By: vibratory manner of working
I hadn't known the part about European tattooing in the 1500s, before the naval exploration brought a stronger tattoo culture back. Does anyone know more about that?
View ArticleBy: Splunge
Assuming that there is no other information to go upon I would be buried in either Burma, China or the Illuminati Burial Compound. I'd like to think it's a bit of each.
View ArticleBy: Tube
There was a exhibition regarding just this subject about a year ago at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Very interesting stuff, though the Sailor Jerry t-shirts cost forty dollars in the museum gift...
View ArticleBy: MonkeyToes
Related, from our old friend Herman Melville: And this tattooing, had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a...
View ArticleBy: iamkimiam
Enjoyed this! I wish the author delved more into the reason culture is so interested in nautical tattoos today, even if only speculation. I think there's more there than just cycles of fashion.
View ArticleBy: MCMikeNamara
Clicked hoping for olde tyme pics of hot sailors...not disappointed. Liked the article too.
View ArticleBy: dhartung
back then in the Philippines the only women with tattoos were prostitutes My mother almost thinks this, and she's American.
View ArticleBy: cosmic.osmo
It should be noted that tattoos also helped identify mutineers (Bounty, Hermione), so they had their downsides for sailors. Also, if Patrick O'Brian's fiction is accurate (more than likely than not),...
View ArticleBy: SteelDancin
Awesome post! I love reading about the hisory of tattoos. There are so many styles and cultures that use this medium to produce such a fascinating art. I cant wait to get my next one! The hinge is so...
View ArticleBy: stargell
I wish they'd gone further in the origin of "groggy." Of course it's derived from grog, the daily rum ration issued to Royal Navy sailors. The word comes from Adm. Edward Vernon, who introduced the...
View ArticleBy: galvanized unicorn
Before my grandfather passed away I asked him about his tattoo. He explained that he received it while serving in the Philippines during WWII, after falling in love with a local woman who had a tattoo...
View ArticleBy: DynamiteToast
This is really interesting. A lot of this history seems really obvious, but I never connected the dots. Thanks for posting it.
View ArticleBy: Hogshead
When my father did his national service in the Royal Navy in the late 1940s, recruits were encouraged to get tattoos. It made identifying drowned corpses a great deal easier.
View ArticleBy: PhoBWanKenobi
As someone with a big ol' nautical chestpiece in honor of my submarine sailor grandpa, I really like this link.
View ArticleBy: fiercecupcake
I loved this part: "They would get hinges on their elbows to keep them from having rheumatism and arthritis, and sometimes they would even get a little oil can tattooed above the hinge so that the...
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