This is a bit of a tangent, but I've been trying to figure something out for years and this pic offers hope. Take a look at the ribbed sides inside the stove. We found some cast iron pieces in our 1887 home that are similar and appear to have been subjected to extreme heat.

Do you think they served the same purpose, and what is that purpose? To provide additional thickness and heat dissipation where the coals would be? Also, any ideas about the piece in the second pic?

As snug as a bug in a rug. Cozy.

This is a nicely appointed cabin -- I wonder what the boat looks like from outside. There's carving in the overhead beams, a skylight, and what seems like varnished cabinetry along the sides. Note the curve of the berths along the ship's side and the lockers for pillows and bedclothes (maybe personal items for the pilots, also -- I interpret this as the officers/pilots' quarters, with the ship's crew berthed elsewhere).

It might be a rather old vessel -- maybe even a schooner? I'm suggesting this based on the layout of the cabin, about the same as on Gloucester schooners of the period, and the cabin sole having a patterned linoleum or something like it with something else on top of it -- could it be carpeting? that also looks rather worn.

The stove seems like a later addition. Note the wonderful little wire shrouds with turnbuckles to hold it in place -- were they added after a disastrous roll that pitched hot coals all over the deck, permanently defacing the linoleum, and put out after a terrifying 20 minutes with everyone drafted into a bucket brigade?

[Below, the outside of the pilot boat, which generally are relatively small craft that take harbor pilots out to large ships about to dock. - Dave]

Nice clean and shiny stove ! Must have got it from Glazier Stove Works!

So that's what he did before he got hitched to Ethel.