Dorset Folkore 5-The Chesil Beach mermaid

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Dorset's long coastline and an ancient seafaring tradition makes it inevitable that tall tales of a fishy variety often circulated amongst the locals.
One of these relate that in 1757  the people of Portland spotted what they took to be a mermaid. The creature was eventually washed up at West Bexington and named Veasta.
Unfortunately for local fantasists she was even less of a looker than the local maids; being 13 ft long with a head that was a cross between a man and a hog and possessed of a  set of ninety six pearly gnashers. To top things off she had fins that resembled hands...not the sort of things to have running through your hair.
An even earlier sighting from Portland described a creature resembling a cock appearing from the sea. It posessed a great crest on its head, a red beard and legs half a yard long. After having a good old crow it finally disappeared from whence it came...still, as they say,  its all the same with a bit of batter on.