Norman Keith Collins, known popularly as Sailor Jerry, was a prominent American tattoo artist in Hawaii who was well known for his sailor tattoos.
Sailor Jerry
Image: Sailor Jerry Converse
Image: Sailor Jerry Spiced Navy Rum
Sailor tattoos are traditions of tattooing among sailors, including images with symbolic meanings. These practices date back to at least the 16th century among European sailors, and since colonial times among American sailors. People participating in these traditions have included military service members in national navies, seafarers in whaling and fishing fleets, and civilian mariners on merchant ships and research vessels. Sailor tattoos have served as protective talismans in sailors' superstitions, records of important experiences, markers of identity, and means of self-expression.
Aboard the USS New Jersey, 1944
On USS Ronald Reagan, 2016
"Figures printed on the arms of our Tarentine sailors" from Voyage en Italie, en Sicile et à Malte, 1778 by Louis Ducros
Le tatouage du matelot by Constantin Jean Marie Prevost, 1830