"A Sailor's Possessions" Topic

"The sea chest is a common piece of material culture seen among stereotypes of pirates and sailors in the Age of Sail. Many people imagine a variety of items locked away within these chests, from fascinating tools of the seafaring trades to treasure plundered during many adventures at sea. In the realm of stories about pirates, Billy Bones owns the most famous sea chest of all fictional pirates. In Robert Lewis Stevenson's Treasure Island, originally published as a serial in Young Folks magazine from October of 1881 to January of 1882, Bones was the first mate of the pirate Captain John Flint. The exterior of Billy's sea chest was, "somewhat smashed and broken as by long, rough usage," with a "B" burned to its top. Stevenson described the contents of the sea chest in detail, including items concerning the story's treasure, such as Bones' account book, a bar of silver, a bag of coins, and a treasure map. Beyond these pieces concerning the treasure, the chest contained a suit of clothes, "a quadrant, a tin canikin, several sticks of tobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols,…an old Spanish watch and some other trinkets of little value and mostly of foreign make, a pair of compasses mounted with brass, and five or six curious West Indian shells… [and] Underneath there was an old boat-cloak, whitened with sea-salt on many a harbour bar."1 Contents such as these are typical by the standards of the modern stereotype of sailors and pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy. When compared to the historical record, with exception to the treasure items, how accurate is Stevenson's depiction? What did Anglo-American sailors or pirates of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries own? Broadly speaking, some sailors of the era did own the kind of items seen in Stevenson's stereotypical sea chest. However, examining the historical record for traces of sailors' possessions provides some insight into the lives of mariners in this era.

What possessions a sailor owned depended on their financial circumstances, voyage length, and destination. Sailors fallen on hard times, frivolous spenders, or mariners forced into the British Royal Navy might own nothing more than the clothes on their back. These desperate cases did not apply to all sailors, with many finding ways to afford supplies ahead of voyages. For any mariner preparing for sea, clothing sat high on the list of essential supplies. Longer voyages required more clothes. Expeditions to cold climates required the use of warmer garments, while sailors headed to tropical regions might buy lighter clothes. Clothing did not last long at sea. It took only a matter of months for garments to deteriorate into rags because of wear from use and the harsh maritime environment. It did not take long for mariners to deplete some garments such as shoes and shirts. On land, shirts and footwear usually wore out after six months of heavy use. The saltiness, dampness, and potential humid air at sea contributed to quicker periods of deterioration. Outer garments, especially those of wool, fared little better with lifespans of one or two years.2 A detailed description of the garments sailors wore in this period could fill an entire book. For those fortunate enough to have funds, credit, and time before a voyage, a mariner might spend £2.00 GBP or more on clothes. It took common sailors over a month to make this sum of money when earning wages at sea. In the 1710s, sailor John Cremer, with the help of a friend's wife, purchased, "Shirts, Stockings, Hankerchifs &c, with a Chest, which she did anuf Suitabile for me for two Years," for forty shillings…."
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