Grog
What does one do with a drunken sailor? This certainly was an issue that perplexed many in the 19th century US Navy during the so-called days of "grog" rationing. Ships carried alcohol as a more salubrious substitute to plain water and just as there were ration of food, there was a ration of "grog," a mixture of alcohol (usually rum or whisky) and water. The exact origins for this peculiarly named concoction dates back to the 1740s and British Admiral Edward Vernon. a man known throughout the British navy as "Old Grog" for his habit of wearing a grogram cloak. Besides serving as the namesake of George Washington's estate on the Potomac River, "Old Grog" was purportedly the first to order a daily half pint of rum mixed with a quart of water to remedy the abuses of rum drinking.
Not to be outdone - nor outwitted - by the British Royal Navy, the American Navy also adopted the grog ration, and, in one form or another, be it beer, gin, whiskey, or wine, other navies have a history of serving good spirits on board for reasons that seem to have as much to do with health as with morale. The American Navy was equally alive to the need for a grog ration, and on November 28, 1775, the Congress in Philadelphia issued an order to provide each sailor with "half a pint of rum per man every day, and a discretionary allowance for extra duty and in time of engagement".
The American Temperance Movement also arose around the time of the Revolution. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, published his "Inquiry into the Effects of Spirituous Liquors on the Human Body and Mind" in 1784. The grog ration, even though a measly half pint a day, was blamed for all the problems associated with injudicious drinking. Most floggings (some say 80%) were inflicted for drunkenness and other transgressions associated with alcohol consumption. The problems arose from sailors saving their rations until they had enough for a blast, and from abstinent sailors selling their rations to drinkers.
Congress approved of a rum ration for Navy vessels that was soon substituted by grog. It is difficult to imagine handing out grog to fighting men just as they pulled alongside the enemy, but apparently the stimulating effect was mucb apreciated in those days. By 1806 the US Navy Department tried to switch the ration to whiskey in the belief that it was a more healthful spirit, and, despite initial reluctance on the part of the sailors, rye and other whiskies became commonplace.
This did little to dampen the flaring temperance movement that sought eradication of all alcohol on naval vesel. In 1810. taking heed of the opposition to grog, Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton proposed that grog be forfeited by men for minor infractions of discipline, and all losses of pay as the result of a court martial be sent to the Navy Hospital Fund (a.k.a., Marine Hospital Fund} to establish hospitals exclusively for men of the Navy.
Grog rations were deemed the cause of many evils aboard ships. It was even blamed for the brutal practice of flogging (again, what does one do with a drunken sailor?) Throughout the 1820s, temperance groups besieged Congress petitioning for the abolishment of the grog ration in the Anny and Navy to the extent that Congress asked Secretary of the Navy John Branch to inistitute an inquiry into the effects of grog on midshipmen. Three of the most prominent Navy surgeons of the day, Lewis Heermann, William P.C. Barton, and Thomas Harris spearheaded this investigation and came to the conclusion that the ration was unnecessary and harmful to morals and the order and health. Harris went as fur as to say tbat tea and coffee should be substituted, but conceded that many old sailors would never agree to it.
Not long after, in the pamphlet "Practical Refections upon the Grog Ration of tbe U.S.," Navy doctor William Wood would argue that the ration made men irritable, promoted insecurity, was physically harmful, and was directly or indirectly responsible for diseases that placed chronic invalids in hospitals at government expense. This was not to mention that it constituted a fire hazard on board frigates.
In 1829, three naval surgeons reported to the Secretary of the Navy that the spirit ration was unnecessary, harmful to morals and health, and detrimental to rational discipline. They suggested that tea or coffee might be substituted, but conceded that many old sailors would not submit to the abolition of the spirit ration.
Beginning in 1831, Levi Woodbury. the new Secretary of the Navy, issued a circular stating that all persons wishing to relinquish their rations be compensated 6 cents per ration (or roughly a dollar a month), hoping that greed would be an addiction outweighing alcoholism. Gradually, sailors could accept a cash allowance as substitute for their grog ration. The captain could stop a sailor's grog for a period of time as punishment for minor offenses, but if the culprit was receiving money in lieu of spirits, there might be no alternative to flogging. Hence, many sailors continued to draw their grog ration as a kind of insurance against being flogged at some time in the future for an infraction.
Yet, under constant Temperance Movement prodding, the Navy halved the spirit ration in 1842, substituting tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, pickles, and other staples. Moreover, sailors under 21 were no longer permitted to draw the ration. The word temperance became a euphemism for abstinence, and efforts to repeal the grog issue escalated. Dr. William M. Wood, surgeon of the U.S. Navy, argued in a pamphlet entitled "Practical Reflections upon the Grog Ration of the U.S. Navy" that the ration made the men irritable, promoted insecurity, was physically harmful to them, and was directly or indirectly responsible for solitary drinking or drinking before breakfast.
By 1842, bowing to temperance measures, the Navy Department bad reduced the ration to half a pint of wine or a gill (about 5 ounces) of spirits per day, and substituted coffee, cocoa, tea, and even pickles! Sailors under 21 were altogether prohibited from any fonn of alcohol.
The evidence was mounting that alcohol and sailoring had best be mixed on shore rather than on board. Grog's official death knell rang out on 14 July 1862, by a General Order approved by Congress. Accordjng to the Order, which became effective on 1 September 1862. "the spirit ration in the Navy of the United Statos shall forever cease, and thereafter no distilled spirituous liquors shall be admitted on board vessels-of-war, except as medical stores and upon the control of the medical officers of such vessels, and to be used only for medical purposes."
Somehow, this did not minimize the abuse of alcohol (and the Confederate Navy continued the ration until the end of the War). The Navy needed another general order ( GO of July 1914) "strictly" prohibiting alcohol aboard all Navy vessel. By the time Prohibition hit America, of course, spiritous beverages any kind were forbidden - in principle at least - on board any United States vessel.
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