This wooden ammunition box was aboard the sunken Union gunboat USS Cairo, and was recovered from the passing room of the ship. The box held nine 12 pound shells with sabot (wooden base) and fuses.
Ammunition was kept in the passing room and “passed through” to the gunners during a battle; keeping the ammunition separated from the guns until ready for use prevented accidental explosions.
The USS Cairo was sunk on the Yazoo River in December 1862, becoming the first ship ever sunk by electrically detonated torpedoes.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30283
