Mahogany Ship’s Medicine Chest 10 3/4 inch tall by 15 1/2 inch wide by 9 1/2 inch deep, spaces for 37 medicine bottles (all present with one extra), weight=20 lbs.

There is a canvas pouch with surgical supplies in the drawer. There is a list of contents taped to the inside top. This is all as found.

This classic Ship’s Medicine Chest was originally made for the ship LEWIS K. THURLOW, USN 1918 – 1919, a WWI Navy cargo ship built at Virginia’s Newport News Shipyard in 1917. It had one smokestack, 2 single masts, 3 raised hull islands and one pair of king posts aft of the bridge.

The need for medical care has been a constant since the day the first merchant ship sailed centuries ago. Concern for the health of mariners has, from the beginning, been a part of our nation’s history. In the 1700’s, legislation mandated that a Medicine Chest be carried on each American Flag vessel of more than 150 tons, provided it had a crew of ten or more. By 1798, a loose network of marine hospitals, mainly in port cities, was established by Congress to care for sick and disabled American merchant seamen. Called the Marine Hospital Service, later the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, and finally the Public Health Service, these federal entities continued to provide healthcare to merchant seamen until 1981. The Ship’s Medicine Chest and Medical Aid at Sea has been a part of much of this maritime history.
– From a U.S. government publication.

This chest is heavy – in excess of 20 pounds