Tracing an English (sea?) chest engraved "CL 1727"

[tcw25]

A relative inherited the wooden chest shown in the attached photo, which was supposedly passed down -- ultimately via the Gaskill/Gaskell family of Lancashire -- from an unknown ancestor of ours who reportedly owned schooners.  We assume the engraved "CL 1727", which is visible in the photo, refers to the ancestor, and we'll try to follow Ancestry.co.uk hints backwards from our known ancestors until, hopefully, we find someone with those initials from the early 18th C. 

Does anyone have other suggestions, specifically given the maritime angle to this mystery?  Also, is this what sea chests even looked like in the 18th Century? I am turning up much more rustic looking chests via Google Images. 

[Jebber]

What is the interior like?

[hepburn]

Looks like a linen chest from that era.

[Jebber]

That’s what I was thinking and  why I asked about the interior. It may have been the property of a ship owning family but not very suitable for sea going.

[jaywit]

I was going to say have you got a photo of the interior of the lid showing the hinges?

It does look in too good condition to have ever been bashed around at sea.

[AllanUK]

Not a sea chest -- sea chests do not have legs like that. As stated in other posts, this is a linen chest of the 18th / 19th Century. Unless the date can be proven, it is suspicious as some of our Victorian ancestors liked to add embellishments to furniture.

[tcw25]

Thanks, all.  That makes sense, with the initials and year carved as an embellishment (since presumably initials weren't usually carved into linen chests?)

An interior photo is attached.

[jaywit]

To me the screws look modern so it looks like the hinges have been replaced.

My uneducated guess would be it was Victorian / Edwardian and it was bought with the inscription in place as others have said to make it look older at first glance.

[tcw25]

The relatives who own this chest have certainly had some (probably insensitive) restoration work done over the years, but the wood and nails appear to my eye to be original.  I just can't gauge their age or the reason for engraving initials on such a chest.