Rum in History- April
April Through the Years
1485- Bartholomew Columbus is sent by his brother to France and England in hopes that he may interest Charles VIII or Henry VII in outfitting an expedition to Asia, but Bartholomew is not successful.
1513- Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon sights Florida and claims it for the Spanish Crown after landing at the site of present day St. Augustine, now the oldest city in the continental U.S.
1601- The East India Company's James Lancaster institutes lemon juice doses among his crew while at the Cape of Good Hope, then heaves off to Madagascar to take on more lemons and oranges. His 200 men are the only crew not decimated by scurvy.
1687- The Royal Navy officially adopts rum as the daily ration.
1763- Of the 14,000 hogsheads of molasses brought into New England, only 2,500 are from British sources, smugglers account for the remainder. French islands allowed to export their rum to France.
1764- On April 5th, Parliament passes the Sugar Act, which replaces the Molasses Act of 1733.
1782- Admiral George Rodney defeats Admiral de Grasse off the coast of Dominica and secures his place as a Royal navy hero.
1789- On board the British ship Bounty, Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Captain William Bligh.
1793- Berlin chemist Franz Karl Achard, 40, reveals a process for obtaining sugar from beets.
1830- The continuous still, patented by Irish inventor Aeneas Coffey, speeds up distilling and makes for "cleaner" whisky, gin and rum. The still is named after its inventor.