A controversial new theory which may unravel the mystery of Seal People folklore and mermaid sightings in the north of Scotland is being researched by Isle of Harris historian and writer, John Macaulay.

The Flodabay author, whose last book traced the origins of the birlinn boat, is convinced the 'seal folk' tradition is based on the nomadic wanderings of a little known tribe of coastal Lapps called the Sjo-Same who lived most of their lives at sea in kayaks. He is now trying to fund a trip to northern Norway in a bid to solve the enduring seal folk riddle.

Incredibly, Mr Macaulay has tracked down one of their sea-going canoes in Aberdeen. The canoe, which has lain forgotten in a museum store room, is almost 300 years old and he hopes it will provide fresh evidence to back up his theory.

Mr Macaulay is in regular contact with the University of Tromso and with their help is starting to piece together the clues available in the Norwegian university's archives. Surprisingly, the university has relatively few records on the Sjo-Same who splintered away from the main body of inland reindeer Lapps to live a nomadic sea-going life, favouring lonely offshore rocks or islets to haul ashore.

Tales of 'seal folk' being captured, and even inter-marrying with the local populations, abound round the north of Scotland, from Shetland and Orkney to the north east coast and as far down the west coast as the Mull of Kintyre. A major plank of Mr Macaulay's hypothesis centres on Haskeir island - a small, rocky archipelago eight miles north west of Griminish Point, North Uist. At first sight inhospitable, but, believes the Harris writer, an ideal base for Sjo-Same activity in the Western Isles.

There are reported sightings in Benbecula and one in Scalpay, and what is being advanced is that the well documented legend of the Sliochd nan Ron (Seal People) can be explained by the presence of Sjo-Same.

Being nomads who spent most of their time at sea, there is no physical proof of their using Haskeir as a stopping off point. But what they did leave behind, says Mr Macaulay, was the surname MacCodrum.

"It is well known that there was one family in Uist - there is no longer any of them living, the last one who carried the name died quite recently - and that is the MacCodrum family. Now there was one of that family quite famous, the Bard John MacCodrum, and we was buried in Kilmuir cemetery in Uist.

"They were also described as being Cloinne na Magnuis, Children of Magnus, descended from a Norse Royal line. The MacCodrums were always known as Sliochd nan Ron, and what really aroused my interest in the Seal Folk was how they were attributed with being from the Seal Folk, and why was there so little known about their past when they were a real family living in Uist?"

It was during research for his book on birlinns that a vital pointer was provided by a Norwegian friend holidaying in the Islands. She was interested in the folklore of the Hebrides and became quite excited when Mr Macaulay told her of the MacCodrum family and Haskeir where their ancestors where supposed to have lived.|

Despite his misgivings about the barren rocks of Hasker being able to support human life, his Norwegian friend was satisfied that the abundance of seals, fish, seabirds, seabird eggs and seaweed would have sustained the Sjo-Same.

"Her words were 'What more did they need?' To her they had everything necessary for survival, these were people who lived in the sea and very seldom came ashore," said Mr Macaulay.

"There is very little known about them in Norway and she had done some basic study on them at Tromso University when she was doing her teacher training there. She was unable to find out much about the Sjo-Same people."

Her work determined, however, that Sjo-Same, or Sea Same, were an off-shoot of the Same or Lapps that made their living not from reindeer but from the sea and inhabited offshore rocks and islands off the coast of Norway. In contrast to the studies into the Lapps, there is very little known or written about the Sjo-Same who were regarded as being at the lower end of the social scale.

From these discussions with his Norwegian friend and her belief that it was perfectly feasible for the Sjo-Same to have survived on the rocks and islets off the west coast of the Hebrides, Mr Macaulay decided to delve into it much deeper and started examining reported sightings and comparing them.

He said: "It is surprising there are quite a few recorded, some in the press, some written about by individual people from quite early times. Probably the earliest written report was in 1676 from the Faeroe Islands and the latest reports were in the late 1800s.

"Most of these reports are from Shetland, Orkney, the north coast of Scotland, even the north east coast, and down the west coast of Scotland as far as the Mull of Kintyre. They covered quite a wide range, but the interesting thing is that all the reports, all quite separate and individual reports, are pretty much the same. They give a description of the upper part of the human body being seen in the water, occasionally ashore on a rock, but no-one has given a detailed description of the lower half of the body, but yet there has been no attempt to exaggerate what they saw or to give a romantic image of mermaids with fish tails."

The similarity of all the report leads the former fisherman and boat builder to conclude that these sightings are not just fishy stories, but actual encounters with kayak-going Sjo-Same. The documented accounts relate the Seal Folk's features, where they were seen and occasional mention of the craft they were in and the extraordinary capabilities these kayaks had.

Explained Mr Macaulay: "There are reports of these Seal People disappearing, seeming to dive in the water and re-appearing some distance away. To be able to submerge and take with them the buoyancy of a kayak requires considerable strength or a highly developed technique of doing so.

"There are some records of these people being captured. Most of them were put back into the sea for one reason or another, the crews of the boats being scared or superstitious. Occasionally, there are mentions of after taking one on board others appearing around the boat and for that reason they normally dumped the creature they had caught."

Although never recognised as people, the 'creatures of the sea' were attributed with human features in the upper part of the body.

One of the sea people was captured in the mouth of the River Don in Aberdeen in the 18th Century, but died after three days' captivity. The kayak he was in was acquired by the anthropological museum of Marischal College, Aberdeen. Amazingly, after making enquiries, it has been confirmed that the kayak is still in existence and Mr Macaulay hopes to go to Aberdeen soon to see the kayak at first hand and learn what secrets it may hold of the kayak design.

He is postulating that many of the accounts of the Seal Folk sitting on semi-submerged rocks are mistaken. Together with the references to them being able to dive under the sea to escape, Mr Macaulay is convinced the Sjo-Same lifted the spray decks on their kayaks and deliberately flooded them to achieve neutral buoyancy. This would have the effect of making the kayak ride slightly below the surface of the water and with the reduced buoyancy, much easier to execute a submarine-style dive underwater.

It also neatly explains away the tradition that the only way to prevent one of the Seal People escaping was to hide his 'belt'. The 'belts' were in fact the spray decks, without which the Sjo-Same could not put out to sea.

In particular, it is hoped the Aberdeen kayak will back Mr Macaulay's supposition that the Sjo-Same had developed a rudimentary means of pumping water out of their boats.

Judging by the numerous reported encounters the Sjo-Same moved around in family groups. Indeed, there is one account of a young Seal Person being seen playing on a Benbecula beach and then a few days later his dead body being found.

Mr Macaulay lends more weight to this idea of family groups than of the Sjo-Same going on water-borne wanderings in the fashion Australian Aborigines going walkabout in the Outback.

He comments: "It is more likely that these people were settled in the areas where they were seen. And that they lived on offshore islands that were very rarely visited by anyone else.

"The other theory, of course, is that they were brought here by the Norse settlers, or accompanied them, when they colonised the islands and used them for whatever purposes; they were skilled mariners and could exist in the water. That could maybe account for the MacCodrum origins, the Children of Magnus."

The name MacCodrum is an old Norse name derived from Godrum, meaning either the Good Serpent or the God Serpent. Yet another is Scolpaig. This is the place name of the nearest point of North Uist to the island of Haskeir and appears to have obtained its designation from scolp or scolpvig, a type of craft reputedly used by the Seal Folk.

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