Overton Corbin

The beach at ’Sconset, Nantucket Island, covered at certain times of the year with Neptune’s purses or mermaid’s purses (shark, skate, and chimaera egg cases), inspired Mrs. Marie Overton Corbin to populate the ocean with mischievous elfin ’urchins’. Aided by Engineering Magazine editor and occasional poet Charles Buxton Going, and deftly illustrated by Philadelphia artist Francis I. Bennett, this was the first of two children’s books featuring these maritime imps.

Urchins of the Sea was published in 1900.