3-034-745 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Store sheds and condensing tanks, 1871. Wreck of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Megaera on Ile Saint-Paul, French Southern and Antarctic Lands. '...casks, bales, and boxes lie about as on the quay of a commercial port; and the condensing tanks, with the turf-fires smoking through the iron stove-pipes, are employed to distil the sea-water for drinking or cooking...The spring-water, being very sulphury, was found undrinkable; but there was some rain-water, which was secured in iron tanks brought from the ship... The water from the reservoir formed on the hill was supplied to the encampment below by a hose 860 ft. in length...The men who first landed...were sheltered by tents made from the ship's sails; but some sheds or huts, already existing, were used for store-houses, and barracks were afterwards put up...Captain Thrupp...thought it right to put the men on a reduced allowance of food. Their daily rations were 4 oz. of biscuit, 8 oz. of salt or preserved meat, and a little tea or cocoa, with sugar, on alternate evenings, but no flour...As the supply of limejuice was short, various herbs, such as dandelions, and some grasses were gathered to supply the want of ordinary vegetables'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.