Royal Navy MemoriesHMS Devonshire and HMS Leopard Portal
Day of Mourning
Black Tot Day - July 31st, 1970, when the last “tot was drawn in the fleet around the globe; a rather touchy subject with the old and bold!” Black Tot Day was officially the last day that Pusser’s Rum was issued on board ships in the Royal Navy.
The Tot Song
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In the Navy of the 70’s
The beginning of the rot
The day they killed the Andrew
Was the day they stopped the totOh! They go to east of suez
Or west to Panama
When your bely’s ful of limers
You cant go very far
The legend of the rum tub
Is still there to be seen
But the motto looks quite silly
On the side of the goffer machineYou will hear old sailors saying
It’ll never be the same
And when they talk of bubbly
They don’t mean French champagneDid jack flinch at Trafalgar
As he faced shot and shell
With a tot inside his belly
Our jack would sail through hellAt ten to twelve each forenoon
Since they Andrew first began
Jack drinks the blood of Nelson
From Jutland to JapanTheir Lordships sip their Sherry
And cry “more efficiency”
But what works on paper
doesn’t always work at seaNow jack is a humble sailor
who doesn’t ask a lot
and after Jutland and Trafalgar
who dares to stop his totHe’s always done his duty
to country and the throne
and all he asks is fairness
and to leave his tot alone
R.I.P.
31st July 1970 the day of the last tot.
History of the “Pussers Tot”
A standard naval tot of rum consisted of an eighth of a pint of rum (which was over 50% ABV, and was traditionally named “overproof”). Generally spirits are about 40% in comparison.
Labelling spirits today as overproof or underproof is derived from the early method of treating Jamaica rum in the naval victualling yards before it was issued to the warships. The rum used to arrive in England at 140 degrees overproof after which it was reduced to 95.5 degrees underproof by having water added to it. A small amount of the mixture was poured over some grains of gunpowder and then a magnifying glass was used to ignite it. If the burning alcohol managed to stay alight then it was said to be “proof”, and if it didn’t light then it was underproof. If it exploded then it was overproof. Proof spirit today is legally defined as that which has a specific gravity of 12/13 (92.3 percent) at 51ºF, and of course they don’t do the gunpowder/magnifying glass test any more.
Once a rating reached the age of twenty he was entitled to draw his tot. Senior Rates were entitled to drink this neat, however Junior Rates had “2 in 1″ which meant that it was mixed with two parts water to one part rum. The reason for this was so that the rum could not be stored and saved for another day. The rum was a blend from different countries in the Caribbean, most notably British Guyana, British Virgin Islands and Trinidad.
I recall that the Tot in the Far East was less superior than the rum that was despathed from the Rum barrels held at Clarence Yard, Gosport. UK. If I am correct, the Far East tot was a Australian blend. It smelt like a shitty babies nappy…and if i recall tasted probably the same? To identify the place of origin, the Aussie flagons had a orange seal whereas the Clarnce Yard flagons had a red seal.
The official reason for stopping the tradition of supplying a tot to ratings was that the Royal Navy had much sophisticated equipment and weaponry onboard and needed sober sailors to operate it.
It was deemed that the Chief Petty Officers and Petty Officers would be allowed their own bars to purchase any spirits or beer. The Junior Rates would be entitled to purchase an extra can of beer, making three cans (Tinnies) of beer a day.
So now bearing that in mind, Senior Rates can now get pissed on spirits and pints whilst lowly Jack Tar has to make do with three “tinnies”! Obviously the idiot who came to this decision, was obviously under the impression that Senior Rates had no part in the handling of the asaid “sophisticated weapons and equipment”, so were entitled to get pissed!
The only time that Jack might have been under the influence of his Tot, would probably been on his birthday, when he would have had a few “call rounds” (invitation to a sippers or gulpers of another ratings Tot).
