from earring to tattoo

Traditionally fishermen wore golden earrings as an insurance to cover the funeral.
It was like the ganseys also a way to be identified when they had an accident at sea .
This is such an earring.

      

Earring as an insurance and tattoos as identification:fishermen always were aware of death.
It happened and happens that a ship does not return from fishing.
People went overboard ,or a ship was lost with all hands.
Fishermen were aware of the dangers at sea .

The sea gives and the sea takes .It gives money but takes lifes.
The fisherman were quite religious and wanted a proper burial.
But what if you fell overboard or washed ashore in a foreign place .
That is why they invented a kind of funeral insurance by wearing one or two golden earrings or a golden button of enough weight so , they could be sold to pay for a funeral.

Also the tattoo could make a identification possible , and with any luck you could be buried in your home town.

For the last 20 odd years a tattoo is trendy but it used to be a part of the fishing culture and had something to do with fisherie.

Also names were used a lot .