Desalination of sea water

[Below is my report to the House of Representatives, dated November 21, 1791, when I headed the US Patent office as Secretary of State under President Washington. The benefits of desalination of sea water were great, however, any new process must not only be verified scientifically but also communicated clearly onboard every vessel.]

The obtaining fresh from salt water was for ages considered as an important desideratum for the use of navigators. The process for doing this by simple distillation is so efficacious, the erecting an extempore still with such utensils as are found on board of every ship is so practicable, as to authorize the assertion that this desideratum is satisfied to a very useful degree. But tho’ this has been done for upwards of 30 years, tho its reality has been established by the actual experience of several vessels which have had recourse to it, yet neither the fact nor the process is known to the mass of seamen, to whom it would be the most useful, and for whom it was principally wanted.

The Secretary of state is therefore of opinion that, since the subject has now been brought under observation, it should be made the occasion of disseminating its knowledge generally and effectually among the sea-faring citizens of the U.S. The following is one of the many methods which might be proposed for doing this. Let the Clearance for every vessel sailing from the ports of the U.S. be printed on a paper on the back whereof shall be a printed account of the essays which have been made for obtaining fresh from salt water, mentioning shortly those which have been unsuccessful, and more fully those which have succeeded; describing the methods which have been found to answer for constructing extempore stills of such implements as are generally on board of every vessel, with a recommendation, in all cases where they shall have occasion to resort to this expedient for obtaining water, to publish the result of their trial in some gazette on their return to the U.S. or to communicate it for publication to the office of the Secretary of state in order that others may, by their success be encouraged to make similar trials, and may be benefited by any improvements or new ideas which may occur to them in practice.