Nelson’s Blood

 

Nelson’s Blood

                                    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Nelson’s Blood is Jackspeak for rum. Jackspeak is the slang that has developed over more than four hundred years in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. ‘Jack’ derives from Jack Tar, one of the nicknames for RN sailors.

So, why is rum called Nelson’s Blood? It has long been recounted that when Admiral Lord Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar, his body was preserved in a barrel of spirits, mixed with camphor and myrrh. In this way it was returned to England on HMS Victory, to lie in state in Greenwich before being incarcerated in St Paul’s Cathedral crypt.

The preserving spirit was brandy, not rum, but rum was the spirit introduced to the Royal Navy in 1655 as an alternative to beer, and water. Rum was unlikely to deteriorate and grow algae on long voyages. The daily rum ration, or tot, was distributed around midday, at ‘Up Spirits,’ to which a common response from the sailors was, ‘Stand fast the Holy Ghost.’

Though often referred to as Nelson’s Blood, rum is frequently called Pusser’s Rum. A pusser is naval slang for a purser, the crew member responsible for a ship’s logistics, and therefore the person accountable for supplying the daily tot. ‘Pusser’ implies exemplary service.

The legend of Nelson’s Blood is that sailors drilled holes in the barrel of spirits containing his body and drained off the liquid to drink!

In December 1969, just over three hundred years after the daily tot was instituted, the Admiralty became increasingly concerned that imbibing strong spirits at lunchtime was making it dangerous when sailors were operating complex onboard systems. The daily rum ration was about to become history. The final tot to the fleet was poured a few months later, on ‘Black Tot Day.’ Any remaining rum rations were auctioned off.

Nine years later, the Admiralty agreed to rum being created from the original Royal Navy recipe. It was called Pusser’s Rum. As part of the agreement, the Royal Navy Sailors’ Fund, now the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC), receives a donation from each sale.