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| This Liberty ship hatch cover coffee table displayed in a living room. this table is unique with the scrolling wrought iron base and legs. |
The Liberty ships were the workhorses of World War II — some 2,751 of them built in American yards between 1941 and 1945, each one ferrying the tanks, trucks, and munitions that kept the Allies moving. Above every cargo hold sat heavy wooden hatch covers: thick yellow pine planks banded in steel, made to be lifted off by crane, built to take weather and weight for a whole crossing.The top of this coffee table is one of those hatch covers.
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| A WWII Liberty ship hatch cover, remade into a sturdy coffee table. |
In the 1970s, someone gave that authentic WWII-era hatch cover a second life as a table. The thick three-board yellow pine top, with its wide metal band ends, is fitted onto an iron base that is screwed into the bottom — and the base lifts off for moving or storage. That base is fashioned from flat, wide strips of metal, hammered into intricate scrolling legs: a craftsman's flourish on a piece of working cargo gear. The wood carries a dark walnut patina under a high-gloss resin finish, with one small repaired spot on the end of one of the metal bands (see the close-up image on the listing) — left honest, as it should be.
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| Metal repair to one corner of an end band. |
It measures 27 inches wide, 59 inches long, and 20-1/2 inches tall, and weighs about 120 pounds. A substantial piece in every sense — real ship's gear, real weight, real history. The WWII US Liberty Ship Hatch Cover Nautical Coffee Table is $1,275 — listed now on our webstore, one in stock:
See it in person at 1172 State Route 32, Round Pond, ME 04564. Seasonal hours through October 31: Thu–Sat 11–4, Sun 1–4, Mon 11–4; year-round by appointment after that. Webstore always open. (207) 219-0897.
