Description:

Rare Waratah Morphine and Opium Metal Storage Trunk, of rectangular form, the top marked 'Waratah built by Barclay, Curle Co, Glasgow, Scotland, 1908, 465 ft x 59 ft, 9339 tons, Blue Anchor Line, Third Class, 160’, the front marked 'Morphine' and ‘Opium' in black with thick gold gilt surround with some red edge striping, the interior with ocher paint and cloth straps, the lid with cork seal, with lock (now bent, lacking key).

Notes from the consignor: The ship SS Waratah is widely referred to as "Australia's Titanic.” The SS Waratah was a dual purpose passenger and cargo steamship built by the Barclay, Curle Company of Glasgow, Scotland for the Blue Anchor Line in 1908 to operate between Europe and Australia. In July 1909, on only her second voyage back to her base in London after leaving Sydney, Australia, as it sailed the Indian Ocean, the SS Waratah vanished with out a trace. While en route off of the coast of South Africa, all 211 passengers plus crew aboard disappeared with the ship. No trace of the SS Waratah has ever been found. The ship's fate remains a mystery to this very day, over a century later.

Outside painted chest surfaces all inconsistent in nature; randomly deeply and lightly scratched. The deeply scratched metal areas show heavily set in rust - all while raised areas of original paint around the scratches still adhere firmly to the metal. The chest retains all of its original paint as first applied to chest in 1908.

Compared to other medical dept. sea chests seen coming to market in recent years from a collection said assembled by a party involved in a New England based marine shipping, the adverse effects showing in the Waratah box metal surfaces suggest such effects appear caused scientifically as follows: Metal can rust underneath both standard paint and marine paint applications when either are immersed in salt water. Moisture penetrating paint by highly conductive saltwater causes oxygen to reach the metal surfaces which in turn produces a electrochemical reaction accelerating oxidation. Science clearly shows saltwater causes ions to freely move rapidly, accelerating the corrosion process via galvanic action. Inside the Waratah chest lid are seen scattered concentrated rust spots - with highly darkened mold spotted dried cork strip liner seals also revealed. The cork stripping was used to form a protective seal for its medical contents, but conversely came to form a strong barrier that would lessen agitating pressure and presence of volumes of seawater if submerged: hence resulting in the evidentiary results of chest's present condition as shown. The flaking interior painted surfaces, apparent rust stains found on the cloth strapping further supports chest was subject to highly turbulent conditions. For comparison a near identical chest surviving from the SS Waratah sold in a 2022 New England auction, which has come to show having totally undarkened almost white cork seals, no inside rust and with little or no wear over-all. This suggests this other Waratah 2022 sold chest was likely never put in use on the ship before the Waratah's mysterious disappearance.Evidence raises the question as to if chest went down with the Waratah with a formed air pocket held in by the seal and bobbed to ocean surface, then washing to shore? The chest appears to have been tightly shut and sealed when found, and the lock pried open possibly after chest found.

An important surviving artifact in marine archaeology.

Measurements: Height: 5 in. x Width: 25 in. x Depth: 13 in.

Condition:

Good vintage condition, old marks, scratches and dings, chips to paint, pitting and surface rust to metal mostly under the paint, interior with chips and paint peeling, cork seals blackened, spots of mold and with moisture damage, interior fabric straps worn and rust stained, lock bent, lacking key, four small rivet holes present in the area of the word "Anchor" where a plaque was apparently attached.

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