The Sun.
London, England, 1809-09-07 00:00:00

AlEl?)lfyilt

The existence 'of Mermaids, or Sea-tiromen, lii--
therto generally supposed to be fabulous, seems now
to be pretty well.established, by the evidence of the'
folloWing copies of original letters, which were trans-
mitted to a gentleman in this country, by Sir John
Sinclair,-the principal person in the neighbourhood
where the extraordinary Creatures therein mentioned
were seen; •

Copy of Letters regarding the MermaidS, which
have been seen on the coast of Caithness, North
Britain:

No. I.—LETTER FROM MISS 'MACKAY, DAUGHTER
OF THE REV. DAVID MACKAY, MINISTER OF REAY,
TO MISS INNES DOWAGER, OF SANDSID.E.
• Keay, Manse, May as, 1809.
MADAM,—To establish the truth of what has hi-
therto
been considered improbable and fabulous,
must be at all times a difficult task,* and I have not
the vanity to think that my testimony alone would.
be sufficient for this purpose ; but when to this is
added that of four otheis, I hope it will have some
effect 'in removing the doubts of those-who may sup-
pose that the wonderful appearance I reported hay-
ing•seen in the sea on the l'ath of January, was not
a mermaid, brit some other• uncommon, though less
remarkableinhabitant of the deep. As I would wil-
lingly contribute, to remove the.doubt of the scepti-
cal on this subject, I beg leave to state to you the
following accounts, after premising that my cousin,
whose name is prefixed along with .mine, was one of
the four witnesses MK? beheld with me this uncom-
mon spectacle.
While she and I were walking by the sea-shore,
on the 1 .c!th of January, about noon, our attention
was attracted by seeing three people- who were on a
rock at some distance, shewing signs of terror and
astonishment at something they saw in the water;
on approaching them-, we distinguished that the ob-
jeapf -their wonder was a face resembling the hu-
man countenance, which appeared ficating on the
waves; at that time nothing but, the face was-visi-
ble ; it may not be improper to observe,- before I pro-
ceed further, that the face, threat, and arms, are all
I can attempt to describe, all our endeavours to dis-
cover the appearance and position of the body being
unavailing: The sea at-that time ran very high-, and '
as the waves advanced, the Mermaid gently: sunk
under them and afterwards re-appeared. The
seemed pluMp and round, the eyes- and nose-were
small, the former were of a light grey ccilOur, and.
the mouth -was large, and,-froth the shape-of the
jawbone; which' seemed straight, the lace looked,
short; as to the inside of the mouth I can,say no-
thing; not having attended to it, though sometimes
open.---Thetbrehead, nose, and chin; were white,:
the whole side lace of a bright pink colour. The.
head was exceedinglyround, the hair thick and long,
of a green oily-cast., and appeared troublesoine to it,
the waves generally throwing 'it down over the face;
it seemed to see the annoyance, and, as the waves
retreated with both its hands frequently threw back
the hair and- rubbed its throat, as if to remove-any
soiling it might have received from it. , The throat
was slender, smooth, and white; we did not think
of observing whether it had elbows; but from the
manner in which it used its arms, I must conchide
that it bad. The arms were very tong and slender,
as were the'hands and fingers, the latter were not
• webbed. The arms, one of them at least,
was-fre-
quently extended over its head, as if to frighten a
bird that hovered over it, and: seemed to distress it
much ; when that had no effect, it some times turned
quite round several times successively. At a little
distance we observed a seal. It, sometimes laid its
right hand under its cheek, and in this position
floated-for some time. We saw nothing like hair or
scales on-any part of it ; indeed the sinootliness:of
the- skin particularly caught; our, attention. The
time it was discernible to us was about an hour.
The son was shining clearly at the time 5.- it was dis-
tant from us a few yards only. These are the few
observations made by us during the appearance of
t his
.st range phenomenon.
If they afford you any satisfaaion, I shall be par-
ticularly happy, I have stated nothing but what I
clearly recollect ; as my cousin and I had frequently,
previous to.this period, combated an assertion which
is very common among the lower class here, that
Mermaids had been frequently seen on this coast,
our evidence cannot be thought biassed by anY former
prejudice in favour of the existence of this wonder-
ful creature.
To contribute, in any degree, to your pleasure or
amusement, will add to the happiness of, -
Madam, your greatly obliged,
(Signed) ELIZ. MACKAY.
C. MACKENZEE.

NO. H.-LETTER FROM.' MR. WILLIAM MUNRO,
SCHOOLMASTER OF THURSO, TO DR. TORRENCE,
REGARDING A MERMAID SEEN BY HIM SO -1E

Y EARS AGO.

DEAR SIR,

Thurso, June 9, IS~g.

Your queries respthing the Mermaid are belore.
me.- From the general scepticism which prevails
among the learned and intelligent about the exist-
ence of such a phenomenon, had not your charac-
ter and real desire for investigation been too well
known to me, for supposing that you wished to
have a fertile imagination indulged by a subject of
merriment, I would have been disposed to have
concluded, that in this instance you aimed at being
ranked among the laughing philosophers, at my '
expence. Sensible, however, that this is not the
case, and taking it for 'granted that you are sincere,
I shall endeavour to answer your queries, though
there is little probability that any testimony which I
can give respecting the Mermaid, will operate to-
wards convincing those who have not hitherto been
convinced by the repeated tethnonies adduced in sup-
port of the existence of such an appearance.
About twelve years ago, when I. was parochial
schoolmaster at Reay, in the course of my walking
on the shore of Sandside. Bay, being d fine warm
I day in summer, I was induced to exteild my walk
towards Sandside Head, when
,my attention.was ar-
rested by the appearance -of a figure, resembling an
.unclothed human female, sitting upon a rock ex-
tending into the sea, and apparently in the a,'liou of
combing its hair, which flowed around its oul-
ders, and of a light brown colour. The resemblance

. .
hid, the figure bare to its prototype, in all its
visible-parts, w'as- 4) Striking,- that had riot the rock'
on which it Was sitting been dangerous for bathing,
I would have been,constrained to have regarded it as
really an human form, and to any eye unaccustomed
to theituation, it must have undoubtedly appeared,
as such'. The bead was covered with hair of.the
colour above mentioned, and shaded on the, crowin,
the forehead round, the face plump, the cheeks rud-
dy, the eyes blue, the mouth and lips of, a natural
form, resembling those of a man, the teeth I could
not discover, as the mouth was shut; the breasta,
and abdomen, the arms and fingers of the size of A*.
full grown body of the human species ; the fingers',"
from the adtion in which the hands were employed;, '
did not appear to be webbed, but as to this I am
not positive. It remained on the rock three or 'obi
minutes after I observed it, and was exercised dur--
ing that tune in combing its hair, which was long
aril thick, and of Which it appeared proud, and then
dropped into the sea, which was level with the ab 7
domen,. from 'whence it did not re-appear to me.—
had distinct view of its features, being at no great
distance; on an eminence' above the rock on which
itwas sitting, and the sun brightly shining.
—lmmediately before, its. getting into its natu-
ral element, it seemed to, have observed me,
as its eyes were directed towards the eminence on
whichi stood. - It may be necessary to remark, that
previous to trie period I beheld this object, I had
heard it frequently reported by several persons, and
some of them persons whose veracity I never heard •
disputed, that they had seen such a phenomenon as
I have described, though then, like many others, I
wai not disposed to credit their testimony on this
subject. I cats say of a truth, that it was only by
seeing the phenomenon I was perfectly convinced of
its existence.

If the above narrative can in any degree be sub-
servient towards establishing the existence of a phe-
nomenon, hitherto almost incredible to naturalists,
or to remove the scepticism of others, who are ready
to dispute every thing which they cannot fully eon:-
prebend, you are Welcome to it from,
Dear Sir, your most obliged,
And most huMble servant, _
(Signed) MUNR(3.
To Dr. Torrehee.

DUEL—A meeting took. place on Tuesday oa
I+!verfordWest.eamthon,. betwikt Deal and Barn-
haat, .betwixt , Captain- C---L and. Adjutant R—,
consequepce of son-ie,dispute on board a vessel Irons
Walcheren, where both Officers served. The con-
tention NVAs-respe'aing the comparative services of
the Royal °Marine .Artiliery and another corps, dur.
ing an action at Walcheren. Alter discharging two.
fires, Captain C. was slightly wounded in the arm is
the third 'fire, when. both parties7shook hands, and
the affair was settled.