Small black line anchor tattoo on a lower leg, photographed from above with boat shoes and a warm vintage tone.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small anchor tattoo on a lower leg

Fine line · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

A photograph taken from above shows a pair of legs in canvas boat shoes with white laces. A small, simple black anchor is inked on the outer lower leg of the right leg, drawn in thin, even outline. The image has a warm, faded colour treatment, and the tattoo is the only point of ink in the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Mum, you'll want to know the galley's been repainted, though not well, and the cook still won't let anyone touch the big kettle. I'm writing this on the back of a manifest because the paper ran out at Immingham and the purser says he'll not sign for another ream until the bosun stops using it for dart scores.

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Bell's been good to me since Rotterdam. He's the one who taught me to tie a bowline without looking, and he swears the anchor on his ankle was got in a Liverpool parlour for a bet he lost to his brother. I told him the knot was the better thing to show for a debt. He laughed so hard he had to sit down on a coil of hawser.

About the boat shoes you asked after. I know they look daft on a deck that's all wet rope and rust, but the soles grip the steel better than any boot the chandler stocks, and the canvas dries before the next watch. Mine are the pair Dad left in the hall cupboard. I've worn them down to nothing and then worn the holes into a bit of pride. Don't tell the mate.

On Friday we take the last of the cargo off the Humber and I'll be home by Sunday, God willing, with the shoes still on and the laces replaced again. Put the kettle on. I'll bring the good biscuits this time, the ones Bell pretends he doesn't like.

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