A Conversation for The History of the Royal Navy - Part 5 (1945 - 2005)
Grog
The H2G2 Editors Started conversation Oct 18, 2006
What exaclty is grog, does anyone know, and when did the Navy stop serving it as a matter of course to its sailers? 
Grog
h5ringer Posted Oct 18, 2006
Grog is a mixture comprising 25% rum mixed with 75% water, and having lemon or lime juice and sugar added. The rum to water ratio has varied from time to time. 
Grog
swl Posted Oct 18, 2006
"Rum grog was introduced into the Royal Navy in 1687. The ration then was one pint of neat Jamaican rum a day for each man and a half a pint for boys. In 1740 because of the incidence of drunkeness in the fleet, Admiral "Groggy" Vernon so named because of the grogram material from which his boat cloak was made, ordered the watering down of neat rum. The daily ration was later to become a Gill (one eight of a pint) of rum diluted with two gills of water and was nicknamed "Grog" after its initiator. The rum ration was discontinued in the Royal Navy in 1970."
http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu7815.htm
The other reason for watering down rum was to prevent hoarding. Watered-down rum goes off after a few days.
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