A History of Tattooing in world

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, from 22 March to 30 September 2002 In 1909, the US government forbade the enlistment of men with ‘indecent or obscene tattooing’ into the navy. At the time, about 90% of the US Navy’s sailors were already tattooed and, according to my grandfather (a merchant seaman for 50 years)