Ika Tane Amulet

Gage Prentiss brings us this Maori amulet of protection from the "fish men".  Sadly, it wasn't enough to protect the sanity of it's unfortunate owner.

The Jade talisman was confiscated from a young deckhand named Jameson at his admission to the Sussex Lunatic Asylum in 1848. He had been commissioned on the Clipper ship, Cricket, during its trade circuit to New Zealand and Australia. Jameson had purchased the amulet from a Maori merchant who traded in jade. The Merchant had said it would protect him from the Ika Tane, or Fish Men, that lived in cities off the coast. Jameson was found a week later aboard the Cricket, near death from exposure, hiding in a large coil of rope. All other hands had vanished. Jameson had claimed that the Ika Tane had "calmed the sea with frog song" and "taken everyone on board under the waves." He claimed that the amulet had saved his life, and was loath to be separated from it. Investigators were at a lost to piece together what happened on the Cricket. There was no sign of violence, or theft from the valuable cargo. The mysterious amulet passed hands many times, and over the years, others like it have surfaced all over the world.