---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 11103"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "11103"
heading: "Slop chests"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/11103"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part G — Merchant Seamen Protection and Relief"
  - "Chapter 111 — Protection and Relief"
---

# §11103. Slop chests

- (a) A vessel to which [section 11102 of this title](/usc/46/11102.md) applies shall be provided with a slop chest containing sufficient clothing for the intended voyage for each [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3), including—
  - (1) boots or shoes;
  - (2) hats or caps;
  - (3) underclothing;
  - (4) outer clothing;
  - (5) foul weather clothing;
  - (6) everything necessary for the wear of a [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3); and
  - (7) a complete supply of tobacco and blankets.
- (b) Merchandise in the slop chest shall be sold to a [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) desiring it, for the use of the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3), at a profit of not more than 10 percent of the reasonable wholesale value of the merchandise at the port at which the voyage began.
- (c) This section does not apply to a vessel on a voyage to Canada, Bermuda, the West Indies, Mexico, or Central America, or a fishing or whaling vessel.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 578.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |
| --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source section (U.S. Code) |
| 11103 | 46:670<br>46:671 |

Section 11103 requires that a United States vessel on a foreign or intercoastal domestic voyage be equipped with a slop chest and lists the items the slop chest must contain.