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<DATE>7-27-09</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>The CASE of Mr. WALCOT, Concerning his Making Sea-Water Fre&s;h, Clear and Whole&s;ome.</HEAD>
<P><HI>WILLIAM WALCOT</HI> of the Middle Temple <HI><ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR></HI> the <HI>Fir&s;t</HI> and <HI>True Inventor</HI> of making Salt (and Putrefied) Water, Fre&s;h, Clear, and Whol&s;ome, did, in the Year 1675, make an Experiment of his &s;aid <HI>Invention,</HI> in the pre&s;ence of His Sacred Maje&s;ty, King <HI>CHARLES</HI> the Second, of Glorious Memory, who was plea&s;ed Highly to approve thereof, and to Grant him His Letters Patents for the Sole Benefit for 14 Years, according to the Statute, therein Declaring, That, <HI>Our Tru&s;ty and Well beloved</HI> William Walcot, <HI><ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR> hath with long Study, and very Great Expence, Invented and brought to Perfection, the Art of making Water Corrupted fit for u&s;e, and Sea-Water Fre&s;h, Clear, and Whol&s;ome, in very Large Quantities, by &s;uch Ways and Means as are very Cheap and Ea&s;y, and which may be done and Practi&s;ed with great Speed and Expedition, Some Evident Demon&s;trations whereof we have &s;een to Our Great Satisfaction, and do believe the &s;ame may prove very u&s;eful as well to Our Royal Navy, as al&s;o to all other Ships and Ve&s;&s;els belonging to Our Subjects, and likewi&s;e highly Advantagious to the Trade of our Subjects, and may tend to the Advancement of our Cu&s;toms; and being, as we are Informed, never before &V;&s;ed or Known in any of Our Dominions, may likewi&s;e bring &s;everal other Con&s;iderable Advantages to &V;s and Our Subjects: And the &s;aid</HI> William Wilcot <HI>hath a&s;&s;ured &V;s, that he will make very Con&s;iderable and &V;&s;eful Im|provements for, and in order to the greater Ea&s;e and Conveniency in the Premi&s;es,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Afterwards, by His &s;aid Maje&s;ties Leave, a Bill was brought into the Right Honourable the Hou&s;e of PEERS, for Enlargement of the &s;aid Term; which Bill being once Read, is yet remaining there, till the Water might be Experimented at Sea.</P>
<P>Much Time was nece&s;&s;arily &s;pent in procuring In&s;truments and Materials (by rea&s;on that no Arti&s;ts had been accu&s;tomed to form &s;uch) fit to put in Practice (e&s;pecially at Sea) &s;o great an Invention.</P>
<P>Likewi&s;e, Many, Great and Unavoidable Ob&s;tructions (by rea&s;on of the newne&s;s of the Invention) he met with, as to the Practi&s;ing thereof at Sea, of which he is ready to give a particular Account.</P>
<P>However, He Practi&s;ed his &s;aid Invention &s;everal years on Land, and di&s;po&s;ed of the Water to very many for their U&s;e, and al&s;o &s;ent &s;ome to Forreign Parts, which continued Sweet and Good.</P>
<P><HI>Since</HI> which time <HI>Robert Fitz-gerald</HI> <ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR> and Others, his Partners, have pretended to the &s;aid Invention (and Gained other Letters Patents, not|with&s;tanding <HI>W. Walcot</HI> his Letters Patents were in Being) thereby Ob&s;tructing the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot.</HI> This, at length, occa&s;ioned <HI>W. Walcot</HI>'s repairing to <HI>Holland,</HI> in the Year 1684. where his Oppo&s;ers were endeavouring to Obtain Letters Patents from the States of the United Provinces; and there, by a Petition delivered, on his behalf, to their Lord&s;hips, he Reque&s;ted, that their Lord&s;hips would order both Parties to Appear before them to make publick Demon&s;trations of their &s;aid <HI>Arts;</HI> And, <HI>that upon the Judgments of their Lord&s;hips which of them both made the be&s;t Tryal with the lea&s;t Charge, might full&punc; Enjoy their Lord&s;hips Free Patent;</HI> which Reque&s;t being Granted, the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot,</HI> and Mr. <HI>William Fitz-gerald,</HI> deputed by the &s;aid <HI>R. Fitz-gerald</HI> and his Partners, did appear; and each made three &s;everal Experiments, One in pre&s;ence of the Lords of the States General, and Two before the Members of the States of <HI>Holland,</HI> and of the &s;everal Provinces; at All which, the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot</HI> gained &s;uch a Reputation, that he hath Obtained Letters Patents from the States General, <HI>To Him alone, with Exclu&s;ion of all Others.</HI> And in like manner, Other Letters Patents from each of the &s;everal Provinces of <HI>Holland, Zeeland, Vrie&s;land,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>The&s;e Tran&s;actions in <HI>Holland</HI> were not unknown &s;o Their Maje&s;ties.</P>
<P>By All which it Manife&s;tly Appears, That the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot</HI> was the <HI>Fir&s;t Inventor</HI> (which hath been al&s;o Acknowledged by the &s;aid R. <HI>Fitz|gerald</HI> and his Partners) and is the only Per&s;on that ever truly attained to the <HI>Art</HI> of Making Sea-Water Fre&s;h, Clear and Whole&s;ome, in full per|fection, which would have been in danger to be lo&s;t, if the &s;aid <HI>R. Fitz-gerald</HI> and his Partners, &s;hould have gained an Act of <HI>Parliament,</HI> accord|ing as they were endeavouring in the Year, 1685. and &s;o to have Excluded the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot,</HI> both from the Reputation and Advantage of the &s;aid Art, who had the Sole Right therein. To defend which he was forced to Return abruptly out of <HI>Holland,</HI> and to give his Attendance here &s;ince.</P>
<P>This likewi&s;e manife&s;tly Appears, both to Seamen and others, by what the &s;aid <HI>R. Fitz-gerald</HI> and his Partners have done &s;ince, both at Sea and Land, throughout His Maje&s;ties Dominions, in their making many Tryals of their Skill, both in Ships and at Land, and in their &s;everal years At|tempts of bringing their Work into a Con&s;tant and publick Practice, where none did Ob&s;truct them.</P>
<P>SO that (as it is well known) the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot</HI> hath employed a great part of his Life in the <HI>Inventing</HI> of this Art, and bringing it to &s;o high a perfection, as to a practical u&s;e, and gaining it &s;o publick a Reputation; All by his own Con&s;tant and Exce&s;&s;ive Charges; much &s;uffering al&s;o under the Interruption of &s;uch powerful Intere&s;ts and Adver&s;aries (who&s;e chief De&s;ign was to force the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot</HI> him&s;elf to make a Di&s;covery to them of the Secrets of his Art; and &s;ailing thereof, to Entice his Workmen or Servants from his, to their Service; In vain endeavouring thereby to take the whole Advantages of his Charges and Labours to Them&s;elves) who&s;e Ob&s;truction (they urging withall to have his Patent made void, that theirs might take place) hath and doth occa&s;ion this mo&s;t grievous lo&s;s of time, in &s;o Important an Undertaking. And makes him &s;uffer likewi&s;e under the Cen&s;ure of their Errors, and Mi&s;carriages, through their want of Skill; Who thereby have, perhaps, brought a &s;hrewd Undervaluing, and unju&s;t Di&s;paragement on the <HI>True ART;</HI> which, by rea&s;on of that Invincible <HI>Evidence,</HI> and &s;o many publick <HI>Demon&s;trations</HI> that have been &s;hewn, and &s;uch <HI>Te&s;timonies</HI> and <HI>Atte&s;tations</HI> thereof, both at home and abroad, hath given &s;uch &s;ufficient A&s;&s;urance of its Reality and Worth, that it is hoped now it cannot rea&s;onably be Que&s;tioned.</P>
<P>Therefore the &s;aid <HI>W. Walcot</HI> doth mo&s;t humbly De&s;ire there may be Provi&s;ion made by an Act in Parliament, that he may be Re&s;tored to his Anti|ent Right, and have his Term (which hath been thus unhappily interrrupted) Renewed and Enlarged in &s;uch manner, That he may be encouraged and enabled to proceed to Exerci&s;e and Advance &s;o <HI>Tran&s;cendent</HI> an <HI>ART</HI> at Sea as well as at Land, for the &V;niver&s;al Benefit.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="testimony">
<HEAD>The Lord <HI>Chandos</HI> his Te&s;timonial concerning his long Experience of <HI>W. W.</HI> his Sea-Water.</HEAD>
<P><HI>THe&s;e are to certifie All whom it doth or may Concern, That before I was Honour|ed with the Character of Amba&s;&s;ador from His Late Maje&s;ty of Ble&s;&s;ed Memory to the Grand Seignior of the</HI> Turks, <HI>I had the Satisfaction of &s;everal Ta&s;ts of my Worthy Friend</HI> William Walcot <HI><ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR> his Sea-water made Fre&s;h, and Sweet, and to all Intents and Purpo&s;es equally made u&s;eful with the be&s;t Spring-water that e're I drank of in</HI> England <HI>for Land or Sea Service, as, upon above &s;even years Experience thereof at home and in foreign Parts, I am verily per&s;waded. For of the &s;aid Water I took with me &s;ome Quantity to</HI> Con&s;tantinople, <HI>and there upon Tryal thereof in the Pre|&s;ence of &s;everal Per&s;ons of Credit found it exceeding Sweet and Good, In&s;omuch that I had the Curio&s;ity to try how long it would &s;o pre&s;erve it &s;elf in that hot Climate: And in that Experiment al&s;o It &s;o well an&s;wered my Expectation, that after near &s;even years keeping of it abroad, I brought of it home again with me: And now at this very Time have of it</HI> (viz. <HI>The Water I took out with me from the &s;aid Mr.</HI> Walcot) <HI>Right, Sweet and Good. In Witne&s;s whereof I here Sub&s;cribe my Name this 25th. of</HI> May 1688.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Chandos.</SIGNED>
This agreeth with the original of his Lord&s;hips own Hand-writing.</CLOSER>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="testimony">
<HEAD>The Te&s;timonial of Mr. <HI>John Shi&s;h,</HI> Chief Ma&s;ter Builder of His Maje&s;ties Yard at <HI>Deptford,</HI> concerning the working of <HI>W. W.</HI> his In&s;truments in Ships.</HEAD>
<P><HI>WHereas</HI> William Walcot <HI><ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR> hath often di&s;cour&s;ed with me about his &s;etting up of his Furnaces and In&s;truments in Ships for his Invention of making Good Fre&s;h Water, and hath let me &s;ee his Furnaces, In&s;truments and Materials, and one Furnace in particular built upon Boards in a Room, which I &s;ee hath been much u&s;ed with &s;ecurity from Danger of Fire: I do Certifie, that it doth appear to me, That he hath taken great Care, made many Indu&s;trious Contrivances, and Good Provi&s;ion, for Safety and Conveniency of Working in Ships, and that he hath brought his Furnaces, In&s;truments, and other Materials (accom|modating them to Ship-Service) and Manner of Placing them to a great Perfection. I do Certifie likewi&s;e that they may be &s;et up in a Ship, without Damage or Injury to the Ship, with Security from danger of Fire, and able to endure the Motion and To&s;&s;ing of a Ship at Sea. And that, in my Opinion, it will be of great &V;&s;e to Navigation, as well to His Maje&s;ties Ships, as to others.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE>May the 13th. 1681.</DATE></DATELINE>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P>This agreeth with the Original.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>John Shi&s;h.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
<TAILNOTE>
<P>He being &s;ent for to give his Per&s;onal Attendance, Declared before the Commi&s;&s;ioners of the Admiralty, That he would undertake to &s;et them up in this manner in any of His Maje&s;ties Ships, if they plea&s;ed to a&s;&s;ign him a Ship for that Purpo&s;e.</P>
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</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The Exerci&s;e of this ART may be Beneficial to All, and will be Injurious to None.</HEAD>
<P>THE Purity of the Water is Such, that the Spirit is pre&s;erved; In more than twice Seven years It hath not Putrefied, nor &s;hewn any &s;ign of Decay &s;ince. It neither doth Ta&s;te New or Har&s;h when fir&s;t Compleated, nor Stale or Flat when long kept; but Smooth, and at all times alike.</P>
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