If you were on a sailing vessel back and someone shouted that there was a mermaid swimming alongside the ship, you’d be pretty bummed when you looked over the side and saw a rotund manatee in its stead. What you thought was going to be a sexy, seashell bra-wearing, half-fish-half-woman creature turned out to be some lovable but large mammal, also known as a sea cow. Well, you wouldn’t be alone. Mr. Christopher Columbus probably felt the same thing while sailing through the West Indies.
Six months after Christopher Columbus set sail from Europe across the Atlantic Ocean in hopes of finding a new trade route to Asia, he found himself off of the coast of the Dominican Republic in what would later be called the New World. While Columbus is simultaneously celebrated and vilified for “discovering” the Americas, he does happen to hold a far less controversial milestone: the first to report a real-life mermaid sighting. But as you’re probably aware, Columbus’ mermaid wasn’t a mermaid at all, it was the portly manatee.
In a journal entry, Columbus reported that the mermaids were “not half as beautiful as they are painted,” which may be one of the biggest understatements in history. Columbus isn’t the first sailor who thought a manatee was a mythical creature. Many sailors from around Columbus’ era reported seeing mermaids.
Mermaid myths have been around for centuries and can be found in nearly every seafaring society. The most common myth is that mermaids, or sirens, used their songs to lure vulnerable sailors to their deaths. If a sailor wanted to listen to the mermaids song the crew would tie them to the mast of the ship in order to keep them from jumping overboard.
Why sailors mistook manatees for mermaids is still debated by researchers. One possibility is that manatees swimming under the surface could have looked up at sailors with their round eyes. The human-like quality of their eyes may have startled sailors who were already aware of the mermaid myth. No one is sure why the the sailors, if they were seeing manatees, reported hearing the siren’s song either because manatees are generally a noiseless creature who only screech underwater. In fact, the only time manatees really open their mouths is to eat or yawn, which is what they do most of the day.
Maybe it was being at sea too long, drinking too much booze or just the excitement of seeing something new that made sailors report mermaids but one thing is certain, Columbus thought manatees were mermaids and he was pretty upset about it.
