Jenny Lind Castaways Distil Seawater
In September 1850, the British barque Jenny Lind struck Kenn Reefs in the Coral Sea and wrecked, forcing 28 passengers and crew onto a tiny coral sandbank about half a mile away. With no natural source of fresh water, passenger and physician Phillip Beal salvaged copper cookware and lead piping from the wreck and built a makeshift distillation system that could turn seawater into about 25 gallons of drinkable water a day.
The castaways eked out an existence for 37 days on the bare patch of sand, living on salvaged stores while depending on Beal’s still to keep them from dying of thirst. Meanwhile, the crew used timber, rigging, and sails from the wreck to construct a schooner-rigged boat and a small cutter, which they finally sailed away in to reach help and secure rescue for everyone.