Crates and barrels litter the Sea of Thieves like so much… litter, I suppose. Some are from shipwrecks, but others have just been forgotten about and can be found all over Outposts and islands. No-one’s going to mind if you rifle through their contents and help yourself to a couple of things. Inside, you’ll find the supplies you’ll need for daily life at sea, which come in all shapes and sizes but fall broadly into four categories.

Food: Whether it’s the classic banana or a freshly caught Splashtail, food will help you recover from injuries and, if it’s been cooked to perfection, keep you healing for a while afterwards. You can only carry five different food items, so remember to store spare supplies in the ship’s food barrel if you’re planning on doing some fishing. Even raw fish take up space. Fish and meat are harder to find by scavenging, while fruit and coconuts are commonplace.

Wooden Planks: No, not the walking kind. These stout lengths of timber will help you patch up your ship if it takes damage. They’re not the most exciting discovery in the world, but it’s smart to keep some handy at all times. They’re also a vital part of setting a campfire.

Cannonballs: They may be heavy, but there’s no harm in holding on to a few of these time-honoured argument-settlers. As you might expect, cannonballs are expended whenever you fire them out of cannons. Who knows where they end up after that? Not me. (There are many types of cannonballs and similar ammunition, but I’ll leave that for Seamark to explain.)

Bait: Slimy earthworms and plump leeches might not be the most appealing things to stuff in your pockets, but if you’re angling to be an angler they’re a necessary, wriggly evil because different species of fish have a preferred choice of snack. Bait can be dug up from earth or grass (earthworms), sand (grubs) or shorelines (leeches). You can hold 10 pieces of bait in total, not counting anything that might be attached to the hook of your fishing rod. You can nibble on your own supplies in a pinch, but even well-cooked bait will prove a poor replacement for fruit or fish. Still, if needs must…

Meanwhile, there’s nothing worse than arriving on an island with your pockets packed full of provisions, only to find some really tempting supplies that you simply can’t afford to carry. Happily, you’ll sometimes stumble upon the ever-useful Storage Crate while you’re out exploring. These can hold large quantities of supplies and vastly increase your inventory space, the downside being you have to carry the crate around with you. Better yet, they normally come with other people’s stuff – the best kind of stuff – inside them. Wood, Fruit and Cannonball Crate variants each hold a particular kind of supply in great quantities.

Seeing a gap in the market, the Merchant Alliance have now started selling Fruit, Wood, Cannonball and Storage Crates at Outposts, so stocking up for your next Voyage couldn’t be easier. Of course, the convenience of gathering supplies this way will cost you, and don’t think you’ll be getting a Fruit Crate full of pineapples either. The Merchant Alliance are running a business after all, and fruit doesn’t grow on trees! Well… you know what I mean. 

Last but not least, Rowboats always contain a chest for storing supplies, which means they’re a bit like having a Storage Crate that carries you rather than the other way around! Hey, even pirates feel lazy sometimes.