‘But why has the rum gone ?’
- Captain
Jack Sparrow; Pirates of the Carribean
On July 31, 1970, Britain’s Royal Navy issued its last daily rum ration and with it, the rum soaked history
of pirates and sailors finally succumbed to the modern-day sobriety. The iconic and much revelled relationship of sailors and rum (initially
called ‘Kill Devil’, a raw white spirit runoff from the sugar refining process)
is an intriguing tale of the compulsions of landlubbers and the hard life at
sea and predictably it all started in the Caribbean. In the 17th
century unable to sell the large amounts of rum, the sugar cane farmers got
into contracts with the Royal Navy for supply of the spirit to ships. A
symbiotic relationship, there started a timeless tradition of rum and the
sailor. Even today the tradition of gifting a spirit originates from this
association where a good deed was rewarded with an extra pint of rum.
However,
rum was not the original spirit (it was beer) nor it was the only thing on the
sailor’s plate in the Nelsonian Navy of 1700’s. Many a day at sea, the Royal
Navy had evolved an elaborate system of ration entitlements comprising of a
number of items including a wine gallon of beer (approximately 3.78 litres) per
day. In fact, the ration scale was first set up in 1677 and was published as
part of Royal Navy regulations in 1733.The scale looked something like this[1]:-
ITEM/DAY
|
Biscuit
|
Beer
|
Beef
|
Pork
|
Pease
|
Oatmeal
|
Butter
|
Cheese
|
Pounds Avoirdupois
|
Gallons wine measure
|
Pounds Avoirdupois
|
Pounds Avoirdupois
|
Pint Winchester Measure
|
Pint Winchester Measure
|
Ounces
|
Ounces
|
|
Present day equivalence
|
453.59g
|
3.785 L
|
453.59g
|
453.59g
|
500 gms
|
500 gms
|
25 gms
|
25 gms
|
Sunday
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
½
|
||||
Monday
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
|||
Tuesday
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|||||
Wednesday
|
1
|
1
|
½
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
||
Thursday
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
½
|
||||
Friday
|
1
|
1
|
½
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
||
Saturday
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|||||
Total
|
7
|
7
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
6
|
12
|
This
basic ration scale actually lasted till about 1847 (from 1677) when the
Admirality finally accepted the technology of canning. Of course, to suggest
that the meals were locked on to this scale would be to exaggerate and
predictably there were substitutes available for pursers to buy depending upon
availability.
The
most obvious question which begets from the basic ration scale is the idea of
preservation which, as one would infer, was limited to natural methods like
baking, salting, pickling and drying and therefore by long tradition, the
seaman’s diet was based on salt meat, dried pease or beans and articles made
from cereals. As one author has commented, “what the sailors ate at sea was
what landsmen ate during the winter”. For example, biscuits (which included
bread also, when referred to as soft loaf) was preferred by the Royal
Victualling board since it could last much longer, came in handy sizes and was
comparatively (to bread) easier to make. Of course, this biscuit was not really
‘ready to bite’ and required some breaking and soaking before eating. Similarly,
the popularity of rum was purely because it lasted much longer than its other
cousin, beer, not to mention it’s more spirited performance otherwise.
How It Got There ?
The
ration scale though fascinating to read about did not mean that the food and
drink appear on the ships by magic. It was all organised under the Victualling
Board which reported to the Admirality Board and operated through a system of
contracts much like the present-day system. Elaborate systems of supply,
inspection and delivery evolved over time with eventual segregation of supply
and delivery. Also, while contractors were supplying bulk of the items, the
manufacturing yards of the Victualling board were slaughtering and packing
meat, baking biscuits and also brewing beer and manufacturing casks as well. In
fact, almost half the tradesmen working in the manufacturing yards were
involved in the making of casks which was considered very important for quality
control purposes. Similarly, in the year of 1797, for about 110,000 men at sea, approximately
23,000 bullocks and 115,000 pigs passed through altars of the yards. The meat
was packed and shipped off but there are interesting disposal stories of what
was left behind not to mention that dumping of left overs in the estuarine
waters resulting in extra fattened crabs and oysters. The system of stocking
and supplying ships was a primitive cousin to the present one. The person of
interest here was the head of the Victualing yard called the ‘Agent Victualler’ who used to draw a
handsome salary and was not just responsible for the running of yard and
stocking of ships but also to provide ships pursers with adequate currency to
buy provisions at foreign ports and islands. He was also responsible to provide
the ships with vegetables, fresh meat and tobacco. As one would understand by
now, the paper work was elaborate and time consuming.
The
RN tryst with the rations and spirits
is an account which is replete with anecdotes and trivia which every sea farer
can relate to. Of course, the RN
though a benchmark of sorts is not the only Navy which was operating at that
time and the systems of other Navies would also throw up interesting tales of
victual management in the time when refrigeration or canning were not
available. It also lends us the historic perspective of our modern-day practices.
Military history overwhelmingly has been an account of wars and battles with
Sun Tzu and Clausewitz being celebrated the world over but there is interesting
trivia and lessons buried the logistical challenges faced when war was a
frequent occurrence and technology had much catching up to do.
Much
of the present post is based on the book ‘Feeding Nelson’s Navy’ by Janet
McDonald detailing the various aspects of Victualling management onboard and
ashore. Another, land mark book on logistics is the seminal work of Dr Martin
Crevald called ‘Supplying War : From Wallenstein to Patton’ which is probably
the most comprehensive work covering Logistics challenges from the 30 years war
till the WW-II campaigns. Both the books are interesting reads for logisticians
across the world for many lessons, anecdotes and to probably to answer the
question; “But why has the rum gone?”
