among the mermaids excerpt 9781578635450

7/28/2019 Among the Mermaids Excerpt 9781578635450

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AMONGT H EME R M A I D S


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AMONGT H EME R M A I D SFacts, Myths, and Enchantments

from the Sirens of the Sea

Varla Ventura


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First published in 2013 by Weiser Books

Red Wheel/Weiser,

With offices at:

665 Tird Street, Suite 400

San Francisco, CA 94107www.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, . Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataVentura, 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. itle.

GR910.V46 2013 398.21dc23 2013006176

Cover design by www.levanfisherdesign.com / Barbara Fisher

Interior by Dutton & Sherman

ypeset 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

Te 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).


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Dedicated to Sarah Elizabeth Kahn, whodove into murky and frightening waters andemerged, smiling, with a shimmering pearl.


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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?

L A ,

M


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CONTENTS

Introduction: A Maid Upon the Waves xiii

1.THE EMERALD SEA 1

The Mermaid by George A. Birmingham 2

Nautical Terms 22

Batten Down the Hatches! 25

2.MY HUSBAND WILL EAT MY CHILDREN 29Lutey and the Mermaid by Mabel Quiller-Couch 30

Lady of the Lake 47

Mermaid Legends 51


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3.IT MOANS ON LAND AND SEA 55

Flory Cantillons Funeral by T. Crofton Croker 56

The Practicalities of Piracy63

No Swimming 64

4.SEAL WITH A KISS 65

The Selkies by Elizabeth Pepper and Barbara Stacy 65

Amongst the Selkies 67

Amongst the Mermaidsby Norman Roe 68

The Selkie That Deud No Forget by Norman Roe 76

The Mermaid of San Francisco Bay 87

The Mermaid of Lighthouse Point by Bret Harte 88

5.MERMAIDS: FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS AND

LIVING, BREATHING (UNDERWATER)MERMAIDS! 91

The Mer-Life of Hannah Fraser 91

Underwater Visionaries 94


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Haenyeo: Free Diving Mermaids 94

Dreamtime Mermaids 95

Mermaid Mizuko 100

Fishermen Tales 109

Puts Nessie to Shame 110

6.ALL ABOARD! 111

The Mermaid of Zennorby Lyonnese 112

Ten Little Mermaids 115

The Ghost Ship 120

Strange and Sumptuous Seaweed 124

7.MERMAID JOY RIDE 129

The Mermaid of Druid Lake by Charles Weathers Bump 132Sorry Kids! The United States Government Officially

Denies Mermaids Exist 149

The Mermaids Prophecyby Anonymous 151


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8.COOMARAS CALLING 157

Lobster Pots 158

The Soul Cages by T. Crofton Croker159

The Merrow by W.B. Yeats 183

9.AUNT JUDYS AQUARIUM 185

Among the Merrows: A Sketch of a Great

Aquarium by Juliana Horatia Ewing 187

THE TAIL END OF THIS BOOK 219Mermaid Movie Madness 219

Shopping 224

Recommended Reading 226

Bibliography and Online Resources 233

Acknowledgments 237


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xiii

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 lus-

cious enchantments of the briny deep? If you were a tropi-

cal mermaid, youd no doubt have a personality as colorfulas 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 liv-ing 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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Among the Mermaidsxiv

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 po-lar 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. Tis 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. Te

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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Introduction: A Maid Upon the Waves xv

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 bywater, such as Ireland and the islands of the Carib-

bean Sea. Mermaids waver between being trapped (Te

Little Mermaid) and being dangerous (the sirens of

Te Odyssey), but most consistently seem to pos-

sess a certain superiority to mere mortals. When

in love, they are vulnerable, so often falling for

gruff sailors or fishermen. Or they are bewitch-

ing, enchanting said men to a watery demise.

oday, 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.Tis 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 Web-

ster 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, com-plete 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


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Among the Mermaidsxvi

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 thedeep.

Tis collection contains an array of stories from mer-

maids of a variety of sorts. From funerals to weddings, births

to deaths, the themes that run from beginning to end in-

clude love, betrayal, kinship, confusion, and escape. Tese

stories are set across the globefrom Ireland to China, and

from Bermuda to the San Francisco Bay. I hope this collec-

tion will delight you, enchant you, and reinforce your belief

in the mermaid legend.


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1

And Wendy, there are mermaids.

Mermaids! With tails?

Such long tails.

Oh, cried Wendy, to see a mermaid!J.M. B, P P,

Its fairly obvious by the title of this book that I have a fas-

cination 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 re-mote 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

CHAPTER1

THE EMERALDSEA


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Among the Mermaids2

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 trans-

ported right back to those craggy limestone cliffs and bitterwinds. 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, come-

hither gesture.

George Birmingham was the pen name of an Irish cler-

gyman 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. o 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 hadspent 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. Te is-

land lies some seventeen miles from the coast. We started on


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The Emerald Sea 3

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. Tejib 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 boatbut averse from unnecessary labour. And there was really no

need to row. Te 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 si-

lence and almost perfect peace.


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Among the Mermaids4

We drifted slowly past Carrigeen Glos, a low, sullen line

of rocks. A group of cormorants, either gorged with mack-

erel fry or hopeless of an evening meal, perched together at

one end of the reef, and stared at the setting sun. A few ternsswept round and round overhead, soaring or sliding down-

wards 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 com-

motion. Perhaps the seal heard Peters remark or divined hisfeeling of hostility. It flopped across the rock and slid grace-

fully 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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The Emerald Sea 5

He was scornful; but the seals eyes were human. Tey

made me think of mermaids.

Tem ones, said Peter, is entirely different from seals.

You might see a seal any day in fine weather. Teyre 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 con-

tempt for my skepticism.

Come now, I said: did you ever see a mermaid?

I did not, said Peter, but my mother was acquaintedwith one. Tat was in Inishmore, where I was born and

reared.

I waited. Te chance of getting Peter to tell an interest-

ing story is to wait patiently. Any attempt to goad him on by

asking questions is like striking before a fish is hooked. Te

chance of getting either story or fish is spoiled.Tere was a young fellow in the island them times, said

Peter, called Anthony OFlaherty. A kind of uncle of my fa-

thers he was, and a very fine man. Tere wasnt his equal at

running or lepping, and they say he was terrible daring on


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Among the Mermaids6

the sea. Tat 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. Herelit 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.

Tere 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 silentand stared at the peak of the mainsail. Te block

on the horse rattled occasionally. Te 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 themthere was, and the second eldest was the one age with my

mother. Tat 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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The Emerald Sea 7

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. Tesea, though still calm, was beginning to be moved by that

queer restlessness which comes on it at sunset. Te tide ed-

died in mysteriously oily swirls. Te rocks to the eastward

of us had grown dim. A gull flew by overhead uttering wail-

ing cries. Te 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 ofthe 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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Among the Mermaids8

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 moreof them than I want to. Tere 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. Te

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

them. Te stretch of wild surf un-

der our lee looked ghastly white in

the dim twilight of the dawn. Peter

knew what I was thinking.It was calm enough that night

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?

Tis time my voice expressed full sympathy. Te sea all

round us was rising in queer round little waves, though there

was no wind. Te boom snatched at the blocks as the boat

The stretch of wild

surf under our

lee looked ghastly

white in the dim

twilight of the

dawn.


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The Emerald Sea 9

rocked. Te sail was ghostly white. Te vision of a mermaid

would not have surprised me greatly.

Te beautifulest ever was seen, said Peter, and neither

shift nor shirt on them, only just themselves, and the longhair 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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Among the Mermaids10

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 couldntrest 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 some-

times 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. Te people

did be wondering what had comeover Anthony, for he was differ-

ent 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. Tere was

a girl that they had laid down for him tomarry, 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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The Emerald Sea 11

I could understand Anthonys feelings. Te 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. Te boatslipped quietly along close-hauled. Te 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. Te water rippled mournfully under our

bows and a long pale wake stretched astern from our coun-

ter. Fortune, banked money,

good heifers and even endur-

ingly fruitful fields seemed

very little matters to me then.

Tey must have seemed stillless, far less, to Anthony

OFlaherty after he had seen

those white sea-maidens with

their green-black hair.

Tere was a woman on the island in those times,

said Peter, a very aged woman, and she had a kind of plas-ter 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

They must have seemed

still less, far less, to

Anthony OFlaherty

after he had seen thosewhite sea-maidens with

their green-black hair.


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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 whetherhe 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 be-

layed it again; but I do not believe that he really cared much

about the set of the sail. Tat was his excuse. He wanted

to be nearer to me. Tere 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 companion-

ship. Peter seated himself on the floorboards at my feet, andI 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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The Emerald Sea 13

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. Ifit 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

have to do what he bid her, be the

same good or bad, and be with him

if he wanted her, so long as he kept

the cloak from her. Tats what the

old woman told Anthony, and she

was a skilful woman, well knowing

the nature of beasts and men, and of

them thats neither beasts nor men.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 themones played themselves.

I was quite prepared to believe that Anthony was in-

spired by a passion far out of the common. I know nothing

If so be that a man

could pat his hand

on eer a cloak, theone that owned it

would have

to follow him

whether she wanted

to or not.


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more terrifying than the chill embrace of the sea at night-

time. o 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.

Te 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 notto 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. Ten he wasoff to the bay again, and sure enough

them ones was there. Te water was

middling rough that night, but it


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The Emerald Sea 15

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 tothe 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 shad-

ow 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.

Tat time he neither blessed

himself nor said a prayer, but slipped

into the water, and off with him,swimming with all his strength.

Tey 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. With-

out Anthony had shouted they wouldnt have heard him, for

the sea was loud on the rocks and their own singing waslouder. 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,


34/46


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 forswimming, 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. Te sound of it was what she couldnt

bear. Te people thought that queer, and there was a deal of


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The Emerald Sea 17

talk about it in the bland, some saying she must be a Protes-

tant, 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 andmending for Anthony, and minding the children. Seven of

them there was, and all boys.

Te 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 head-

sheets, 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.Te 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 any-thing 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.

Tere was poteen made on the island then, and whisky was


36/46


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 tak-ing 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 friend-

ship, 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 takento beating the young lads along with her. It was them told


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The Emerald Sea 19

what was going on. But there wasnt one on the island would

interfere. Te 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 fromher. So long as he had that she was bound to put up with

whatever he did. But it wasnt for ever.

Te 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 com-

ing 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 thejob 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 offthe old thatch near the chimney. It was middling late in the

evening, as it might be six or seven oclock, and he was think-

ing 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. Tere 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 grand-

father 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 Emerald Sea 21

the house. Tat 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 for-

ward 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.

Te boat edged up into the wind. Peter, flat on hisstomach, grasped the buoy and hauled it on board. Te

fore-sheets beat their tattoo on the deck. Te boom swung

sharply across the boat.

en 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? Te 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

Te term boot camp originated during the Spanish-

American war, when sailors wore leggings called boots.

Recruits were nicknamed after these leggings, and their

training camps became known as boot camps.

Te 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 epi-demic or infection.

Te saying down the hatchcomes from the term for lower-

ing cargo into the hatch.


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The Emerald Sea 23

Te term proof (and the practice of identifying alcohol

based on proof ) came from sailors who would put gunpow-

der into the rum. If it ignited, the rum was 100 proof, or at

least 57 percent alcohol. If not, someone had watered downthe rumand that someone was going to walk the plank!

Te term dungarees, meaning sailors work

clothes, comes from theHindi word Dun-

gri, a type of Indian cloth.

Te word mayday, a radio distress call,

comes from the French maidez, which

means help me.

Te word scuttlebutt refers to the cask

of drinking water on shipsa butt is

a wooden cask used for holding wa-ter, while to scuttle is to drill a hole, as

in, Tis butt has been scuttled so that we could

drink from it. When sailors gathered at the scut-

tlebutt for water, they took the opportunity to gos-

sipand so scuttlebutt became slang for rumors.

oday we have our modern equivalent of talking around the

office water cooler.

Te term fathom is a nautical word used to measure the

depth of the water. One fathom is six feet, a measurement


42/46


based on the length from a sailors fingertip to fingertip when

his arms were outstretched. It was once defined by Parlia-

ment as the length of a mans arms around the object of his

affections, and derives from the Old English word faethm,meaning embracing arms.

Te 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 andreturn fire.

A smoking lampwas once used to signify that a space on

the ship was designated for smoking. Tis method was

used to reduce the risk of setting the ship on fire, and it be-

ing reduced to ash, because a sailor wanted a cig. Sailors


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The Emerald Sea 25

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 outwhen they want the crew to put em out.

Ever been asked to just toe the line? Te 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 atquarters, 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 ev-

ery 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


44/46


Homers wine-dark waves, to Charles Weathers Bumps Te

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 some-thing 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 ultra-

low-frequency sound, the source of which has remained amystery. Te sound, which became known as the Bloop, was

detected several times over a range of 5,000 kilometers. Sci-

entists say the Bloop matches the sound profile of a living

creature, but they have yet to identify which one. Te Bloop

is too big and powerful to have been made by a whale. In

fact, scientists dont know of any animal on earth that couldhave made the soundunless its an animal that hasnt

been discovered yet. More recent evidence has surfaced that

NOAAthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-

istrationclaims to solve the mystery of the Bloop. Tey


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The Emerald Sea 27

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 Swe-den, 300 feet down, deep-sea divers discovered a mysterious

object that seemed to defy identification. Using remote con-

trolled cameras, further investigations revealed something

that looks eerily similar to the Millennium Falcon. Skeptics

declare it merely a coincidental collection of rocks, but ufolo-

gists and paranormal investigators wont be swayed by this

explanation. Scientists have also speculated that it is the re-

mains 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 allmy 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. Tis is

remarkable in and of itself as the block of concrete traveled

more than 4,000 nautical miles in just over a year. Eyewit-

ness Kirk ite, 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 Sentinelpaper ran

the following headline:Huge Eyeball from Unknown Creature Washes

Ashore on Florida Beach

A man named Gino Covacci was walking along Pom-

pano Beach, just north of Ft. Lauderdale on Floridas sunny

east coast, when he made a rather gruesome discovery: a gi-ant 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!

among the mermaids excerpt 9781578635450

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