New Minas, Ns being encounter — 1796

Simeon Perkins’s diary entry of 12 October 1796 records a story circulating about apparent ships in the air over the Bay of Fundy. Perkins was in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and was not an eyewitness. He questioned Mr Darrow, who had recently travelled from the area and relayed an account from New Minas. The entry date records when Perkins wrote the story down; it does not securely date the observation to that same morning. According to Darrow’s account, a girl at Mr Ratchford’s house noticed the spectacle around sunrise and called out in fright. Two men came outside and reportedly saw the same thing: approximately fifteen ships travelling eastward, close enough for their sides and ports to be distinguished, with a man forward of them extending a hand. The wording does not clearly establish that man’s exact position, clothing or relationship to a particular vessel. Perkins himself suggested sunrise clouds and imagination as an explanation. This is an early secondhand aerial-ship story, rather than independently documented alien occupants or powered airships. The plate uses soft period ship-like silhouettes and an indistinct human form while explicitly labelling those visual details as interpretive. Its date remains 1796, with 12 Octoberidentified as the diary date rather than an established encounter date.