I was not a stranger to Appleby’s method: I had also a pamphlet wrote by Dr. Butler, intituled, _An easy Method of procuring of fresh Water at Sea_. And I imagined, that soap might supply the place of capital lees, mentioned by him. I now set myself at work, to contrive a still; and ordered an old pitch-pot, that held about ten quarts, to be made clean: my carpenter, by my 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. We had a hole thro’ the cover, in which was fixed a wooden pipe nearly perpendicular. This I call the still-head: it was bored with an augre of 1½ inch diameter, to within three inches of the top or extremity, where it was left solid. We made a hole in this, towards the upper part of its cavity (with a proper angle) to receive a long wooden pipe, which we fixed therein, to descend to the tub in which the worm should be placed. Here again I was at a loss; for we had no lead pipe, nor any sheet-lead, on board. I thought, if I could contrive a strait pipe to go thro’ a large cask of cold water, it might answer the end of a worm. We then cut a pewter dish, and made a pipe two feet long; and at three or four trials (for we did not let a little discourage us) we made it quite tight. We bored a hole thro’ a cask, with a proper descent, in which we fixed the pewter pipe, and made both holes in the cask tight, and filled it with sea-water: the pipe stuck without the cask three inches on each side. Having now got my apparatus in readiness, I put seven quarts of sea-water, and an ounce of soap, into my pot, and set it on the fire. The cover was kept from rising by a prop of wood to the bow. We fixed on the head, and into it the long wooden pipe above-mentioned, which was wide enough to receive the end of the pewter one into its cavity. We easily made the joint tight. I need not tell thee with what anxiety I waited for success: but I was soon relieved; for, as soon as the pot boiled, the water began to run; and in twenty-eight minutes I got a quart of fresh water. I tried it with an hydrometer I had on board, and found it as light as river-water; but it had a rank oily taste, which I imagine was given it by the soap. This taste diminished considerably in two or three days, but not so much as to make it quite palateable. Our sheep and fowls drank this water very greedily without any ill effects. We constantly kept our still at work, and got a gallon of water every two hours; which, if there had been a necessity to drink it, would have been sufficient for our ship’s crew.