What sailing tattoos mean?
For a sailor, ships are both practical and metaphorical. It’s where you go for work – but also for meaning and adventure. Sailor Jerry loved ships and held master papers on every major type of vessel. His legendary clipper ship tattoos represent both the call to adventure and the determination to be “Homeward Bound”.
What tattoo do sailors get?
Yet another more common legend originating from the British Royal Navy and Merchant Navy is that a swallow tattoo between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, denotes that the sailor has sailed around Cape Horn.
What does a fully rigged ship tattoo mean?
1. Fully-Rigged Ships. A tattoo of a fully-rigged ship from the age of sail means the sailor had been around Cape Horn, the rough, stormy waters around the southern tip of South America. A fully-rigged ship is one with three or more masts, square sails fully deployed.
Why did sailors get anchor tattoos?
The meaning behind the anchor derives from a sailor’s desire for stability at sea. Their anchor tattoo offered sailors the hope of returning home. The anchor symbol was not always so optimistic, however. When a ship or sailor is lost, the ‘sailor grave’ tattoo might be used to commemorate them.
What does a Kraken tattoo mean?
power
The meaning of the Kraken as a tattoo can vary from one person to another but the majority of those who prefer to have a Kraken inked on their skin can agree that the Kraken symbolizes power since this horrific sea monster was thought to be very powerful in its own right.
What does an anchor tattoo mean?
An anchor tattoo usually means stability, peace, strength, determination and passion. People frequently use other symbols or letters with anchor together, such as roses, infinity, swallows, compasses, ropes and wheels.
What do lighthouse tattoos mean?
Lighthouses keep ships protected from harm and disaster so are used as symbols to represent protection, wheather its proctection for oneself on another. Some get a lighthouse tattoo simply to represent their love of sailing, maritime life or to symbolise the ocean.
What do pirate tattoos mean?
Pirates sailed the seas taking what they wanted and doing what they pleased. In this way, a pirate tattoo represents freedom. The pirate tattoo also symbolizes other traits like courage, bravery, deceit, unity, loyalty and wanderlust. All these traits are qualities we think of when we think of a pirate.
What does a butterfly tattoo mean?
Therefore, butterflies’ tattoos often connote a romantic meaning because they can also represent young love; as butterflies fly among flowers, so do young people with their social lives. In Chinese culture, butterflies are also emblematic of immortality, joy, grace, and summer.
What does a Medusa tattoo mean?
If you want a unique and beautiful tattoo that is rich in symbolism, you may be drawn to the idea of a Medusa design. From Ancient Greek mythology, the story can be interpreted in many ways; to some, Medusa represents female power, freedom, and transformation, but she has evil and jealous qualities to others.