Explore 44 Stunning Ship Tattoos

Ship tattoos were some of the very first designs to get popular in traditional tattooing, a favorite choice by sailors coming home from a long journey or from overseas as souvenirs of the countries they visit.

A popular type of ship tattoo is a flagship which was the head of the fleet of navel vessels, a flagship is superior to the other vessels, it being either faster, bigger, more heavily armed or even all of these qualities. The word flagship has come to mean the best of a variety or group of things which some take to mean the best ship tattoo you could get.

Ship Tattoo Meaning

A ship tattoos meaning can vary greatly depending on the wearer, the most popular and traditional meanings are the following:

Exploration: Ships are a great way to represent exploration, its something that would have been impossible to explore without. This is symbolized by wanting to be more explorative in life.

Discovery: The beginning of many countries have all started with a ship making it one the most prominent representations of discovery, usually used to symbolize self-discovery.

Journey: Most ship journeys were far from easy, many people didn’t make it all the way, having the strength to endure a tough journey through the sea certainly meant a lot to some sailors and wanted to represent that with a ship tattoo.

Change: From a ships ability to completely change course, this can symbolize wanting to take a different path in life.

Some of the more older meanings of ships are symbolism of trade and wealth.