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History: |
Ditty Boxes are usually little, wooden chests similar
to sea chests but smaller. Sea faring men used
them to store smaller items, such as sewing
needles, or more valuable items, such as money,
tobacco or letters from home. Sometimes
Ditty Boxes were made of whale bone or whale baleen and were
crafted by seamen on whaling ships. They don't
always have hinges or hasps and were often
painted, carved or decorated with inlays.
There are many different theories of where the
word "ditty" comes from, here are
some of them: -from the Anglo-Saxon word "dite"
which means neat, tidy. -From "dittis" a type of
cotton used to make "dittis" bags, which were
issued to sailors before Ditty Boxes were
common. Both the American and British navies
issued small boxes to sailors. -from "ditties",
name of pamphlets from the 18th century. -from
the "oddities" box. -from the "commodities" box,
-from the "ditto" boxes, held two of each item. |
