Three black line drawings of the Ichthys fish symbol stacked vertically, one with a small cross inside and one with the word Jesus in script, shown as a tattoo design on a plain white background.

Three Ichthys fish symbols with cross and script

Black and grey · Flash

Three Ichthys fish outlines are stacked vertically on a plain white background. The top fish is empty, the middle fish holds a small cross near its tail, and the bottom fish contains the word Jesus written in a flowing script. The bold black linework is uniform and the composition is simple and centred.

Fish Cross Script Outline

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 Nell,

Keep reading

We are four days out of Reykjavik with a hold full of salt cod and a cook who swears at the stove as if it owes him money. The weather has turned the colour of wet slate, and Bosun Teague has taken to sketching on the back of the manifests while the watch sleeps. Yesterday he showed me his plan for the forward bulkhead: three fish, stacked one above the other like herrings on a board. The top one he has left empty. The middle one has a small cross tucked near its tail. The bottom one has a name written across its belly in a looping hand he copied off a tin of Abel's tobacco.

Abel was his younger brother, lost off the Dogger when a trawl warp snapped and took the mate over the side with him. Teague never talks about it, but he talks about the fish, and I have started to listen. He says the empty one is for the sea, which takes what it likes and gives nothing back, and that he cannot find the right words to put in it. The cross is for their mother, who made them say grace before every meal until they were grown. The name is for Abel, though he will not say whether it was Abel's first name or his own.

Last night the swell came over the rail and the bulkhead lamp swung dark. I found Teague standing in the wash with a brush in one hand and the paint pot in the other, not moving. The paint had skinned over in the cold. He did not curse it. He simply waited until the lamp caught again, then began on the empty fish, very slowly, the way you would write a letter you were not sure you should send.

I'll post this from Tórshavn. Keep the kettle on, and tell Mother I have not forgotten Sunday.

Your loving brother, Sam