AAAARGH! You found me out!

Well actually the pirate chest is going to be for my daughter to use as a toy chest when she gets older. (She's not yet 4 months now) So I am intentionally making it whimsical and using the "perceived" pirate chest style.

I do, however, have a real cedar sea chest, perhaps not from the 1700's but certainly very old. It is banded with riveted copper, and is square. Much more functional than the traditionally perceived pirate chest. I do agree the chest thing is an artist's fanciful rendition, probably which came from the book "Treasure Isle," which, by the way, is based on an island here in the Virgin Islands.

Actually I doubt a pirate would have used a chest at all. Gold is heavy! A chest full of gold would weigh more than it could hold. Most of the recorded treasure heists in the days of lore were where they stole a whole ship with all her holds. The gold was probably stacked low in the keel for ballast. At best maybe in small boxes. The chest that is commonly used in pirate movies is a rendition of a trunk most commonly used to carry soft goods and fragile items. Perhaps the curved top was so that people would NOT stack on top of it. They were usually built similar to a carvel planked hull. I have seen them built riveted lapstrake. So there is some basis to the curved top in that during the Victorian era there were chests of that nature, but probably they were not where a pirate would keep his treasure unless his treasure was a blanket!

I am an avid wreck diver, and we have found one really good one with lots of pottery, bottles, pewter, and cool stuff. No gold yet, but we did find pots of mercury. Mercury was used to refine gold. Most likely this ship was on the way to pick up gold and drop off mercury, but time will tell. There is a cannon, so this boat at least was armed, which is a good sign. If you suddenly see that I have quit my job, built a fully equipped workshop, and bought a new sailboat, you will know we found something!

Here is a treasure chest my friend Neil made for a charity treasure hunt we had. The chest and all its contents was the grand prize. The inset panels are hammered copper. It is what I would envision as a real sea chest.