“A strong smell of tobacco and tar rose from the interior, but nothing was to be seen
on the top except a suit of very good clothes, carefully brushed and folded. They had never
been worn, my mother said. Under that, the miscellany began—a quadrant, a tin canikin,
several sticks of tobacco, two brace of very handsome pistols, a piece of bar silver, 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.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
We’ve all seen the stereotypical pirate treasure chests filled with gold and jewels.
In books and movies a treasure chest is just as synonymous with pirates as is a parrot,
peg leg, and an eye patch. But did pirates really store their riches in these wooden
boxes? Today we’re going to take a look at that.
First, let’s talk about sea chests in general. They were wooden boxes used to store personal
belongings. A chest would be stored in the crew’s quarters and could be used as a table
or bench. They were typically slanted inward which made them less likely to spill and were
usually slightly lifted by wooden beams to keep them from soaking up water from the deck.
A chest would also typically have the name of the owner painted on. They would have had
a lock and handles on both sides. Most sea chests contained a small compartment on the
inside, likely used for small trinkets or items the sailor would frequently need.
Sailors on navy or merchant ships tended to not have a great deal of money or possessions.
Many sailors carried all of what they owned in their hammock which would be folded up
into a bag so they didn’t need a chest. A sailor could be transferred to another ship
with little notice so it made sense to them to travel light. Another concern had to do
with getting the ship cleared for action. It was much faster and easier to take a hammock
down and toss it to the side than to move a chest.
Pirates, on the other hand, would likely spend much more time aboard their ships and tended
to acquire a greater amount of personal possessions. A pirate would also be in a position to rob
a chest from a passenger on another ship. It’s worth mentioning that the typical style
of the pirate chest with a domed lid would have likely belonged to someone with more
money. The shape of the domed chest was designed so water didn’t sit on the lid nor could
other chests stacked on top of it. This design would mean the chest would last longer.
Regardless of how the pirate managed to have a chest it’s likely the first thing he’d
have inside would have been some bedding and clothing. The salt and humidity onboard a
ship would quickly eat away at a sailors clothing so a pirate would need spare shirts and pants.
The pirate would also have carried a small kit to repair his clothing, usually comprised
of a needle, thread, clothing for patching clothing, some buttons, and wax. The wax would
be rubbed into the thread so it didn’t rot when it got wet. Pirates were known to have
liked to dress in clothing usually reserved for the upper class so in addition to the
typical day to day work shirts and pants they’d store any plundered clothing away as well.
The pirate may have also kept tools for working in his chest as well. Maybe you’d see a
marlinspike, which was used for working with rope, or a sailmaker’s palm, used to push
a needle through layers of canvas when repairing sails. Another item that might be stored away
would be a spare knife as well as as sharpening stone. It’s possible a chest may have held
a few extra belaying pins too.
A pirate could possibly have a mug, spoon, and pewter plate stored too. We know from
shipwrecks that sailors that could afford such luxuries usually marked their initials
into the back of the plate with a knife of a nail so it wasn’t stolen. The pirate wouldn’t
have carried any special knife for eating, he’d have used his work knife for that.
It’s interesting to note that a fork likely wouldn’t have been found as they didn’t
become popular in most of Europe until the mid 18th century. If a pirate had robbed someone
who had a fork he probably wouldn’t have known what it was for.
If the pirate could read and write he may have kept a bible, books, letters from home,
or a journal. He also could have had pens, ink, and paper either for writing in his journal
or to write a letter home. If the pirate was involved with the navigation of the ship he
may have maps or atlases as well as navigational tools like forestaffs, quadrants, and compasses.
Pirates would have kept pistols in their chests, as well as oil, powder, shot, and spare flints.
It’s possible you would also find grenados there too. This is questionable because pirates
were reported to have always kept their ships ready for action and, if so, this would mean
they’d need immediate access to their weapons and would likely keep them on their person
at all times. Either way it’s a fair bet to say that a pirate’s chest could contain
spare weapons.
A chest would contain any leisure items a pirate had like small musical instruments,
cards, or dice. It’s reported that gambling was not permitted on most pirate ships because
of the possibility of a resulting fight but that’s not to say that it didn’t happen
from time to time. A pirate may have also kept some tools for carving. It’s likely
the pirate would have had a clay pipe and tobacco. Pirates often stole tobacco and accounts
say that the pirates smoked constantly. Massive piles of broken pipes are found around areas
frequented by pirates. Pirates would also keep small mementos, personal items, and things
to trade like spices, sugar, ivory, and trinkets.
As far as gold and jewels a pirate would have only carried a small amount of money because
the plunder was usually kept in a central location until it was divided. If a pirate
wanted his share the quartermaster, who kept a list of what each pirate earned, would have
paid him out what he wanted and kept another list of what had been drawn out similar to
a bank. The reason for this was likely to prevent theft among the men and also to ensure
a pirate didn’t jump ship at the first opportunity.
Thanks for watching this episode, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did please consider subscribing
to my channel so you don’t miss any future videos. As always if you have an idea for
a topic or just want to say hello please leave a comment below.