ON SWEETENING SEA-WATER. 371 



had a hard gale of wind at S. VV. which continued three weeks, 

 and drove them into 73 lat. During this time he was very uneasy, 

 as knowing if their passage should hold out long, they must he re- 

 duced to great straits; for they had no rains, but frequent fogs, 

 which yielded water in very small quantities. He now blamed him- 

 self for not having a still along with him, as he had often thought 

 no ship should be without one. But it was now too late ; and there 

 was a necessity to contrive some means for their preservation. 



He was not a stranger to Appleby's method : he had also a pam- 

 phlet written by Dr. Butler, intitled, An easy Method of procuring 

 Fresh Water at Sea. And he imagined, that soap might supply the 

 place of capital lees, mentioned by him. He now set himself at 

 work to contrive a still; and ordered an old pitch-pot, that held 

 about ten quarts, to be made clean : the carpenter, by his direction, 

 fitted to it a cover of fir-deal, about two inches thick, very close ; 

 so that it was easily made tight by luting it with paste. They had 

 a hole through the cover, in which was fixed a wooden pipe nearly 

 perpendicular. This he should call the still-head ; it was bored 

 with an angre of 1^ inch diameter, to within 3 inches of the top 

 or extremity, where it was left solid. They made a hole in this, 

 towards the upper part of its cavity, with a proper angle, to receive 

 a long wooden pipe, which they fixed in it, to descend to the tub 

 in which the worm should be placed. Here again he \vas at a loss, 

 for they had no lead pipe, nor any sheet lead, on-board. He 

 thought, if he could contrive a straight pipe to go through a large 

 cask of cold water, it might answer the end of a worm. They then 

 cut a pewter dish, and made a pipe 1 2 feet long : and at 3 or 4 

 trials, for they did not let a liltle discourage them, they made it 

 quite tight. They bored a hole through a cask, with a proper de- 

 scent, in which they fixed the pewter pipe, and made both holes in 

 the cask tight, and filled it with sea-water : the pipe stuck without 

 the cask 3 inches on each side. Having now got his] apparatus in 

 readiness, he put ^ quarts of sea-water, and 1 oz. of soap into the 

 pot, and set it on the fire. The cover was kept from rising by a 

 prop of wood to the bow. They fixed on the head, and into it the 

 long wooden pipe abovementioned, which was wide enough to re. 

 ceive the end of the pewter one into its cavity. They easily made 

 the joint tight. 



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