Sailor’s superstitions where commonly symbolised in the form of their tattoos. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was common to see the bodies of dockside workers and sailors adorned with images and pictures of anchors, birds, and turtles, as well as written phrases, each one with a meaning or a superstition attributed to it.
Hold Fast on each of a deckhand's fingers would give them the grip they needed to work with the ship's lines and rigging. In a storm sailors would tell each other to “Hold Fast”, meaning to grab on to rigging or something solid and secure that had weathered previous storms to prevent being swept overboard.
Today, tattoos are frequently chosen purely for body decoration. However, this tattoo is a common phrase for police and military organisations when they face extraordinary pressure with limited resources, leaders and staff reminding each other to “Hold Fast” as the gravity of a situation ramps up.
Ian Mackenzie