chart chest

Camphor wood chart chest, brass bound at 8 exterior corners & edges, & front piece. Bears brass bail handles on ends, mounted on inset wooden rectangles. Rectangular brass plate on lid has scalloped corners, no markings. Circularly indented brass lock on exterior. May have housed ring for lifting lid. On upper edge of case's front interior, lock hardware reads: "HOBBS & Co LEVER MACHINE. LONDON MADE". Chest stands on wooden rim & is braced thru ctr. of underside. Said to have been property of Capt. Wm. Evans, master of ship HAZE & was made for him by ship's carpenter. Capt. Evans is said to have carried chest on all his voyages to the Orient.