Black and grey compass rose tattoo with a shaded globe at the centre, N and S letters and tribal swirls, on the inner forearm.

Compass rose and globe on a forearm

Realism · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A compass rose sits across the forearm, with a shaded globe at its centre showing continents in soft grey tones. The N and S letters mark the north and south points, and tribal-style swirls and sharp points extend from the star. Black ink and grey shading give depth to the globe, and the design is centred on the forearm against a plain skin background.

Realism Forearm Compass Compass rose Globe World map North South Star

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The lamp in the chart room has been guttering since eleven, and Mr Hale says the oil merchant will not bring a fresh can until the new year, so I am writing this by the Mersey light through the window and a candle stub I took from the chapel. Your letter came on Tuesday. I read it four times at the dock gate while a carter swore at me to move.

You asked whether the old globe still sits above the plotting table. It does, though Mr Hale has forbidden anyone to spin it since the Bootle boy knocked the Americas askew with his elbow. Tonight I have been drawing a new compass rose for the Liverpool and Bristol sheets, because the ink on the old one has faded so badly the north point looks like a smudge of tea. I went round it with a fine nib, point by point. Eight arms, each one sharp as a tooth, with the swirls you always said looked like smoke off a funnel. The globe at the centre I shaded grey, pencil by pencil, so the continents sit soft under the glass like something seen through rain.

Mr Hale came in at midnight and looked over my shoulder for a long while. He said the rose was too fine for a chart that gets folded into a sailor's pocket. I said that was rather the point. He grunted and went back to his ledgers, but I saw him stop at the southern arm, where I had let the ink pool into a little curl like a serpent's tail, and he said nothing at all.

I have left the north unfinished, just the letter N with no arm yet to point it. When the Cordelia comes up the river I will ink the rest in one stroke, and you can tell me where you were when you finally turned for home.

Yours in haste, Eliza