3-065-607 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ashantee War: the water supply of Cape Coast Castle - from a sketch by our special artist, 1874. 'The water supply is derived from Mr. Crease's apparatus for distilling fresh water from that of the salt ponds...This apparatus is capable...of producing the daily quantity of 1500 gallons, but not more than 500 gallons is needed for the European residents, garrison, and troops. The water is very pure and clear, but it is usual for the consumer to filter it again before drinking it. After being distilled it is run into a series of casks or barrels placed outside the engine-house. There are eleven of these barrels, each holding ninety gallons, and they are so arranged that the water flows from one into the others, filling them all at once. A pump is attached to the last, by which the water is transferred to the casks of the water-carts shown in our Illustration...[the carts] are hooked together in a train, and pushed over the hilly road into Cape Coast Castle. The locality represented is a little way behind the town. On the right hand is the signal station and lighthouse; Fort William is to the left. The official distribution of water is conducted like that of military rations, with a regular allowance of so much for each person on the list'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.