Case file · Cryptid
Henry Hudson's crew sees a mermaid
On 15 June 1608, near Novaya Zemlya in the Barents Sea, two of Henry Hudson's crew, Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner, said they saw a mermaid alongside the ship.
1608 CE · 72.50, 52.00 · status: account
The account
Hudson wrote in his journal that from the navel up she was like a woman, with long black hair and white skin, and that her tail was speckled like a mackerel's. The journal was published by Samuel Purchas in 1625.
The sceptical view
Seals, walruses and other marine mammals seen briefly near the hull are the usual explanation for sailors' mermaids.
Connections in the atlas
- Henry Hudson set adrift
- Columbus's three 'mermaids'
- NOAA: 'no evidence of aquatic humanoids'
- Barnum's 'Feejee mermaid'
- The Kiryat Yam mermaid