As can be well imagined, the distillers in use at Suakim are on a much
more colossal scale, and owing to the now almost universal use of surface
condensers in ocean steamers, no great difficulty ought to attend the
adaptation of the boilers and condensers of one of our transports. One of
these full-powered steamers will indicate, say, 5,000 horse-power, and
assuming her engines to use 25 lb. of steam per indicated horse-power, or
21/4 gallons, she could distill some 12,000 gallons of water per hour. As
no appreciable pressure of steam need be maintained, the boilers would
suffer little from deposit, especially if regularly blown out. Hard
firing need not be resorted to; indeed, it would be injudicious, as, of
course, priming must be carefully guarded against. Of course, the salt
water distilled will affect the working, not exactly of the distillers,
but of the boilers. If the water in the harbor, as is not improbable, is
muddy, some method of filtering it before pumping it into the boilers
ought, if at all practicable, to be resorted to, for the twofold reason
of preserving the boiler plates from muddy deposit, and also to prevent
priming, which would certainly ensue from the use of muddy water.
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