Definition
A slop chest is the small shop the master keeps on board for the crew. US law is the clearest statement of what it means: on qualifying vessels the master must keep a slop chest holding clothing, boots, foul-weather gear, tobacco and blankets suited to the voyage, and may sell those items at no more than 10 percent profit over their wholesale value.[1]
Outside that statute the term is used more loosely for the whole range of personal items sold on board — toiletries, snacks, soft drinks, phone cards — and much of it is bought as bonded stores because tobacco and alcohol are dutiable. The ISSA bonded catalogue covers the same lines: tobacco, spirits, body care, perfume and clothing.[2]
For the purchasing desk the slop chest is a stock-and-cash item: the master accounts for what is sold, usually against crew wages, and replenishes from a chandler at a port where bonded supply is allowed. Order it with the provisions, but quote it separately — the duty treatment and the delivery paperwork differ.
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Sources
- [1] 46 U.S. Code § 11103 — Slop chests (Cornell LII) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/11103
- [2] ISSA — Ship Stores and Provisions & Bonded Stores catalogues — https://www.shipsupply.org/issa-catalogue/
A working definition for buyers, not legal advice — the contract, the convention text and your club or class have the last word.