The Drunkards who built the Empire

[Clinton Huxley]

Just reading Jack Tar by Roy and Lesley Adkins, about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. Excellent book, full of smashing facts and extracts from sailors diaries. This one made me laugh, from George Jackson, a midshipman on HMS Trent:-

Invited to dine by the captain, Edward Hamilton:-

"Sir Edward turned sharply to me and said, "Take a glass of wine, sir!". "No, sir, thank you", I replied timidly but was electrified by his shouting out savagely, "What, sir! Devil take it! Take one directly!"

You wonder how we could even see the French ships in those days, let alone fire cannonballs at them...

[Feck]

The rum ration was huge too !

[Animavore]

So this isn't about the Irish then?

[Trolldor]

The Irish never built an empire, they just stumbled blindly in to civilisation... namely by being colonised.

[Clinton Huxley]

"Frederick Thomas brought me a quart basin full of rum and washed me with it.......I jumped out of my hammock and began drinking more of it. The morning following I was completely stupid with grog".

Happy days.

[Clinton Huxley]

The Irish drank the Empire....

[Animavore]

The Irish never built an empire, they just stumbled blindly in to civilisation... namely by being colonised.

We built the English Empire. Well, us and the blacks.

[Trolldor]

The Irish never built an empire, they just stumbled blindly in to civilisation... namely by being colonised.

We built the English Empire. Well, us and the blacks.

The darkies. That covers everyone of a darker tinge, not just those from the Africas.

[Clinton Huxley]

We had to get someone else to do the actual building, wouldn't do at all for an officer to break a sweat.

[klr]

"The beatings will continue until morale improves ... "

Actually, the most likely origin for that phrase is the Japanese Navy, not HM Royal Navy. But then the Japanese Navy pretty much aped the British, all the way down to their traditions, so ...

Adds another entry to my ever-growing books to get list. At least it's nowhere near as long as the books I've bought but yet to read list.

[Elessarina]

That's all they drank too - grog. We have always been a nation of pissheads

[klr]

Of course, they had to drink ... there was no reliable source of clean drinking water most of the time.

[Elessarina]

And in the interests of tradition I am keeping it going

[Clinton Huxley]

They would drink wine when in the Med. Weren't too keen on red.

[JimC]

Rum, sodomy and the lash...