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The Atlantic Mermaid I next found information on mermaids in Richard Carrington's 1957 book Mermaids and Mastodons,’ in chapter one, "The Natural History of Mermaids". The earlies naturalist to describe the mermaid in any detail was Pliny he Elder in his Natural History, which appeared in the firs’ century AD. By the 17th century, the existence of the mermaid was generally regarded as an established fact, ‘or mermaids were regularly being observed off the coas of Britain and travellers would bring back tales of them tom many parts of the world. There is a description of a mermaid in A Discourse and Discovery of New-found-land (London, 1620) by Sir Richard Whitbourne, a sea captain from Exmouth in Devonshire, England, who made many voyages to Newfoundland: Now also I will not omit to relate some thing of a strange Creature, which | first saw there in the yeere 1610, ina morning early, as | was standing by the water side, in the Harbour of Saint lohns, which very swiftly came swimming towards mee, looking cheerfully, as it had been a woman: by the face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, eares, necke, and forehead, it seemed to bee so beautifull, and in those parts so well proportioned, having round about upon the head, all blue strakes, resembling hayre, down to the Necke (but certainly it was no hayre), yet I beheld it long... {It} did rbore, from Coleman and swim towards the place . . {where| before | landed; 10 Bigfoot, eg Other whereby | beheld the shoulders and back down to the middle, to be so square, white and smooth as the backe of a man; and from the middle to the hinder part, it was poynting in proportion something like a broad hooked Arrow: how it was proportioned in the forepart from the necke and shoulders, | could not well discerne; but it came shortly after, to a Boat in the same Harbour ... and the same Creature did put both his hands upon the side of the Boat, and did strive much to come in to him, and divers then in the same Boat; whereat they were afraid, and one of them strucke it a full blow on the head, whereby it fell off from them... This (I suppose) was a Marmaiad... ian Mermaid minutes it swam rapidly, breaking the surface with its back, which was light brown in colour and showed no dorsal fin, and fish were observed to jump from the water to avoid capture. It was next observed repeatedly diving in deeper water 300 to 400 feet (~91 to 122 metres) from the shore and appeared dark and slender. It surfaced every 10 minutes with a sharp roll, indicating extreme vertical flexure. The team approached within 50 feet (~15 metres) of the ilkai and observed that for a period of time it kept its tail flukes, definitely mammalian, above the surface of the water. They took photos before it submerged without reappearing. The expedition members made no further observations at Nokon or at Huris on the opposite side of Cape Matanatamberan, southeast of Elizabeth Bay, but while they were conducting their searches they received reports from the village people of sightings of ilkai at both these locations. On 12 July, two members of the team observed the same animal rolling at the surface in bright sunlight; it appeared to be tan to light green in colour. At no time did they observe the head of the creature. $ tz All of the marine 5 4 mammalogists consulted oo eit after the team returned home a agreed that the animal was oy” = new to science. The #& >. “~\ zoologists concluded that the animal's rapid movement, its consistently extended duration of submergence, its consistently extreme vertical flexure and its predatory behaviour eliminated the possibility that it was a species of finless dolphin or a dugong. In volume four (1985) of Cryptozoology, there is a field report entitled "Identification of the Ri through Further Fieldwork in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea" by Thomas R. Williams.‘ This describes the February 1985 expedition by the author and 12 other members of the Ecosophical Research Association aboard the 65-foot (~19.8-metre) diving vessel TSMV Reef Explorer. They travelled 1,000 nautical miles from Port Moresby to New Ireland and, calling in to villages along the way, they found that all the people they contacted knew of the existence of the ri, or pishmary as it is more generally known in Pidgin. Unlike the slow-moving dugong, the ri was always described as a rapidly swimming marine mammal with a remarkably flexible body and an ability to remain underwater for very long periods. The Indones (illustration by Harry Trun Huyghe's The Field Guide Mystery Primates The Indonesian Mermaid (illustration by Harry Trumbore, from Coleman and Huyghe's The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide, p. 153) In the stolid, prosaic narrative of the voyages of Henry Hudson to discover the Northwest Passage, "Divers Voyages, and Northerne Discoveries of...Master Henry Hudson" (in Purchas His Pilgrimes, London, 1625, vol. 3), there is a description of an incident which occurred near Nova Zembla: 58 * NEXUS JUNE - JULY 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com