Flash sheet of four seahorse tattoo designs on white, three bold black tribal-style silhouettes and one open line sketch, with no body placement shown.

Four seahorse designs on a flash sheet

Blackwork · Black and grey · Flash

The sheet shows four seahorse designs arranged on a plain white background. Three are solid black tribal-style silhouettes with cut-out scale patterns, fin shapes and curled tails, while the lower right design is a loose outline drawing with fine hatching along the body. All the designs are in black ink only, and no body part or skin is visible.

Blackwork Seahorse Tribal Sea creature Flash sheet

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, we are three weeks out from Valparaíso and the water has gone that flat green colour you warned me about. The bosun had the lads repainting the boats again, which means nobody has anything to do but argue about whether the ship's dog counts as crew. I am writing this on the back of a manifest because the paper ran out, so forgive the cramped hand.

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Yesterday a seahorse came up alongside the hull, no bigger than my thumb, clinging to a strand of weed as if it had been sent to check on us. Mr Acheson, who has rounded the Horn twice and swears he saw a mermaid off Tristan, says they are fish that gave up on swimming properly and took up dancing instead. I told him they only look so careful because the sea has taught them to be. He laughed and gave me his last twist of tobacco, which I am keeping for you.

What I keep thinking about is the tail. Every one I have seen curls in on itself, tight as a fern, as though it means to hold something back until it is sure of the way. Father used to say a man should carry his sorrows that way. I thought he was being foolish. Now I think the curl is simply the shape of something that means to stay near home even while it travels far.

Mind the gate for me, and tell Mother the bread I baked for the crossing was better than the ship's. I will post this at Montevideo if there is a post office there. If not, I suppose the little fish can carry it. Your loving brother, Tom.