A time-hallowed British naval tradition, the sailors’ rum ration, is to disappear in August 1970, following the Admiralty Board’s decision to discontinue the issue of “grog” to ratings of the Royal Navy. The axe has fallen on this dark brown, sticky spirit, 150,000 gallons of which flowed down naval throats last year.
Despite the important part which custom and tradition plays in the life of the Royal Navy, the Admiralty Board has concluded that rum has served its purpose in the Fleet and, viewed with the beer that is now available in ships, is a potentially dangerous anachronism.
But before the last historic measure of rum is ladled from the familiar wooden cask, boldly labelled “The Queen, God Bless Her,” it might be appropriate to recall the violent history of rum in the Service.
The spirit was issued in quantity to give the seaman relief from his comfortless existence, when life at sea was harsh and violent. With improvement in conditions at sea, the rum issue was reduced. In today’s Navy the continuance of the rum ration cannot be justified.
Navy rum, 95.5 degrees proof, is a legend. The issued rum is a blend of 60 per cent Demerara, 30 per cent Trinidad, and 10 per cent other (Barbados and Australia). Thirty thousand men of the Royal Navy daily receive one-eighth of a pint, junior ratings having theirs diluted with two parts of water. The ration is known as the “tot;” mixed with water, it is “grog.” The time of issue is announced with the pipe “Up Spirits.” Normally issued at midday, the time of issue is at the discretion of the commanding officer. Each day’s spirit ration has to be consumed before evening rounds on the day of issue. The saving up of the ration is forbidden.
Though much has been written and said about the custom of “sippers,” “gulpers,” and “Harry Finishers,” all these contrivances are strictly contrary to naval discipline and liable to bring severe penalty to the perpetrators. These terms refer to the illegal sharing of a sailor’s rum ration with someone else. For example, Sailor A has done a favor for Sailor B; in return, Sailor B will give Sailor A a “sip” of his daily rum ration. A greater debt of gratitude would warrant a whole “gulp” rather than a sip of the debtor’s ration. A truly great favor would justify the Good Samaritan’s getting all of his friend’s ration—a “Harry Finisher.” Similarly, on a sailor’s birthday or some other anniversary, his messmates might give him a “sip” of all their rations. On his promotion, he would probably get a “gulp” of all his messmates’ rations. If he received word that his wife had given birth to quintuplets, his messmates would almost certainly give him “Harry Finishers”—the whole of their daily ration!
A tot of Navy rum is a powerful shot of alcohol; more than one tot is highly intoxicating; and several tots can be acutely dangerous. Men have been known to die from the result of sippers and gulpers, and for this reason, it is officially forbidden.
Rum was the sailors’ drink not only by right of custom and tradition, but also by right of discovery, for history records that Elizabethan mariners, harrying the Spaniard off the West Indies and in the Caribbean, sampled this tempting product of the sugar cane. In those days, beer, and sometimes wine, was the staple drink of the Navy, and the ration was a gallon per day.
The original name for the spirit was saccharum, but it became quickly known as “kill-devil” and “rumbullion”—the latter being a Devonshire term meaning rumpus—and when Jamaica was captured in 1655 by the British Fleet under Admiral Penn, the local spirit was unofficially introduced into the Fleet.
The value of rum and wine as long-keeping substitutes for beer, especially on foreign stations, was gradually appreciated by the Navy’s Victualling Department. It became an official issue to seamen in 1731—a pint of wine or half a pint of rum, issued in two equal parts twice a day.
The innovation must have achieved rapid acceptance, because only nine years later, the Commander-in-Chief on the West Indies Station, Admiral Sir Edward Vernon, was appalled at the effects of rum drinking in the Fleet.
He must go down in history as the first rum-waterer, having ordered the men’s ration to be diluted, a quart of water to half a pint of rum. The dilution was henceforth known as “grog” because of the Admiral’s nickname of “Old Grogram,” a reference to his habit of wearing a grogram coat.
Throughout the 18th century, the conditions under which the ordinary sailor lived and worked deteriorated rapidly. During periods of war, the Navy’s manpower was greatly expanded, mainly by convicts and the sweepings of the dockside caught by the press-gang. In order to maintain discipline, the regimes in the ships of the Fleet became more brutal and savage.
The sailor’s only escape, his only refuge from the savage world in which he found himself, was to fill himself with spirits, until he reached a state of insensibility. In his The Price of Admiralty, Stanley Bonnett writes: “It was their only solace. They’ drank it when they were thirsty. They drank it when they were hungry. They drank it when they were afraid. They drank it to celebrate victory. They drank it to drown defeat. They drank it to mask the stench of the mess decks. They drank it so they could join the orgies. They drank it to forget them.”
The authorities plied the men with excessive amounts of liquor instead of dealing with the trouble at its source—the conditions on board ship. Drunkenness reached a peak during the French Wars between 1790 and 1815. The authorities were in effect sanctioning over-drinking as a means of doping the men into enduring their conditions. The men on the spot, however, the admirals and captains, saw the evil at first hand. Experience showed them that the rum ration was a continued source of inefficiency in their fleets. They were constantly urging the Admiralty to reduce the spirit ration.
Nevertheless, the excessive rum issue was allowed to continue unchecked until well after Waterloo. The men received two gills a day until 1825. By this time the demand for men had fallen spectacularly, and the numbers of volunteers for ordinary peacetime requirements were proving sufficient. So, in that year, with bated breath, the Admiralty took the plunge and cut the ration by half. Surprisingly, there was not a murmur, not a protest from the men.
The cut, however, certainly did not cure naval drunkenness. Throughout the first 50 years of the last century it remained an “occupational disorder” on the lower deck. The brewing of beer for the Fleet was discontinued in 1832 and, in 1850, the “gill a day” was again reduced to half the previous issue (to one-eighth of a pint) which amount has survived until today. Pay was increased in compensation, and men not wishing to take up grog could receive grog money (½d. per day) in lieu; or alternatively, they could receive tea and sugar instead.
The back of the rum problem had by now been broken. In 1881, the free issue of spirits to officers and men under 20, was discontinued. In 1930, the payment of grog money to new entries under 20 was also stopped. In 1968, 35,000 men were entitled to draw rum, of whom 29,000 exercised their option.
The number entitled is effected by the size of the Fleet, the reduction in the average age of the sailors, and the number of men “living out” and, as a consequence, not drawing spirit. Thus, about 85 per cent of entitled men have been taking rum. Statistics are difficult to come by, but it appears that this percentage has been reasonably static, perhaps declining slightly over the last few decades. Grog money, the monetary alternative to drawing one’s tot has been threepence a day since 1919. The eighth of a pint of rum, if it could be bought ashore at Navy strength, would cost about ten shillings.
The daily issue, being free and ready to hand, is no doubt a strong inducement to drink even on those occasions when a rating might otherwise not want to do so. Grog money of threepence a day roughly covers the cost of the present issue to the Crown. If it were credited to each man’s pay it would scarcely be significant and would certainly not pay for an alternative beer issue.
The welcome signal “Splice the Mainbrace”* will not, however, disappear with the rum ration. It will still be made on special occasions. Each officer and man over 18 years of age (instead of 20 as at present) will on such occasions be issued one-eighth of a pint of commercial spirits (equivalent to three single measures) or two 12-ounce cans of beer if spirits are not available
The passing of the “tot” will mean the end of a familiar custom in the Royal Navy. Its demise will be mourned by some and approved by other, but in the minds of even the most practical, the fiery spirit will still evoke romantic pictures of gallant sailor lads a-dancing on Plymouth Hoe or Portsmouth Point, of bell-bottoms and capstan shanties, smugglers and buccaneers—all unfortunately very remote from life in today’s modern ships.
* “Splice the Mainbrace" was the order for a special issue of rum to officers and men over 20 years old (the only time officers received rum). It originated in the old sailing ships, where splicing the mainbrace was an arduous feat, hence the reward was an extra issue of rum.