Photo credit: King Oliver : A Dutch pamphlet of the late 1650s portrays Cromwell as a monarch.
January 2015- The Rum Historian
Marco Pierini, The Rum Historian for "Got Rum?" magazine, talks about "The Beginning of Navy Rum" in the January 2015 issue.
THE BEGINNING OF NAVY RUM
The big fleet left England on a cold 26 December 1654: 37 men-of-war and 3.000 soldiers under the command of Vice-Admiral William Penn and with General Robert Venable in charge of the army.
Its purpose was to attack and conquer the large Spanish island of Hispaniola, presentday Santo Domingo. It was not another privateer enterprise, but something new and bigger. For the first time England attempted to conquer and hold the colony of one of its European rivals; Oliver Crowell’s ambitious “Western Design” was on the move.
The fleet arrived at Barbados, at that time the most important English base in the Caribbean, in late January 1655. After a short stay to embark provisions and more troops, among them many indentured servants that wanted to flee the island, it moved to Hispaniola. There the fleet landed the army to attack the town of Santo Domingo. The attack was ill prepared and the reaction of the Spanish was strong and effective. After a crushing defeat, the English troops retired in disarray and had to reembark quickly.
Worried about having to return home defeated and with empty hands, Penn in May 1655 decided to attack Jamaica, at that time a small, poor Spanish island, sparsely populated and virtually undefended. This time the amphibious attack was prepared with care and it was a success, England took possession of Jamaica. But this did not appease Cromwell that was devastated by the Hispaniola disaster to the point to fell ill and sent Penn and Venable to the Tower.
And it was in Jamaica in 1655 that rum was for the first time distributed on board the ships of the English Navy. The thing happened quite unofficially and we don’t have many details about it. But we know that rum was distributed to the crews instead of the customary daily allowance of beer.
Usually the English sailors had two beverages while at sea, water and beer. The daily ration of beer was one gallon. Both were supplied in wooden casks stored in the holds of the ships in a filthy and unhealthy environment.
Many times the water sources were not clean, and anyway the water deteriorated quickly and became undrinkable in few weeks. Beer lasted longer, but it became sour in few weeks. And things got worse with the long Oceanic voyages. “Nothing doth displease the seamen so as to sour beer ” complained Lord Howard in 1588.
When abroad the captains were allowed to buy wine, and sometimes also brandy. But they were expensive and often produced by enemies.
In Barbados and the West Indies, Rum was cheap and easily available in huge quantity. It occupied relatively less space than beer. And it was produced by English subjects. But, maybe more importantly, rum did not deteriorate when stored on board, on the contrary, if mixed with rum the same water was drinkable for long periods.
So rum began to be part of the ordinary daily rations of English sailors and soldiers in the West Indies. But for decades its diffusion relied on the personal decisions of captains and officers on the ground, without any standard rules for the whole Navy.
Only in 1731 did the “Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty’s Service at Sea” state: “Of the Provisions. In case it should be thought for the Service … in ships employed on foreign voyages, it is to be observed that a pint of wine or half a pint of brandy, rum or arrack, hold provision to a gallon of beer ”.
Navy Rum was born.
- Article written by Marco Pierini, The Rum Historian for "Got Rum?" magazine.