What You Need to Know
The Chaplin's patent distilling apparatus with Steam pump for circulating water attached was an early design of an evaporator, a device for producing fresh water on board ship by distillation of seawater. An example of this apparatus has been recovered from the wreck of SS Xantho (1872), an auxiliary steamship used in Australia to transport passengers and trade goods before ultimately sinking in Port Gregory, Western Australia, in 1872. It is purported that the Alexander Chaplin distiller from the Xantho wreck is the only known surviving example of a Chaplin distilling apparatus on board a vessel of this period.
Steps
- 1.
Ship's biscuit reconstitution (British naval tradition): Provided fresh water for soaking hardtack
- 2.
Grog dilution (Caribbean sailing culture): Produced pure water for mixing with rum
- 3.
Preserved lemon preparation (North African cuisine): Created salt-free water for rinsing salted citrus