Photo: British soldiers relaxing at a sutler’s booth, 1808. (Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library)
A Toxic Beverage
Marco Pierini, The Rum Historian for "Got Rum?" magazine, talks about "A Toxic Beverage" in the May 2015 issue.
A Toxic Beverage
John Bell served as a military surgeon in Jamaica. Back to England, in 1791 he published An Inquiry into the causes which produce, and the means of preventing diseases among British Officers, Soldiers, and others in the West Indies. Containing observations on the action of spirituous liquors on the Human body. As many, Bell was shocked by the mortality rate “in some of those regiments, two thirds, and in others upward of an half, died, or were rendered unfit for service before they had been a year, or at most a year and a half, in the island of Jamaica.”
Like many doctors of the time, Bell underestimated the role of infectious diseases and thought about climate, diet and behavior. In his opinion, the excessive daily consumption of rum was the primary cause of illness and death among the soldiers. The daily allowance was half a pint and was usually diluted with water, we do not know in what ratio. But soldiers bought much more undiluted rum, “large quantities of which of the most execrable quality” from private sellers at a cheap price.
Bell didn’t approve of the addition of water to rum. “In this mode of using it, rum is perhaps more injurious to the body than any other, because it makes only a simple uncompounded impression, which becomes weaker by a frequent repetition of its cause: and therefore, after some time, an increase of the quantity of spirit becomes necessary.” In other words, the daily allowance of Army diluted rum paved the way to alcoholism.
But this is not all. Distillation is an art, but a dangerous one, even today. Two centuries ago, in the West Indies, planters and distillers produced for the soldiers a kind of rum that only needed to be strong and cheap. It was fermented and distilled very quickly, saving on costs, without any regard for quality. As far as we know, the heads and the tails were not removed and -in all likelihood- there was methanol in the rum, fusel oils and other bad congeners. And lead powder too. Yes, because at the time lead and pewter were largely used in sugar and rum-making machinery.
We know, from Bell and other sources, of soldiers who died immediately after they had drunk. Or who fell to the ground in a state of torpor. Of hardy young men who declined rapidly. Of excruciating pains, ulcerated organs, illnesses …. The reports of the military surgeons of the time, and the first scientific postmortems, tell us a terrifying story.
To sum up, soldiers’ rum was actually a toxic beverage.
Only after 1815, and Napoleon’s final defeat, did things start to improve. But this is a different story.
-This article is written by Marco Pierini-
My name is Marco Pierini. I own and run a small tourist business in my seaside town in Tuscany, Italy. With my partner Francesco Rufini we founded La Casa del Rum (The House of Rum) that runs a beach bar, distributes Premium Rums and organizes rum seminars and events.
Many years ago, I got a degree in Philosophy in Florence, Italy, and I studied Political Science in Madrid,Spain. But my real passion has always been History and through History I have always tried to know the world, and men.
Then, I discovered rum and I decided to make a profession of it. I realized Rum has a long, terrible and fascinating history, made of planters and slaves, sailors and pirates, imperial fleets and revolutions. Yet, a History still largely unknown. So I decided to join my lifelong passion, History, to my current job, rum, by writing about the History of Rum.
And here I am.
Marco Pierini
Marco@gotrum.com