Mermaids are a myth, first heard of 1000 years before Christ. Sailors took them as half fish and half human, and seeing them was bad luck. They were like sirens (another myth) in which when seen sailors were lured to the rocks and their ship would be sunk.
Oddly enough, a very unusual looking (and rather ugly) creature that lives around tropical and sub-tropical waters was once mistaken for mermaids. The dugong, also known as the sea cow, is a lumpy-looking, ungainly sea mammal, and when sailors first sighted these creatures, they believed them to be mermaids.
Sailors used to think manatees were mermaids, but they were mistaken.
In a book called "The tales of crypids" it states that mermaids do catch sailors off guard then drags them down in the water but the mermaids found out when they bring the sailors down, that the sailors cant breath underwater so the sailors end up dying and ever since the mermaids have been hiding to distract more sailors.
Yes, mermaids only assist sailors lost at sea.
In myths, mermaids lived in the sea and dragged sailors down to "live" with them underwater. Unfortunately, the sailors could not breathe water and drowned. The mermaids hid so that they could catch the sailors off guard and drag them down.
yes, they did
That's what I heard!
Mermaids
Mermaids are fictional beings and do not exist. Mermaids are based on sailors' misinterpretations of manatees and dugongs.
They aren't. Mermaids are the product of sightings of ordinary sea creatures and the overactive imaginations of sailors.
The sirens, circe and mermaids
Since mermaids are not real they did not kill sailors. It is just a story that was made up.
Both. There have been legends of mermaids helping sailors tossed overboard. But there are also tales of beautiful mermaids luring seamen to their doom