Colour traditional-style tattoo on the outer thigh showing an anchor with rope, pink flowers, seaweed, an open shell with a pearl and blue waves.

Anchor, shell and pearl on a thigh

Traditional · Thigh · Colour · Photo

A colour tattoo on the outer thigh shows an anchor wrapped in rope, two pink five-petal flowers, green seaweed, and an open scallop-style shell holding a pale pearl. Blue and teal waves frame the lower and right sides of the design. Solid fills and soft shading give the shell and pearl some depth, while the bold outlines define the anchor and rope. The person wears denim shorts, and the tattoo fills the centre of the frame.

Traditional Thigh Anchor Rope Flower Seaweed Shell Pearl Wave Sea

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Lucan, the anchor you left hanging on the back wall of the net-loft has been taken down by Mother and oiled, and she says it is a waste of good hemp to let the rope rot while you sulk at sea. So I have wound the old cable round it myself, as you showed me, and tied the knot the way Father liked, with the tail tucked under twice.

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The fishermen came in at dusk with the wind behind them and a rumour that the Phoenician trader had gone down off the headland. Nobody knows yet whether it was true. The women on the quay stood about with their arms folded and no one would say the names aloud. I picked the pink flowers from the garden wall, the ones that grow where the salt spray reaches, and pressed them between two wax tablets so they would keep for your return.

Yesterday, before the storm, I walked the tide line with the basket. In the weed below the rocks I found a scallop with its two halves gaping open, and inside, folded into the pink flesh, was a pearl as pale as the moon on the water. I have not sold it. I have not shown Mother. I keep it wrapped in a strip of your old sail cloth under the loom weight, and when the sea is loud at night I take it out and turn it over in my palm until the warmth of my hand matches the warmth of the stone.

Come home on the spring tide, Lucan. Bring back whichever of the crew are still living. The pearl is yours if you want it, the anchor will be waiting, and so will I, though I have grown tired of being patient. Your sister, Thessa.