The personal objects of sailors

At sea, when one has a bit of time, one can make boxes, using the wood of old provision barrels, to protect personal papers, toilette articles or mesh mending netting needles to repair the nets. Each box is different

Look at the green box, for example. Its owner wanted to mark the year -1946 – just after the Second World War. The sliding top carries a beautiful heart and pretty flowers.

The box of J-B Hamon, carries his name and his registration number. This was where he kept his “fascicule” - the maritime registration booklet, which is compulsory for all sailors. The “fascicule” accompanies sailors their entire career. It therefore needs to be well protected!

Then there is the very colourful box, with a fishing boat on one side and a military vessel on the other. Either this is a sailor who has done both –fishing and navy - as it often happens - or it is a fisherman who is dreaming of joining the navy. The geometrical patterns that are painted on the sides resemble the flags of the international signal code. 

Look here at the box of Joseph Le Doaré, fisherman of Douarnenez. He went far away, until South Africa, to fish tuna. On the lid, with a sensitive touch, he engraved a literary subject of his youth; a legendary corsair. He 2 used it as his razor box, which held his shaving brush, his flannel, cologne.... As water was rare on board of a ship, a sailor shaved only once he was back, before disembarking to join his family.