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84
THE FLOWING BOWL
of Carlisle in the year 1865 some rum known
to be 140 years old was sold for ^3 ; 3s. per
bottle.
This is not the brand served out to our
army and navy; although the " tots " issued
periodically to Tommy Atkins and Ben Bowline
consist of good, sound liquor, wholesome enough,
save for gouty subjects—and a sailor with the
gout would be of about as much use to his Queen
and country as a watch without works— and
writing from past experience I can aver that
every drop of liquor, whether ale or rum, supplied
in a regimental canteen had to be previously
passed by a committee of" taste." In many ships,
nowadays, no rum or other intoxicant is served
out j and as no equivalent is given, it might
appear as though the owners made a good thing
out of the temperate habits of their crews. But
I do not believe in total abstinence as an aid to
work j and I havenever seen a sailor the worse—
on board ship—for his " tot." On the other hand,
in the old days of " Green's " troop-ships, the old
sailing-vessels which made the voyage to India
round the Cape of Good Hope, it was by no
means infrequent for a soldier to be " overcome "
by the cane-spirit, of which he occasionally got
rather more than his orthodox allowance.
How was this managed ? The thrifty sea
farers were in the habit of selling their grog
allowance to the " swaddles " ; and as soon as the
ship's captain found this out, he issued stringent
regulations which it might have been expected
•would put a stop to this practice. When all
hands were piped to grog a ship's officer was