A particular line that stood out to me In The Blue Humanities by John Gills was “The focus was almost entirely on the ships and the skills of the men who manned them.” Gills explains the acknowledgement that the ships and skillful men received while there was a disregard for the foundation— the sea. The sea is the foundation for the ships and the sea is what the skillful men had to not only work with but obtain some knowledge about in order to be successful in their travel. So why was the sea undervalued?

Tracing this back to what our discussions about mermaids/sirens being considered dangerous and unfit for society, there is a similarity considering the sea was was also considered “…as dangerous and repellant, ugly and unfit for literary or artistic representation.” The value of mermaids have had a similar value that the sea had at one point. Gills explains “…and more attention was paid to extracting the wealth of the seas…” Humans extract the parts of the sea that is of importance to them because it is benefiting to them. There is a lack of empathy towards the sea, the only value that the sea held was in a form of travel, whaling, etc. Much like the mermaids, who offered knowledge, their beauty, etc. Ignoring the fact that there is more knowledge that was missed out on to understand the depth of the sea, much like the mermaids as a being.