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Nelson and His Navy - Grog Conundrum

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Here, the Purser, Bev Spence (aka Miggins who sailed with Cook), examines the problem of how grog was made and when it was served out.

It seems to be generally accepted amongst several authoritative sources, to whom I have spoken, that as a matter of course each crew member, during our period, was issued with 1 pint of rum a day, to be watered 3:1, lemon or lime juice and sugar added to make grog, and further more that this issue was in addition to the standard ration of a gallon of beer, or equivalents, a day. However, having now trawled various manuals, regulations, correspondence and forms of administration at some length, I can find no record of, nor means of furnishing at the Crown's expense any issue of drink other than the standard ration. Furthermore the regulations appear quite firm that substitution of equivalents was not discretionary but only to be applied upon exhaustion of the preferred issue. This conclusion is confirmed by Rodger as follows:

"Officers often gave their men spirits from their own supplies as a reward for work well done... for there was no official issue of spirits in the Navy. Men drank beer, except on long voyages when it ran out and on foreign stations where it could not be had. Then they drank watered wine, or as a last resort, watered spirits, usually rum in the West Indies, arrack in the East Indies and brandy elsewhere."

The standard ration was 1 Gallon of beer a day or 1 pint of wine or 1/2 pint of spirit, in that order. The supply of both beer and wine having to be exhausted before spirit is issued. This progression would appear to make spirit issue relatively rare and unlikely in the extreme in Home Waters and in Port. The progression, at any rate, if not the implication of the comparitive rarity of spirit issue seems to be confirmed by Lavery, Nelson's Navy p205, although his recipe for Grog watered 2:1 is the only one at that strength that I have seen. Certainly, after Vernon spirit was always issued ready watered to prevent intoxication but in what ratio and with what additives?

Falconer in his 'Universal Dictionary of the Marine' (1815), defines grog as "...a general name for any spirituous liquor and water mixed together, but is more particularly applied to rum and water cold, without sugar...the rum is served out to them merely diluted by water without any other addition, and is used on foreign voyages and stations in lieu of wine or beer ( as well as for the purpose of saving stowage) because the latter will not keep for any length of time."

I initially understood Mountaine (1756), to imply that the wine or spirit be diluted 7 or 15: 1 respectively to make up the daily gallon. I have tried this super weak mix and found it truly unpleasant, very likely to lead to Ball rolling, if not outright Mutiny, Smyth (1867), quotes Pindar as alluding "...to the Cyclops diluting their beverage with ten waters." However, neither of these weak mixes seem very likely since John Nicol records that, in 1794, whilst he was serving in the Edgar, 74, she was called upon to to engage the Defiance, 74, in an attempt to suppress a mutiny which had broken out because "...their captain gave them five-water grog; now the common thing is three-waters. The weather was cold; the spirit thus reduced was, as the mutineers called it, as thin as muslin, and quite unfit to keep out the cold. No seaman could endure this in cold climates. Had they been in hot latitudes, they would have been happy to get it thus, for the sake of the water; but then they would not have got it."

Aside from suggesting a standard ratio of 3:1 for our period, further supported by Jack Nastyface (1805), and running through as the standard to Smythe's entry in his Sailor's Word Book, 1867, this passage begs the question: 'What are they doing drinking Grog in Leith Roads anyway? They should be on beer! Perhaps they were just returning from a long cruise fresh out of beer and wine. He doesn't tell. Anyway, leaving that query hanging unanswered, we find the ratio fairly fixed at 3:1 but what of the quantity? Again Jack Nastyface comes to the rescue. Relating his experiences on the Revenge, 74, in 1805, he lets slip "... every man and boy is allowed a pint, that is one gill of rum and three of water, to which is added lemon acid sweetened with sugar." This is with dinner at Eight Bells in the Forenoon (Midday), later on in his day we read, at eight bells in the afternoon( 4.00p.m.), he gets his supper. "This consists of half a pint of wine or a pint of grog to each man with biscuit, and cheese, or butter."

The only query arising out of this account is that, at the time, the Revenge is on the Channel station, with, one would have thought ready access to beer, so why are they drinking grog? Perhap Falconer's reference to "...saving stowage." is the answer, or perhaps the wise Captain paid more attention to the preferences of his crew than to the preferences of the Victualling Board.

My tentative conclusions are that, in the period 1798 - 1805, at least, rum was issued to the crew not in addition to, but as a substitute for their beer or wine ration, at the rate of half a pint per man per day, pre-mixed with one and a half pints of water, lemon or lime juice and sugar added, making two pints of grog, which I can vouchsafe is a very pleasant, slightly alcoholic lemon cordial. The sugar perhaps being a late addition since the recent introduction of sugar to the standard ration in place of part of the oatmeal allowance. Where the limes or lemons came from I haven't yet investigated. Watch this space.