Sailors usually used a basic style with a minimum amount of details, which made the tattoos look two dimensional and flat. Their typical tattoos were mermaids, anchors, ships, birds, snakes, flowers, and hearts which had a cartoon feel to them.

Below are a few of the popular tattoos of a seaman’s life:
-Seaman gets a
pig on one foot and a
rooster on the other. Supposedly, they would protect a seaman from drowning.

- To help the seaman hold the rigging's better they would have
hold on the knuckle of one hand and
fast on the other knuckle.
-If a seaman has sailed the Atlantic Ocean they can get an
Anchor.
-If a seaman has sailed around Cape Horn they can get a
Full Rigged Ship.
-If a seaman had served on a China station they can get a
Dragon.
-If a seaman has crossed the equator he can get a
Shell back turtle.
-A Golden Dragon shows that a seaman has crossed the
International Date Line.
-On the left side of the seaman they could get
port and
starboard on the right side of the body to signify ship lights.
-If a seaman was a deckhand he could get a
rope tattooed around the wrist.