Black fine line tattoo of a sailing ship on rolling waves with a dotted line descending to a small anchor, placed on the inner forearm.

Sailing ship and anchor on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A sailing ship with billowing sails and a patterned hull sits above stylised, layered waves. A dotted line hangs from the waves to a small anchor below. The linework is fine and precise, with hatched shading on the sails and waves, and the design is shown in black and grey ink on pale skin.

Fine line Dotwork Forearm Sailing ship Ship Sail Wave Anchor Dotted line Sea

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Walter,

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The brig came up on the tide on Tuesday with her topsails still shivering from the Channel, and I stood on the Hoo steps until the light went just to watch her pass. Mother says I'm daft. She may be right, but I counted the patterned strakes along her hull the way you used to count gulls off the barge, and they're the same ones you drew on the lid of your sea chest.

Mr Ashdown at the chandlery says the Marigold will lie at Gravesend for a fortnight while the owner argues with the coal merchants. He asked after you. I told him you'd gone further than any of us, which is true, and that you'd send word when your letters stopped sounding like weather reports, which is not.

I've kept the little anchor from the Dolly Ann in the drawer under the spare collar studs. It's no bigger than my thumb and still has Medway mud caught in its flukes. Each time I open the drawer it seems to me the chain is paying out, the way it does on the windlass when the hook finally takes hold.

So here is the news, plainly. The Marigold sails on Friday's ebb for Riga. If you're aboard her, you won't be able to write back until spring, so write now or not at all. Bring me a bit of Baltic amber, and I'll keep the anchor where it is.

Your sister, Nell