Tattoos have taken place throughout human history. And this already since their beginning. They should protect against diseases, be a symbol to the gods, show a clan affiliation or just decorate. In the 8th century tattooing was forbidden in europe as it was considered frowned upon by christians and jews. The traditional narrative says that this practice was revived in Europe after Captain Cook and his sailors encountered the tattooed inhabitants of Tahiti during his visit to Tahiti in 1769. But more recently, historians, including Jane Caplan and Matt Lodder, have discovered evidence of tattoos among soldiers, sailors, criminals and workers in the century before Cook’s voyage.
Although tattoos were widespread, they remained mainly with these groups. It was still considered frowned upon and unseemly to disfigure the skin in this way. However, tattoos in the case of the sailors were not only to be found with the simple sailors. It is said that even officers had themselves tattooed. In the beginning they were according to records, small patterns and initalia. Which were mainly worn on the hands and arms.
Common tattoo designs sketched in Philadelphia SPC-A’s from 1796 to 1818 and a sailor’s mermaid tattoo in 1808, preserved from a skin specimen
The tattoos were engraved by comrades on board with blue or black ink, often made of ink with black powder. With the beginning of the 19th century more and more larger motifs appear, like the typical symbols that could be found on almost every sailor in one way or another. the pig and chicken on his feet to prevent drowning. A cross on the back to prevent whipping. The North Star to guide the way home, Hold Fast on the knuckles of both hands to provide enough grip to prevent falling out of the rigging or a spear or sacred symbol on the penis to prevent venereal disease or to express his homosexuality.
The different types of criminal tattoos: plate illustrated in “The criminal man” by the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)- This plate describes the tattoos of French naval deserters
As the 19th century progressed, the symbols increased and so the Americans added the Hawaiian girl when they had been to Hawaii or the full rigged frigate on the chest to show that Cape Horn was being circumnavigated. But many designs have remained popular over the years, but the placements expand and so many a sailor became a running canvas as they extended the tattoos all over his body. When in the middle of the 19th century the uniform was introduced to sailors the tattoos on their hands became less. However, tattoos remained a part of the nautical tradition and finally “A sailor without a tattoo is not really a sailor”. according to Samuel O'Reilly, 1880.
Cabinet photograph, by Eisenmann, of a young man with his entire chest and arms are tattooed. Especially his belly is interesting because there he carries a naval battle, New York, circa 1890
But in the early 20th century, as a result of its criminal associations and increasing concerns about hygiene, tattooing lost some of its popularity and became a marginal, though still significant, activity (in particular among sailors and soldiers during wartime). And then from the 1950s, according to sociologist Michael Rees, tattooing started to regain popularity, first among marginal groups including gang members, bikers, and punks and rockers as symbols of both group allegiance and defiance of conventional society. It was only with the recent tattoo renaissance, dating from the 1970s, that it started to become mainstream, permeating consumer culture through the media and the exposure of tattooed celebrities. It was eventually recognised as an art form. And now almost everyone, sailor, soldier or not, wears it.
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