Old game picture that hints at ship customization

[MacIronhawk]

If you look at the picture below you'll notice that the Frigate/War Frigate has a picture of a skull on it. I believe that skull is now a tattoo. Does anyone else besides me think that ship custmoizated could be closer than we think? If we can put pictures of skulls on ships just like we do with tattoos, then how far away are we from ship customization?

If the flag pictures are similar to tattoos then I'm actually surprised that we don't have ship customization yet. I know this is a really old screenshot but I thought it was interesting.


P.S. The island isn't one in game.