The story behind our logo design.
Our logo depicting the swallow follows the long tradition of seafarers recognising the swallow as an omen of good fortune. There are many maritime stories about the Swallow – starting from ancient Egyptian times and it is mentioned in various books from that era - the pharaoh describes how he has “gone to the great island in the midst of the Field of Offerings on which the swallow gods alight; the swallows are the imperishable stars.” The imperishable stars were those near the North Star that never seemed to rise or set, and therefore were “constant”.
According to one legend, a sailor with one swallow had travelled over 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km); a sailor with two swallows had travelled 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km). Travelling these great distances was extremely difficult and dangerous in the early days of sailing, so one or more swallow tattoos denoted a very experienced and valuable sailor.
Swallows are land-based birds, so their appearance informs a sailor that he is close to shore and because it was also known that swallows always returned home so they signified a beacon of hope for those early day sailors.
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