Synopsis
Foremost in Scottish Hebridean tradition are the tales of the sea-folk - seals who could assume human form, but could not return to the sea without their sealskin belts. Against the background of such beliefs, the fact of strange people in kayaks being occasionally seen around the islands off the north and west of Scotland was probably not worth special mention, until travellers from the mainland heard of these sightings in the 17th and 18th centuries. This study draws together historical fact and maritime folklore to reveal some spellbinding mysteries of the ocean, involving seals and kayaks, Norse ancestry and "the children of the seal".
From the Back Cover
"John MacAulay has laid the debate wide open, and we can be sure that Seal-folk and Ocean Paddlers will not be the final word on the subject. It reopens one of the most fascinating puzzles of Scottish maritime history, and leaves us with as many questions as answers. It is perhaps only right that this should be so, and that the mystery surrounding the Seal-folk of legend should remain." - Tony Ford
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