Skiff hears word of a mermaid statue arriving at a museum at Arlesburgh Harbour, believing it is real. Later on when the Fat Controller and his grandchildren want to have a ride in Skiff, he mistakes a whale's tail in the water for a mermaid and ends up dragging the Fat Controller on him to the sea in search of it. The Fat Controller does not know how to drive him, resulting in the two of them getting stuck on an island at Bluff's Cove.

Stephen becomes jealous of all the attention Glynn is receiving from the Earl and becomes worried he will become a stationary attraction at his new railway museum. To determine who will be the exhibit, Stephen challenges Glynn to a race.