Grog!

A photo from the HMS Warrior

A photo from the HMS Gambia

Me being Rum Bosun on HMS Crane

(you can see how much we got looking at A/B Richardson's glass)



During this time I turned 20-years-old and was able to start drawing my tot! Hoorah! In barracks you had to drink the whole tot in front of the officer of the day. You used to get a card that was clipped before you got your tot so you couldn't go back for seconds. There was the option of going Temperance (T), or Grog (G) if you so desired. But you wouldn't be very popular on board a ship if you went T, because you would have no bargaining power without a tot. It was actually quite a ritualistic thing.

On board ship though, you didn't have to drink it in front of the officer of the day. The grog (2 parts water/1 part rum) was mixed in a tub kept by the stores. Then the tots were brought to the mess in a jug (called a "fanny") and divvied up in the messdeck. When you took your fanny to the mixing tub, you would announce which messdeck you were and then the Jack Dusty (the stores rating) would tell the guy doing the pouring how many were victualed in your mess, and he would pour accordingly. He was always very liberal to ensure you got a decent amount of "the Queens", so that there was always a few drops left over, which was then passed around for everyone in the mess to sip on.

The measurements used to run from "sippers" to "gulpers" to "1/2 tot" to a "whole tot".

For a "whole tot" that would have to be something really major, like the guy was really, really desperate to get ashore. But it was considered really bad form to drink somebody's whole tot - even if it had been promised. The usual procedure was for the guy that owed you the tot to pass you the glass, which you then took a decent gulper out of, and then passed it back to him.

For a "1/2 tot or gulpers" it might be a guy wanting to borrow some money (a rubber) off you to go ashore; or perhaps to borrow a clean white front. Maybe both. Things like that. But again, you'd still only take a gulp, because you'd never know when the situation might be reversed.

For "sippers" you might give it to the underage guys for a taste.

On board the Crane we had a guy named Rip Kirby who was a real "rum rat". He'd drink everything he could get his hands on. On our last day on one of our stays in Singapore, he asked me to do a sub for him. So, knowing what this guy was like, I said it would cost him a tot. In a moment of weakness, or a real urge to get ashore (or both) he agreed. The next day we're at sea and I had the forenoon watch, so I wouldn't get down to the messdeck until 12:30, by which time everybody would have had their tots and lunch - except for the one tot that was supposed to be mine. I went straight into his messdeck, went up to the rum bosun - who took the one remaining tot out of the fanny (already in a glass). He handed it to Rip, who handed it back to the bosun and said "Have a wet", who then passed it back to Rip, who then gave it to me (hoping against all hope that I would just have a good gulp and give it back to him). No such luck. I said "Cheers Rip!" and saw it off in front of him. I thought he was going to have a heart attack! I got a large round of applause from his mess-mates. But, so that he didn't feel too bad about the whole thing, I went and got my tot and gave him a gulper out of that. He never did ask me to do a sub for him again.