Tattoos for Sailors - Good or bad?

[nhschneider]

When my children were teenagers, I said to them, "It will disappoint me if you get a tattoo before you're 18." Now that they're all middle-aged adults, none of them have tattoos. However, when my wife and I were sailing through the South Pacific, I saw some incredible works of art on peoples bodies. Several of the other cruisers got some lovely tattoos while in the Marquesas, the Societies and New Zealand. I wanted one, too, but couldn't quite overcome the hypocrisy of asking my children not to then doing it myself.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[Shanachie]

Me, at 70, I would hate to have a tattoo now that I would have thought very cool at 25. People change. The ink is much harder to change.


I know a couple who decided to become sailors. Bought a big boat, had tattoos of anchors put on their forearms.


They did one 500-mile trip, encountered a lot of bad weather and decided to sell the boat when they returned home.


Their sport now is tennis. They are the only ones on the court with anchor tattoos.

[skipperpete]

A police officer once told me it makes it easier to identify unknown corpses , I doubt if thats the case now, especially with DNA testing …. Not to mention that people are so heavily inked now it would be almost impossible to record em all at the “fingerprinting ,scars and other marks” recording at the time of arrest.
Back in 1935 a fisherman off Coogee in Sydney caught a tiger shark… in that shark was a smaller shark and in that smaller shark was a human arm with a tatoo that led to the arrest of the guys who killed and dismembered the owner of the decorated arm

[sailorboy1]

Even after 11 years in Navy I have we tattoos. I fully remember I grandfather hiding his

[ChrisJHC]

It was popular for a while amongst Australian Army soldiers to get their blood group tattooed on their arm.

[skipperpete]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

It was popular for a while amongst Australian Army soldiers to get their blood group tattooed on their arm.

I have a suspicion that the SAS troops did that, possibly in the UK too.

[MicHughV]

Tats aren't much different from makeup, hair or clothing styles. Most every woman in the world wears makeup of one type or another and hairstyles and fashion trends change by the month. Same can be said about hair styles, color, etc.

Men typically don't wear makeup, and for most men, hairstyle is a hit and miss thing, if they even manage to keep their hair.
Facial hair, beard, moustache, etc is about the extent of "makeup" for most men. Some men do wear earrings and tats are simply an embellishment on the "makeup" theme.

While women also have tats, for the most part these tend to be discreet.

I really don't see what the big deal is about tats. You want one, get one. You don't want one, don't get one.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

While women also have tats, for the most part these tend to be discreet.

You sure..???

[Rorke Miller]

Originally Posted by grantmc

Am pondering having a Viking compass rose with a couple of swallows etched on to my own arm. What do you think?

I think it is a cool design and you should go for it.

There is a tattoo ink that is removable. Maybe worth researching.

[MicHughV]

You sure..???

There are always exceptions to every rule...

[MicHughV]

When I was a youngster in boarding school, we did not have access to a tattoo artist, so had to resort to scratching a design on our arms with a compass tip and pouring pen ink into the wound. The eventual scab would be our design, but fortunately would heal over time and disappear.

I didn't say it was smart thing to do, but it was a macho thing to do...

[psk125]

Sailed with a Destroyer Commander who had a rooster tattooed on the inside of his right foot. He said that it was a guarantee that he wouldn't die by drowning. If it didn't work, they told him, he'd get his money back.

[grantmc]

I'm a tad surprised that so few have posted pics. Apart from Fore n Aft and some pics of Boatie's old girl friends there seems little pride in the pain. Come on don't be shy.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by skipperpete

I have a suspicion that the SAS troops did that, possibly in the UK too.

It was certainly a fad for a while in the 1980s, particularly when the Army medics revealed 10% of the blood groups recorded in medical records were wrong.

However, as a young soldier, a senior Warrant Officer explained one day he regretted tats on his fore arms. He was about to be become a commissioned officer and tats would be frowned upon in the Officers Mess. He went though some painful laser surgery to try and remove them, but it wasn't completely successful.

I don't have any tats, but do think they look tacky.

You would need two paper bags to sleep with babes like this, known as double baggers. One for her and one for you, incase hers fell off

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by psk125

Sailed with a Destroyer Commander who had a rooster tattooed on the inside of his right foot. He said that it was a guarantee that he wouldn't die by drowning. If it didn't work, they told him, he'd get his money back.

If you inject yourself with bleach, and disinfectant...
I guarantee, you won’t die, of Covid-19.