NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Master & Commander
From: Rodney Myrvaagnes
Date: 2003 Dec 9, 23:51 -0500
From: Rodney Myrvaagnes
Date: 2003 Dec 9, 23:51 -0500
On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 16:52:22 +0000, Trevor J. Kenchington wrote: >Rodney wrote: > >> Q. Would a ship that size actually carry an alembic? I suppose they >> might, if the grog was regarded as a necessity. > > >Not sure what Rodney would class as an alembic. > I take it you have not seen the movie. When Surprise is anchored in the Galapagos, crewmembers row ashore and gather cactus and chop it in pieces. WIth some understood delaty, we see them operating an alembic (pot still) of larger size than would fit on a galley stove. They have moved it ashore and are running it over a fire on the beach. The pot is about a meter in diameter, big enough to be a stowage problem. >Iron galley stoves largely replace dthe old brick ones on English >warships by about 1750. The "Brodie Stove" replaced earlier designs >during the 1780s. Those were sometimes fitted with stills, to condense >the steam from the kettles as a source of small quantities of drinking >water. I do not know of any source which confirms or refutes the >possibility that the Brodie Stoves on frigates were so equipped. Quite >li Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a "Happy is he that taketh thy little ones and dasheth them upon the stones." __Psalm 137