Black line drawing of a ship in a glass bottle above an octopus and a whale, with a rose at the base and ribbon banners, in a traditional style.

Ship in a bottle with octopus and whale

Traditional · Black and grey · Flash

A black line drawing of a glass bottle with a cork-like neck, showing a sailing ship on a sea beneath a sun and clouds. Below the waterline an octopus and a whale swim among stippled bubbles, and the bottle is wrapped in a ribbon banner bearing the words SOIF and J'AI. A five-petalled flower with leaves sits at the base, all rendered in bold outlines with hatched shading and no colour.

Traditional Bottle Ship Octopus Whale Flower Banner Cloud Sun Wave Rose

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Mathilde,

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The water casks went green on the ninth day, so Captain Roux has us on half measures, and I am writing this on the back of the chart you pressed into my hand at the quay, because it is the last dry thing aboard. There has been no wind since Ushant. The sea lies flat as slate. This morning an octopus came up beneath the bowsprit and looked at us with its gold eye, arms spread on the surface like a man too tired to get out of the bath. Jules wanted to eat it. I said it had done nothing to deserve that, and besides, it was the only creature on this ship with all the water it could want.

At noon a whale rose off the port bow, slow and grey, and sank again without a sound. The men went quiet the way they only do for things bigger than their fear. Captain Roux called the whale a bad omen, then, when nobody laughed, a good one. I think he has listened to himself too long. What I think is that the whale looked as thirsty as we are, as if it had been swimming towards something for years and forgotten what.

So I have done what the old hands do when nothing else is left. I rolled this page tight, pushed it into the empty rum bottle Jules kept under his bunk, and pressed the cork home with my thumb. Tonight, when the lamp is out, I will lower it over the rail. If the current is kind it will reach you before I do.

Tell Maman I am alive, that the ship is still a ship, and that I have the sea all round me and still I have thirst. Those are the only two things I know for certain this month. J'ai soif, Mathilde. J'ai tout ce qu'il me faut, sauf de l'eau douce.

Your brother, Étienne