Search the entire archive like a dossier index.

18th-Century Mariner Reports

18th-century mariner reports sit at the crossroads of superstition, observation, print culture, and early science. In this period, mermaid and merman sightings were not confined to folklore: they appeared in newspapers, magazines, learned correspondence, and public exhibitions. This entry examines what mariners reported, how such reports spread, and why they mattered even when the creatures themselves remained unverified.