Navy Tattoos

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.