The origins of rum punch – The British army's "grog"
Contrary to what one might think, the first "arranged" rum was not born from the palate of an exotic liqueur lover but in the greasy holds of the "British Navy". From the beginning of the exploratory age, the major problem of supplying the crews arose.
On the high seas, food spoils quickly. Who hasn't heard of the diet of sailors of yesteryear (which would make any modern nutritionist shudder) devoid of any fresh produce and consisting of salted pork, beef, cod, and bad cereal biscuits?
Seventy-five days of these fatal feasts caused the terrible scurvy, the "sailors' plague", which loosened teeth and then killed more surely than shipwrecks and battles.
It was not until the end of the 18th century that the use of lemon and the introduction of the process of canning food on board ships improved the daily lives of crews.
This phenomenon also applied to drinks: the equivalent of today's table beer or "English Ale" (low alcohol content, between 1 and 3%) and water, shipped in wooden barrels, would spoil after only a few weeks of travel.
In 1655, while the Anglo-Spanish War (1654 – 1660) saw the "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland" of Lord Protector Thomas Cromwell (England had been without a king since the beheading of Charles I) invade Spanish Jamaica, it was Admiral Sir William Penn, the armed wing of the Western Design (at the head of a fleet carrying nearly 6,000 men), who, upon gaining a foothold in the Caribbean, began to introduce rum into the rations of his crews, as a replacement/complement to water, beer and the traditional brandy. The use of rum continued to such an extent that in 1731, it became an integral part of the "Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea" (regulations and instructions in force on board the ships of Her Most Gracious Britannic Majesty), each man being given half a pint of undiluted rum per day, distributed in two doses.
We can well imagine the harmful effects of such a regime on drunkenness and therefore crew discipline (let's not forget that many sailors were forcibly conscripted via the "press" system, which already made them inherently difficult men to command). In 1740, Admiral Sir Edward Vernon commanded the British invasion fleet during the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1748), once again against Spain. The admiral, nicknamed "Old Grog" by his men because of the old grosgrain coat ("grogram") he liked to wear, introduced the watered-down rum of the same name, "Grog" (from his "captain's order" No. 349), which can be considered one of the first "arranged" rums, in the most basic sense of the word!
This distribution was done under the watchful eye of the officer on duty in a dedicated container (beware of offenders who wanted to force the dose of rum), the rum then being drunk to the cry of "up spirit!" The practice then continued for 230 years.
On July 31, 1970, the "Black Tot Day" or "Great Rum Debate" took place in the House of Commons, which, after an hour and ten minutes of discussion, put an end to the existence of the daily rum ration in the Navy. At the naval training camp of HMS Collingwood in Fareham, the abandonment of this centuries-old tradition was commemorated on the day of the last distribution by a mock funeral procession where drums and fifes accompanied a black coffin symbolizing the departure of our friend Grog to his final resting place.
