UP SPIRITS!

The term “Up Spirits” was used describe the Royal Navy’s practice for over 300 years of issuing a daily “tot” of rum to sailors. There is a great deal of folklore explaining the reasons for this practice and I won’t bore you with much of that, but initially it was supposed to remedy the bad drinking water on board ships and it has been reported that a cask of rum was used to preserve Admiral Nelson’s body so it could be shipped back to England after the battle of Trafalgar. The Canadian Navy, which only came into being in 1910, followed the Royal Navy in most things, including the daily rum issue, and this practice ended only recently as it was considered unsuitable in modern high tech navies.

Rum however, most of which comes from the West Indies, continues to be popular among boaters of all types and in all places, in particular the type of dark rum formerly used by navies. If you can bear with me I will provide a recipe for a “Dark and Stormy” a type of dark rum cocktail available in any good bar near the water, worldwide.

But first I will describe my personal experience with was called a “rum pump-up”. In 1956, when I was promoted to the lofty rank of Midshipman, I was assigned to the brand new high-tech destroyer HMCS Assiniboine, a ship that had luxuries like bunks instead hammocks, air conditioning, lots of refrigeration, good food, etc. A giant leap ahead from what I had previously experienced, but surprisingly the rum still came on board in 25 gallon oak casks, the same as had been used for the past 300 years. Obviously that large cask was too unwieldly to be used to pass out 21/2 ounce tots of rum so the rum had to be “decanted” into small earthenware “rum jugs” from which tots could be easily poured.

One of my “joe-jobs” in the ship was to supervise rum pump-ups because no-one more senior was willing to do it. My assistant was an aged Petty Officer, a crusty veteran of the Battle of the Atlantic, who claimed to be the only one in the ship with the rum-drinking experience sufficient to do a taste-test to determine if the rum in the cask had become “salty” due to exposure in a maritime environment. This unnecessary test was against every rule in the book, but I thought why not, and poured a generous three ounce sample in a cup and he quickly drank it down.  He then pursed his lips, looked up at the deck-head, paused for a moment and finally said “I’m not sure”. I then gave him a second three ounce sample, he chugged that down, looked up again and pronounced “I think it’s going to be all right.” That ritual never changed during my time in that ship and my loyal assistant never found a rum he didn’t like, but he always needed two tries to be sure! 

As a sailor, you can carry on the rum tradition in many ways, but one that has become very popular is the “dark and stormy” originally attributed to a bar in Bermuda. Dark rum is a must, preferably Goslings Black Seal, but Lamb’s Navy or Pussers can do equally well. All three can be found in many LCBOs. Fill a tall glass half full of ice and add at least 2 oz of dark rum. Add some ginger beer and lime juice to fill the glass. You can vary the ingredients to taste, but don’t skimp on the rum, and…do not try this while underway!