The boxes are variously made but, for the most part, resemble a coffin in their construction. The resemblance to that grisly article is so complete that the last two boxes on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, were used to bury two English seamen found drowned there during World War II. The boxes were made for single or double occupancy in a sitting or lying position. They are therefore properly referred to as single or double “lay-down” or “sit-down” batteries.

 

Fixed to the box were encircling wooden wings known as platforms. Flexible burlap- or canvas-covered wings were then hinged to the platforms to squelch the waves. The head of the box, which caught the heaviest seas, had three of these wings, while one sufficed elsewhere.

 

The fact that the box could be sunken nearly flush with the water was the secret of its success and gave the device its name. Extra 40-pound weights, as well as metal wing decoys, were used to “take her down.”

 

The surface of the box was then made to appear natural with flat-bottom wing decoys. The avidly sought 25-pound metal wing decoys went on the wooden platform. Because of their weight, they could not be used on the canvas wings. Flat-bottomed wooden decoys were used here and are exceptionally rare. These unique decoys were weighted at the bottom and anchored with a small line that passed through an opening in the material. This vent had the auxiliary purpose of allowing air trapped under the wings to escape.

 

In most instances a 15-knot wind could be tolerated in a sinkbox, but a real danger of swamping existed in heavier seas. With increasing wave action, a hunter could help himself by getting rid of some weight, raising the encircling lead collar, or retiring to a more sheltered area. At best, gunning with a sinkbox was wet, cold, and punishing work