A NEW METHOD OF CURING AND PRESERVING HERRINGS AND SPRATTS
Year: 1801

page_text: DAILLIS
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
BATLEY, of Streatham, in the County of Surrey, Merchant, send greeting..
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the. Third, by His Letters
Patent under the. Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twentieth day of January, in the forty-first year of His reign, reciting
that I, the said Benjamin Batley, had, by my petition, humbly represented unto
His said Majesty that I had, by great study, invented "A NEW METHOD OF CURING
AND PRESERVING HERRINGS AND SPRATTS," for which I had, obtained His Majesty's
Royal Letters Patent, and that I had made "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS THEREIN,
80 AS TO EXTEND THE SAME TO THE CURING AND PRESERVING OTHER FISH AS WELL
AS, HERRINGS AND SPRATTS," which I conceived would be of public utility and
advantage, and praying His Majesty to grant to me, my executors, adñiors, and
assigns, His Letters Patent for the sole exercise of my said. Invention within
England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all
His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, for the term of fourteen years
from the date of the said Letters Patent, was graciously pleased to condescend
to my request; in which said Letters Patent last granted is contained a pro-
viso that if I, the said Benjamin Batley, should not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's Court of Chancery within six months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the
said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the
said Letters Patent, relation. being thereunto had, may and will more fully
appear.
NOW. KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Batley, in compliance with
the said proviso, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said In-

page_text: +
pre-
After severing the head-and-taking out the entrails.of.the general kinds of
fish, salt the body with, bay or rock or common salt in the cask in the usual
way; but the bay or rock salt is preferable, as the other is apt to absorb the
pickle. In the next place, pack the fish close in the cask, and sprinkle salt
between the different layers, with pickle sufficient to moisten the same, such
pickle to be made of two pounds of bay salt, with from eight to twelve ounces
of saltpetre, and from four to eight-pounds-of-molasses, to suit different palates,
to be mixed in a gallon of spring water, if to be procured; and boil the same
until the whole of the ingredients are dissolved. River water may answer
the purpose, but spring water is preferable. Then let the casks be properly
headed up and coopered, a cork hole either in the centre or head of the
cask, through which may be poured a further supply of pickle for the
servation of the fish. The same proportion of any sugar might be used as a
*substitute for the molasses; but the extra price probably would be considered
as an impediment. And from two to three months should be allowed after
curing in order to give the fish a full flavor; and with respect to shellfish, par-
"ticularly oysters, when taken from the
shells they may be preserved, either in
kegs or barrels, with the same kind of pickle, and, if requisite, add one or two
pounds of salt in addition to the pickle, as it may not be found expedient to
put salt to them in the barrel. And for the preservation of the roes of fish by
themselves, the same pickle, with a small portion of salt and sugar or molasses
mixed with the salt, will suffice. And the pickle, with the usual proportion of
salt, will answer for the flavoring of every kind of fish; and they may be
cured together with their heads and roes, but, on a
on account of the oil and filth
which the heads, and roes contain, it is preferable to sever the heads and
take out the entrails, as the only effectual means of eradicating the "noxious
qualities which would otherwise adhere to them.
:.
14.
7:
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Batley, have hereunto set my.
hand, and seal, the, First day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and one..
Signed and sealed in the presence of
"
BENJ (1.8.), BATLEY.
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page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1801, the aforesaid Benjamin Batley came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and one.