The school master of Rathven, Bannfshire, in the
Aberdeen Chronicle, April 20, 1814, a report that two fishermen
at Portgordon were returning from fishing in Sprey Bay; about
three or four o'clock yesterday afternoon, when about a quater of
a mile from the shore, the sea being perfectly calm, they
observed, at a small distance from their boat, with its back
turned towards them, and half its body above the water, a
creature of a tawny colour, appearing like a man sitting, with
his body half bent. Surprised at this they approached towards
him, till they came within a few yards, when the noise made by
the boat occasioned the ceature to turn about, which gave the men
a better opportunity of observing him. His countenance was
swarthy, his hair short and curled, of a colour between a green
and a grey: he had small eyes, a flat nose, his mouth was large,
and his arms of an extraordinary length. Above the waist, he was
shaped like a man, but as the water was clear my informants could
perceive that from the waist downwards, his body tapered
considerably or, as they expressed it, like a large fish without
scales but could not see the extemity.' But this was not the end
of their encounter for he dived and surfaced some distance away
and was not alone. With him was what appeared to be a female of
his species for she had breasts and hair that reached past her
shoulders. The two men then rowed as fast as they could to land
where they related their story to the school master.
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