Navy Rum
In the era of wooden sailing ships, a sailor’s life at sea was brutal. It’s not surprising that many navies issued alcoholic beverages to boost morale and keep crews from deserting while docked. Wine, beer, brandy, and gin were commonly given to these mariners, but no libation captured the public’s imagination like Britain’s Royal Navy rum has.
Beginnings
Royal Navy historians have pinpointed the first issuance of rum to its sailors: 1655 in Jamaica. However, issuing rum was a rarity in that era. Navy ships typically set sail supplied with wine, beer, and brandy. When supplies ran low while far away from home, ships purchased whatever was locally available. In the Caribbean, that meant rum.
An unofficial daily alcohol ration was provided at the discretion of the ship’s captain in the 1600s. It wasn’t until 1731 that the navy bosses (the “admiralty”) formally established that a pint of wine or a half-pint of rum was an acceptable substitute when beer wasn’t available.
Naturally, this quantity of alcohol led to drunken mayhem, so Admiral Edward Vernon decreed in 1740 that rank-and-file sailors would henceforth receive their rum mixed with water. The water lowered the strength down to something like wine and prolonged the time required to consume it. The diluted libation came to be known as grog, a reference to Vernon’s grogram coat. It’s less well-known that officers were allowed to consume their rum ration undiluted.
Over many decades, the quantity of rum issued and the dilution ratio changed often but trended towards less rum. By the end, the daily ration was just two ounces.
Formalizing the Navy’s Recipe
Before the 1800s, there was no standard navy rum blend—The navy issued whatever it bought without modification. Thus, a sailor’s daily ration might be very different from day to day.
In the early 1800s, the navy began selecting and purchasing rums to blend. Rum merchants sent rum-filled casks to the navy’s “victualling yards,” where workers emptied them into gigantic open vats to mellow. Over several months to a few years, the harsh flavors evaporated into the ether, leaving behind a rough-and-tumble blend with just a hint of polish.
Early records are vague on the style of rums the navy purchased. However, they favored rum from British colonies. In the final decades of Royal Navy rum, Demerara rum from British Guiana found particular favor; Trinidad rum occupied the runner-up slot for most of the 20th century. Contrary to popular belief, the navy rarely purchased Jamaican rum in the latter years, except in dire circumstances.
In 1866 the navy established an exact issuing strength: 54.5% ABV. This is less than “proof strength” (57.14% ABV), so Royal Navy rum was actually underproof, not overproof as many believe. The rum was also very dark due to a healthy dose of spirit caramel which noticeably impacted the flavor.
Daily Issuance Ritual
Sailors received their daily issuance (“tot”) during a formal ceremony each day. In brief, an officer determined how much rum was collectively required for each sailor and removed it from the ship’s stores. The rum was then transported in a special cask to a gathering point. Upon the call of “Up Spirits!” throughout the ship, designated representatives from each “mess” (a group of related people who ate together) gathered to watch the rum diluting in the grog tub. This observation process presumably made it harder to cheat sailors of their full ration. The mess representatives were each given the exact amount of grog needed, which they then distributed to their mess-mates.
Black Tot
A growing temperance movement in the Royal Navy ranks and the option to receive money rather than rum led to navy rum consumption to drop considerably in the 20th century. The admiralty also increasingly realized sober sailors were required to operate modern naval equipment. Thus, the daily ration ended with great fanfare on July 31st, 1970, referred to as Black Tot Day. Fifty-plus years on, July 31st is still a holiday of sorts for rum drinkers around the world.