confirmed that the eyeball belonged to a swordfish of unusual size, which must now be sporting an eye patch the size of a bikini bottom!

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Among the Mermaids