According to author Tristan Jones, a small blue
tattoo on a sailor's ear in the shape of a five-pointed star is the mark of a
great voyager. "That's what they used to do when you sailed round Cape
Horn," says Jones, who is the world's longest-distance sailor - 345,00 miles in
boats under 400 feet in length - and wears such a tattoo himself on his left
ear. "Up to five times round Cape Horn, you have a star on your left ear;
up to ten times, on your right, and over ten, two red marks on your forehead.
There's only two red-star men in the world: A German and a Scotsman, and
they both live in Liverpool, because if you"re a red-star man, no pub in
Liverpool will charge you for a drink."