“ Skin Deep: The Nautical Roots of Tattoo Culture” ( The Sextant, NHHC’s blog, 1 April 2016) (With contributions from Megan Churchwell, curator, Puget Sound Navy Museum) This, and the increasingly multicultural pool of recruits entering the Navy in the 21st century, led to the liberalization of regulations governing tattoos-the least restrictive among the U.S. The vast expansion of the Navy during World War II laid the groundwork toward greater social acceptance of tattoos and ultimately toward body art's embrace by the mainstream today. Shipboard "artists" also continued to flourish. A number of celebrated tattooists, their names often prefaced with "Sailor" and each propagating a distinctive style, opened shop in ports of call and around naval bases. Tattoos were still largely perceived to be the questionable marks of seafarers, specific blue-collar trades, and of any number of less savory societal groups-and an object of fascination in sideshows and, later, burlesque clubs.ĭesigns of tattoos worn by Navy personnel can be gleaned from early personnel records, in which body art was recorded in the category of “distinguishing marks.” These records also testify to the longevity of motifs still worn by some Sailors today. However, those with body art were to remain somewhat marginalized well into the 20th century. Sailors also sought patriotic tattoos reflecting their enthusiasm for America’s participation in the conflict. This was accomplished by having the offending (usually) female figure “dressed” or another design tattooed over it. By this time, these tattoos had already acquired features recognized today as essential elements of military and patriotic tattoos: the curved scroll with a slogan, name, or date the stars and stripes or a giant eagle backdrop-many of them proliferated thanks to the newly invented electric tattoo machine.ĭuring World War I-in line with the Progressive era’s sense of higher purpose that also abolished alcohol rations in the Fleet-Navy recruits were strongly encouraged to get any risqué art covered up, since perceived "moral" failings might disqualify them from service. In 1898, at the onset the Spanish-American War, Sailors rushed to have the slogan “Remember the Maine” tattooed on their chests before heading out to avenge her sinking. As newly tattooed Sailors returned home at war’s end, the work of Civil War–era tattooists spread around the country. Spurred by 19th-century whaling expeditions and long trading voyages, tattooing continued to spread among both naval and merchant seamen-and from them to landlubbers.ĭuring the Civil War, tattoos commemorating the historic clash between the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia made their way into both navies, along with more general motifs such as military insignia and names of sweethearts. By the late 18th century, around a third of British and a fifth of American sailors had at least one tattoo. Staving off boredom during long hours at sea, sailors doubled as amateur tattooists. Tattooing spread quickly from British to American sailors. In fact, the word “tattoo” is derived from the Polynesian tatau, which indicated indelibly marking the human body and phonetically imitated the sound of the rhythmic tapping of traditional tattoo instruments (usually needles fashioned from boar's tusks) used to pierce a subject’s skin. These brought tattoos back to their fellow seamen in Europe and America. Although there are indications that seafarers bore tattoos before the 1700s, Captain James Cook’s voyages of exploration in the Pacific during the second half of the 18th century exposed Royal Navy sailors to Polynesian body art. However, there is no dispute that tattooing was practiced in early societies in Europe and Asia, and by indigenous cultures worldwide for thousands of years. Captain James Cook’s journal, third Pacific voyage (1776–80)ĭespite numerous learned studies and analyses of various aspects of tattooing-sociological, artistic, psychological-the actual lore of this form of body art remains largely non-academic and often based on oral tradition centered around certain tattoo artists and styles. “The universality of tattooing is a curious subject for speculation….”
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