Black and grey geometric tattoo on the inside of a forearm, showing coordinates, two dates in boxes, chevrons and the number 262 with an E.

Coordinates and dates on a forearm

Geometric · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A black ink tattoo on the forearm arranged as a vertical column of chevrons, numerals, boxed dates and horizontal bars. The numerals and lettering are set in a clean, uniform typeface with crisp, even linework and solid fill on the boxed elements. The image is greyscale against a plain pale background and dark fabric on the left, with the tattoo filling the centre of the frame.

Geometric Lettering Forearm Coordinates Chevron Date Number Bar Compass

Find an artist for this

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

Dear Tom, the chart came out of the biscuit tin this morning, the one with the cracked corner that Dad always called the only honest thing in the house. I've copied his figures into the margin where he used to keep them: 56 degrees 56 minutes north, 12 degrees 20 minutes east, and beside them the three-five-four he swore was the bearing home from the Halmstad breakwater. You never believed him. I'm not sure I did either until last week.

Keep reading

The Tern went missing off that stretch of the Kattegat in the spring of 1944, and her crew never came back to the quay at Hull. Dad was nine and he stood there every day that summer, watching the boats come in with other men's names on their hulls. He never went near the water again without checking a compass first. When he died in his chair by the window in October, the first thing I did was open that tin, and the second was ring you, which I know you didn't like.

In the bottom drawer, under the spare fuses, I found a stack of index cards. Each one has a position, a date and a short note in his square capitals. Most are just weather. Two of them are the dates on his wrist, the ones the nurse asked about, and the last card reads only 262 and a single letter E, with a line drawn under it twice. Underneath, in pencil: ask the harbourmaster which way the tide was running.

I'm taking the early train from Paragon on Tuesday. The harbourmaster is still there, apparently, and he remembers Dad. Come with me, or at least tell me I'm not mad for going.