A lesson in pork and poultry

Posted by Julene on October 16th, 2009

Here’s a quick history lesson for you: sailors have been known to be a superstitious bunch. It was believed that tattooing a pig on one foot and the rooster on the other would give him the ability to walk on water if they had to abandon ship. The tale goes that while ships that sank while carrying live animals, the crates that housed pigs and roosters floated up on land. So by having a pig and rooster tattooed on either foot, sailors would also make it to land if their ship sank. Hopefully the bearer of these lovely pork & poultry tattoos never finds themselves in the position to check the truth of the this legend.

David CavalcanteTattoo by: David Cavalcante

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Submissions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • John

    I’m not sure if the belief goes so far as allowing the sailor to actually “walk on water,” but it certainly was to help assure getting ashore. If the tattoos were on the knees, though, it took on a slightly different meaning, “Pig on the knee, safety at sea. A cock on the right, never lose a fight.”

  • John

    I’m not sure if the belief goes so far as allowing the sailor to actually “walk on water,” but it certainly was to help assure getting ashore. If the tattoos were on the knees, though, it took on a slightly different meaning, “Pig on the knee, safety at sea. A cock on the right, never lose a fight.”

  • http://tattoosnob.com Julene

    As it’s an old wives tale, I’m sure “walk on water” could be taken in a variety of ways. :)

  • http://tattoosnob.com Julene

    As it’s an old wives tale, I’m sure “walk on water” could be taken in a variety of ways. :)

  • Ruby Riot

    a cock on the knee, whether right or left means ‘VERY lucky boy’ ;P

  • Ruby Riot

    a cock on the knee, whether right or left means ‘VERY lucky boy’ ;P