The Mermaid of Amboina
An early 18th-century book of fish from the East Indies included a mermaid, said to have lived for four days in a tub of water.
What was reported
Samuel Fallours worked as a soldier and painter for the Dutch East India Company on the island of Ambon. His colourful paintings of local fish, crabs and other creatures were published in Amsterdam in 1719 in a famous book on the marine life of the East Indies.
Among them was a mermaid, about 150 cm long, with a green tail and sea-green hair. A note said she had been caught near Ambon and kept alive in a vat of water for four days, making little noises like a mouse, and refused to eat.
Explanations offered
Many of the book's other fish are exaggerated but recognisable, and the mermaid has no known source. Scholars think Fallours was repeating a story he heard or adding a crowd-pleaser; the publisher said he couldn't vouch for it. The book was later admired as an early work of natural history and art.
- When
- Around 1712
- Where
- Ambon, Maluku Islands, Indonesia
- Witnesses
- Reported by the painter Samuel Fallours
- Status
- Unverified
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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