Letters of introduction were received from Germany, and particularly from England, to influential parties and societies in a variety of places abroad, amongst which were many warm and friendly recommendations from the English Government and Admiralty, as well as the Directors of the then East India Company, to various administrative authorities in the British Colonies.
GUN-ROOM OF THE NOVARA.
The frigate Novara was laid up in the arsenal of Pola, where all requisite steps were taken to complete her outfit, and prepare her thoroughly for the voyage. The ventilation of the lower deck was improved, and the number of cabins increased in proportion to the number of individuals for whom accommodation was to be provided.
The gun-room was, by command of the Archduke, converted into a reading-room, and provided with a well-selected library as well as with all the charts and maps necessary for the information of the officers, who here made their calculations and executed their drawings.
The store-rooms for the sails and tackle were enlarged, so as to hold a double quantity.
A distilling apparatus, the same as patented by M. Rocher, of Nantes, was fixed on the gun-deck, and being placed in connection with the ship's coppers, it was found that, during the few hours each day that the latter were used for cooking, enough sea-water was distilled to supply the entire ship's company with excellent water to drink. This distilled water, after having been kept in iron tanks for a month, was found pleasant to the taste, and agreed very well with the health. The excellent health enjoyed by all the crew throughout the voyage must, in a great measure, be ascribed to the circumstance, that scarcely any other but this distilled sea-water was used, so that the men were enabled entirely to forego drinking river or spring-water, which in the tropics are frequently found injurious.
The use of such an apparatus permits a great diminution in the store of water usually carried by a vessel. The space gained by this diminished bulk of water, enabled us to take on board a larger cargo of coal and provisions, such as preserved beef and compressed vegetables. The sailors were not, however, particularly fond of the preserved beef, because in cooking it loses a great part of its flavour (though the broth is strong and good); nor does it seem as an article of diet to have had a particularly beneficial influence on the health, for the sanitary condition of the crew was equally satisfactory, and the number of scorbutic patients not materially increased when, towards the end of the voyage, the fresh stores were exhausted, and only salt and pickled rations were issued.
Compressed dried vegetables were of great benefit to the health of our men, and cannot be sufficiently recommended. The so-called melange d'équipage of Chollet, as well as sauer kraut, potatoes, and other vegetables, have an excellent taste, improve the soups when mixed with them, and are easily preserved, provided they be protected from the effect of damp. Hence it might be advisable to keep them enclosed in well-soldered tin boxes. The price of these vegetables is so moderate, that it is surprising they are not more generally employed.