Black and grey anchor with chain and a compass rose with a red star centre, tattooed on a limb in a traditional style.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Anchor and compass rose on a leg

Traditional · Other · Mixed · Photo

A large anchor wrapped in chain sits behind a compass rose, with the anchor's shank and flukes extending across the lower part of the design. The linework is bold and the shading is mostly grey, with a red eight-point star at the centre of the compass as the only colour. The design fills the frame against a sun-toned background of skin.

Traditional Other Anchor Chain Compass Compass rose Star Nautical

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Sit yourself by the oven door, love, it's the only warm spot in Saltmarsh before the milk cart. Mind the flour on the stool. You'll want to hear this while the first tray's still in, because the bread listens better than the church clock does.

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My grandfather, Tobias Pell, came ashore in 1947 with a rusted anchor chain looped over one shoulder and a brass compass in his coat. He hung the chain on the back hook and kept the compass in the flour bin, under the scoop, where he swore the needle still pointed true north through the dust. Every morning before the bakery lit, he set the first dough by it, turning the tin until the needle agreed with the sea.

There was a red star painted on the lid of the proving box, eight points, and nobody was allowed to touch it. Gran painted it the year the Marigold went down off the Dogger, and she baked one loaf a day with a star cut in the top for the men who never walked up the hill again. Tobias never once asked her to stop.

When the boats came round the point this morning, I carried that first star loaf down to the harbour wall in a cloth still warm. The chain was rattling on its hook behind me, and the sky over the water was going the colour of the crust. Tell me it doesn't look like home. Go on, take a heel.