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10
The allowance of water is served out daily for each man ; two quarts out
of each man's allowance being handed over to the Cook for Tea, Coffee,
Soup, &c., leaving one quart only for drinking and washing.
Every ten men would thus have 2½ gallons per day, a totally inadequate
amount, especially in hot weather.
This amount is of course, whenever practicable, supplemented by whatever
rain water can be collected.
There is no doubt that this allowance should be increased to, at any rate,
four quarts per day, and it is to be hoped that in any revision of the present
victualling scale this point will receive attention.
The capacity of storage for drinking water has been greatly increased by
the adoption of iron tanks, while at the same time the number of hands carried
as crew has been considerably diminished.
A sailing vessel, carrying 35 men twenty years ago, would in these days of
labour-saving appliances only muster 25.
The following calculations will show that wooden casks were responsible
for a great waste of space through broken stowage.
Supposing a sailing vessel were laying in a supply of drinking water for
18 hands for 90 days, she would require about 1,300 gallons, equal to
209 cubic feet. The extra cubic space required for iron tanks would be very
small indeed. On the other hand, if the supply were carried in wooden
casks 13 would be required.
A rum puncheon of 100 gallons capacity measures over all 41¾ in. by
34¾ in. by 34¾ in., and making provision for stowage these dimensions would
be 3 ft. 3 in. by 2 ft. 9 in. by 2 ft. 9 in., equal to 29 ft. 4 in. by 13 ft., equal
to 382 cubic feet. Thus for 1,300 gallons in casks it would be necessary to
provide 382 cubic feet of space to carry 209 cubic feet of water.
As an instance, on the barque "Ingleborg" the water supply of 950 gallons
was stored on the main deck in a tank and five casks. The tank had a
capacity of 500 gallons and the five casks in front of the poop held 450 gallons.
The tank was secured by iron bands and was stored on battens, the total
space occupied being 108 cubic feet.
The casks were on wooden chocks and retained in position by two strong
backs, the total space taken up being 292 cubic feet. There was therefore a
loss of storage room of 909 gallons, or, in other words, had all the water been
earned in tanks the same space would have contained 1,839 instead of
950 gallons.
It is always a bad plan, and indeed an unusual one, to carry the entire
supply in one receptacle. If salt water enters it, the entire stock is spoiled,
and if a leak occurs it is all lost.