Last Port

Merle Kenneth “Tex” Rowe had quite the interesting life and experienced lots of things in his 88 years of living. He was an animal handler, a soldier, a tattoo artist, and a gun dealer. Multiple written accounts of his life were put together by researchers to create a main booklet about Tex. Shown are some of his flash pieces, including several nautical themed ones, which were a very large part of WWII. The Sirens “explained” why sailors would get lost at sea, lore said sailors were lured into their traps and eaten. Swallows were a symbol of hope for the sailors to return home safely and quickly. People getting these types of tattoos would mostly be sailors who wanted to return to their loving families as swiftly as possible.