The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-05-27
CATCHING a MERMAID.
Wonderful Exp,~rience of Fisherman
wifi a smiIino "dy of the Sea.


81 was one day out fishing in abous
three fathoms of water said an old
seaman to writer in the London Teie-
graph. at was a cold October day, the
water very quiet. There was codlins,
Writings, poutings. and the like of such
tlsh to catch IN plenty, and | rowed out
to see if could arm a shillin'. Well,
when l came to the place where / reck-
oned the fish was. i threw in my oars,
picked up the boats anchor and chuck
ed it overheard. Guess my surprise and
annoyance when found that some one
had been and gone and cut the cable
close to where it was made fast in the
boat 1t was the doing of some boys, l
suppose; but, anyways, the anchor took
the cable, and away went the whole
consarn. 1t was new rope, and | had
no notion of losing il and my little
anchor as well; so | took fishing line,
put some extra weights upon it, and Sc
cured the other end to little cork fen
der, with which buoyed the spot and
then rowed home again for the loan of
creep. A creep, | may tell We, is a
contrivance for sweeping the bottom of
the water with, to bring up anything
You may have lost. Well, | got the
loan of one, and called to Jimmy Dadds,
a chap about IS years old, to come out
and give me hand, promising him half
pint We rowed out, came to the
place. and he began to row quietly,
while | chucked the creep over. 1t
hadn't been down two minutes when it
came across something that felt soft. 1t
wasn't to be pulled up easy. The hold
of it anchored the boat What the
blazes have we hooked here?' says | to
Jimmy, feeling whatever it was wOb-
bling, as it might be, upon the creep,
and yet refusing to come up. Come
and lens hand He got up, laid hold
of the line, and hauled with me. What
was coming we couldn't imagine. The
feel, l tell ye, was quite sing lar. 1t
wasn't like piece of wreck; it wasn't
ike fish; it wasn't like being foul of a
rock. There was kind of swaying
and softness about it, as if the object
was alive and was holding on to pre-
vent being drawded up. 'Hauln says
l. We bent our backs and started the
object out OF its moOrings below; and
what dye think came up? Why, sir,
there popped half out of water the beau
tifulest female as ever We set eyes oni
She looked right at US, and | never see
such smile as she bad. She seemed to
be covered with jewels, and her hair
was all wreathed about with seaweed.
She had one arm raised out of water,
and this was stretched out to us as if she
entreated us to leave her alone. Jim,
who was the most ignorant fool of a lad
that ever | met, at sight of her gives a
screech and tumbles right backward in
to the bottom of the boat. His falling
threw the line out of my hand. The
woman disappeared, and when | hauled
up the creep for her again the irons
came up naked. | own | was a bit
scared myself, but not so alarmed but
that | wasn't anxious to 90 creeping
for her again. But Jimmy refused to
have anything more to do with it. He
said no; he'd come out to sweep for an
anchor, he didn't want no dealings with
apparitiOnS. As to the half-pint, | might
drink it myself. What he required was
to be put ashore. However, | wasn't
going to leave without my anchor, so [
gets the boat into position again, and
at the first throw OF the creep | brings
Il
ashore, where, meeting a couple of men,
| tells them OF the apparition which
came up, and invites them to come out
to try if another sight could be got of
her. Well, they consented. but, though
| could have swOre we swept over the
place twenty times, we never hooked on
to the object. 1t got talked about and
others tried, bat TO no purpose. jim
my yarn made people believe it was a
mermaid Fact is, he was in such a
state of funk he saw a good deal more
than ! did. or than other man that
hadn't lost his head would. He said
she moGoncd with her hand, as though
to drive us away. and that her eyes
sparkled. | couldn't deny myself that
she looked as if her dress was coated
with jewels and pearls, at least as much
of her dress as | could see. and there's
no denying also that her hair was q
beautiful black, and rs she rose TO the
surface looked to be floating and filing
under the seaweed that hung about her
head so gracefully YOU might ha' sworn
it was her sweetheart's doing. The
newspapers said that it must ha' been
ships ligure-head but why was it never
come across again? How was it that
me and the score of others who tried for
it never could hook it? I'm not going
for TO say that she was alive, for | amt
such fool as Jimmy, but neither are
ye going to get me to believe that the
smiling, beautiful figure as rose up gilt
tering with jewels was carvin' out of
wood, and SO | tells ye."