We are invited to believe, by the Leeds Mercury of 1st August 1738, ( Mine is the secondary source: Volume 36 of the Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries,) that a Mr Robert Heath caught ‘a strange fish’ supposed by many to be a Triton, just over Exmouth bar on 6th May 1737. It conformed to the following description:
It had “a Body much resembling that of a Man with a Genital Member of considerable Size, together with jointed Legs and Feet extending from his Belly 12 or 13 Inches with Fins at his Thighs, and larger ones, like Wings, in the Form of which those of Angles (sic) are often painted, at his Shoulders, with a broad Head of a very uncommon Form, a Mouth six inches wide, Smellers or Kind of Whiskers, at his Nostrils, and two Spout Holes behind his Eyes through which he ejected Water, when taken, 30 or 40 Feet high.”
‘Smeller’ as a synonym for ‘whisker’ is a fun word. According to the Shorter Oxford it is a name for, especially, the whiskers of a cat. Assuming Robert Heath was not just hornswoggling, what kind of fish or mammal did he catch?
The Exmouth Mermaid
The Exeter Mermaid.
The Mermaid's Wedding, (Verses)
The Sleeping Mermaids
Showing posts with label Mermaids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mermaids. Show all posts
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
THE EXMOUTH TRITON
Sunday, 10 January 2010
THE MERMAID'S WEDDING
"WAYLAND was the smith god of the Anglo Saxons. The son of a sailor and a mermaid, he was renowned for making coats of mail and swords." ' Arthur Cotterell's Encyclopaedia of Mythology.
This little song, then, is dedicated to my all but namesake, WAYLAND SMITH, his mum and dad.
He carried his love down the aisle to the rails.
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
And the front of his tunic was covered in scales
And O what a wonderful tail!
His buttons were polished. They shone like the stars.
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
His left eye was Venus. His right eye was Mars.
And O what a wonderful tail!
He propped her beside him. She stood on her tips.
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
He planted a kiss on her bright coral lips.
And O what a wonderful tail!
"Heave to!" cried the sailor. "We've come for to splice."
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
"My, my!" said the parson and "Isn't that nice!"
And "O what a wonderful tail!"
"Who giveth this mermaid? Who giveth the bride?"
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
"Why, none but King Neptune." the sailor replied
And O what a wonderful tail!
"Do you take this mermaid to your wedded wife?"
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
"I do." said the sailor, "I'll love her for life."
And O what a wonderful tail!
And all of the fishes came up on the tide
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
to sing pretty songs to the groom and the bride.
And O what a wonderful tail!
This little song, then, is dedicated to my all but namesake, WAYLAND SMITH, his mum and dad.
He carried his love down the aisle to the rails.
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
And the front of his tunic was covered in scales
And O what a wonderful tail!
His buttons were polished. They shone like the stars.
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
His left eye was Venus. His right eye was Mars.
And O what a wonderful tail!
He propped her beside him. She stood on her tips.
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
He planted a kiss on her bright coral lips.
And O what a wonderful tail!
"Heave to!" cried the sailor. "We've come for to splice."
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
"My, my!" said the parson and "Isn't that nice!"
And "O what a wonderful tail!"
"Who giveth this mermaid? Who giveth the bride?"
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
"Why, none but King Neptune." the sailor replied
And O what a wonderful tail!
"Do you take this mermaid to your wedded wife?"
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
"I do." said the sailor, "I'll love her for life."
And O what a wonderful tail!
And all of the fishes came up on the tide
O what a wonderful, wonderful tail!
to sing pretty songs to the groom and the bride.
And O what a wonderful tail!
Saturday, 9 January 2010
AN EXETER MERMAID, (Recorded: 1823)
The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies is the unlikely source of an article on 'Old and New Mermaids'. This article appears in Volume XV, which is to say the Journal for January to June of the year 1823. What follows is a passage from that article. Unfortunately the author does not reveal his source for this wonderfully sad story of an Exeter Mermaid.
"The River Ex and its vicinity is indeed remarkable, not only for the appearance of more than one Mermaid, but for that of more remarkable Mermaids than even all the rest of the world. It is not a century since a Mermaid was said to have been seen in the river just mentioned , close to the walls of the city of Exeter....Its humanity extended to the waist and...it bore from the waist downwards a resemblance to a salmon. It had,however, two legs placed below the waist, and absolute novelties in the history of Mermaids. With these legs it left the shore of the river Ex, and ran before its pursuers, screaming with terror, till it was knocked down and killed."
I weep for this mermaid, or was this the tragedy of some poor deformed human? The story is just too desperate but I wish I knew more of its origins. It has a ring of truth about it.
There is a Mermaid Yard in Exeter not far from the old Water Gate. Did ever a creature emerge from the Exe and run screaming with terror to be knocked down and killed there?
"The River Ex and its vicinity is indeed remarkable, not only for the appearance of more than one Mermaid, but for that of more remarkable Mermaids than even all the rest of the world. It is not a century since a Mermaid was said to have been seen in the river just mentioned , close to the walls of the city of Exeter....Its humanity extended to the waist and...it bore from the waist downwards a resemblance to a salmon. It had,however, two legs placed below the waist, and absolute novelties in the history of Mermaids. With these legs it left the shore of the river Ex, and ran before its pursuers, screaming with terror, till it was knocked down and killed."
*
I weep for this mermaid, or was this the tragedy of some poor deformed human? The story is just too desperate but I wish I knew more of its origins. It has a ring of truth about it.
There is a Mermaid Yard in Exeter not far from the old Water Gate. Did ever a creature emerge from the Exe and run screaming with terror to be knocked down and killed there?
Friday, 8 January 2010
THE SLEEPING MERMAIDS
Beneath the ocean's fall and lift
the mermaids find their tangly beds
where arrow shadowed guardians drift
above their glorious maiden heads.
Their thin arms tremble as they rest.
Sea quavers touch their golden hair,
discovering such pretty breasts
would bring the Navy to despair.
Like pirate guineas on the sand
dark rondles grace their lambent skin
and proud their coral nipples stand
carressed by flick'ring tail and fin
and pearls, the finest ever grown,
adorn their graceful waists where starts
the shimm'ring wonder of their own
peculiarly fishy parts.
Look once, look twice, but not again
on these false nymphs who smile in sleep,
for they have sung a world of men
to food for fishes in the deep.
the mermaids find their tangly beds
where arrow shadowed guardians drift
above their glorious maiden heads.
Their thin arms tremble as they rest.
Sea quavers touch their golden hair,
discovering such pretty breasts
would bring the Navy to despair.
Like pirate guineas on the sand
dark rondles grace their lambent skin
and proud their coral nipples stand
carressed by flick'ring tail and fin
and pearls, the finest ever grown,
adorn their graceful waists where starts
the shimm'ring wonder of their own
peculiarly fishy parts.
Look once, look twice, but not again
on these false nymphs who smile in sleep,
for they have sung a world of men
to food for fishes in the deep.
Thursday, 7 January 2010
MR TOUPIN'S MERMAID
On the eleventh of August, 1812, Mr Toupin of Exmouth joined a party of ladies and gentlemen in a sailing excursion. When they were about a mile to the southeast of Exmouth bar they heard a noise. One of the ladies aboard described it as like "the wild melodies of the Aeolian harp combined with a noise similar to that made by a stream of water falling gently on the leaves of a tree."
According to Mr Toupin's account, the party then saw a mermaid which swam around the boat and ate the boiled fish which one of the boatmen threw to it. It wasn't the kind of mermaid that I would quite like to meet, not the comb and glass blonde with the delighful bosoms kind of mermaid. Here is Mr Toupin's description as published ten years after the event in the London 'Mirror' of Saturday, November 9th 1822:
"The head, from the crown to the chin, forms rather a long oval, and the face seems to resemble that of the seal, though at the same time , it is far more agreeable, possessing an ageeable softness, which renders the whole set of features very interesting. The upper and back parts of the head appeared to be furnished with something like hair, and the forepart of the body with something like down, between a very light fawn and a very pale pink colour, which at a distance, had the appearance of flesh, and may have given rise to the idea that the body of the Mermaid is, externally, like that of the human being. The creature has two arms, each of which terminates into a hand with four fingers, connected to each other by means of a very thin elastic membrane. The animal used its arms with great agility, and its motions in general were very graceful. From the waist it gradually tapered so as to form a tail, which had the appearance of being covered with strong, broad , polished scales, which occasionally reflected the rays of the sun in a very beautiful manner, and, from the back and upper part of the neck, down to the loins, the body also appeared covered with short round broad feathers, of the colour of the down on the fore-part of the body. the whole length of the animal, from the crown of the head to the extremity of the tail, was supposed to be about five feet, or five feet and a half. In about ten minutes, from the time we approached, the animal gave two or three plunges, in quick succession, as if it were at play. After this it gave a sudden spring, and swam away from us very rapidly, and in a few seconds we lost sight of it."
Well, it was hardly the Lorelei, was it? But what was it? My guess would be a harp playing offshore otter plus Mr Toupin's fertile imagination. Tomorrow I shall publish a beautiful verse about some 'real' mermaids.
According to Mr Toupin's account, the party then saw a mermaid which swam around the boat and ate the boiled fish which one of the boatmen threw to it. It wasn't the kind of mermaid that I would quite like to meet, not the comb and glass blonde with the delighful bosoms kind of mermaid. Here is Mr Toupin's description as published ten years after the event in the London 'Mirror' of Saturday, November 9th 1822:
"The head, from the crown to the chin, forms rather a long oval, and the face seems to resemble that of the seal, though at the same time , it is far more agreeable, possessing an ageeable softness, which renders the whole set of features very interesting. The upper and back parts of the head appeared to be furnished with something like hair, and the forepart of the body with something like down, between a very light fawn and a very pale pink colour, which at a distance, had the appearance of flesh, and may have given rise to the idea that the body of the Mermaid is, externally, like that of the human being. The creature has two arms, each of which terminates into a hand with four fingers, connected to each other by means of a very thin elastic membrane. The animal used its arms with great agility, and its motions in general were very graceful. From the waist it gradually tapered so as to form a tail, which had the appearance of being covered with strong, broad , polished scales, which occasionally reflected the rays of the sun in a very beautiful manner, and, from the back and upper part of the neck, down to the loins, the body also appeared covered with short round broad feathers, of the colour of the down on the fore-part of the body. the whole length of the animal, from the crown of the head to the extremity of the tail, was supposed to be about five feet, or five feet and a half. In about ten minutes, from the time we approached, the animal gave two or three plunges, in quick succession, as if it were at play. After this it gave a sudden spring, and swam away from us very rapidly, and in a few seconds we lost sight of it."
Well, it was hardly the Lorelei, was it? But what was it? My guess would be a harp playing offshore otter plus Mr Toupin's fertile imagination. Tomorrow I shall publish a beautiful verse about some 'real' mermaids.
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