A POUND OF BISCUIT, FOUR LITRES OF BEER AND A PINT OF HISTORY

‘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 17^th 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?”

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[1] Janet McDonald , “Feeding  Nelson’s Navy”, Chatham Publishing, 2004, pg 10