Short Rounds

Feeding Nelson's Men

From Mutiny on the Bounty and other works of fiction, one could readily gain the impression that during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries British sailors were fed abominable slops. In fact, this was not the case.

Although rations in the Royal Navy were hardly lucullan, and certainly slop by early twenty-first century American standards, they were adequate to maintain the strength and health of the crews, and more or less similar to what the men were accustomed in civilian life.

What to modern attitudes would seem to be a rather heavy alcoholic content, given all that beer and grog (a mixture of 80-percent water and 20-percent rum), was actually by no means unusual in terms of the normal diet of a Briton at the time, and it's worth recalling that beer had some anti-scorbic qualities and is essentially a form of liquid bread. Indeed, given that some effort was made to vary the rations from day to day, it's possible that many of Nelson's men ate a more varied diet aboard ship than they had whilst civilians; at a time when many of Britain's poorest people literally subsided on potatoes or bread on a daily basis, and most were hardly likely to have access to six ounces of sugar in a week. There was a daily dose of lime juice for medicinal purposes.

"Why I Joined the Navy."

In 1890 Harris Laning, a country boy from Illinois attending a military prep-school in New York, was invited to attend a football game between the Military Academy and the Naval Academy. Laning, who was undecided as to which of the two academies he wanted to apply, gladly accepted the invitation from his good friend John McAuly Palmer, a "second classman" (i.e., junior) at the academy, and his sister's fianc� in the bargain.

It was an impressive moment for young Laning, sitting with Palmer amidst the "upper classmen" of the academy in the improvised stands erected on the West Point parade ground, watching the first of what would become one of the most enduring rivalries in modern sport, the annual Army-Navy game. And he joined the cadets in rooting for the West Point team. But alas, however much they cheered, the Army made a poor showing. In fact, the game ended with Navy winning by 24-0.

Shortly afterwards, Laning decided he wanted to go to Annapolis.

Footnote: Both Laning (USNA, 1895) and Palmer (USMA, 1892) rose far in the service. Laning served as President of the Naval War College and Commander, Battle Force, before retiring as a rear admiral in 1937. Although Palmer never rose higher than brigadier general, he had an even more distinguished career. He was an aide to Gen. John J. Pershing during and immediately after World War I, and then in retirement was on many government commissions and wrote a number of books on defense policy. Shortly before the Second World War was recalled to active duty to assist Gen. George C. Marshall. After the war he retired for a second time, and went on play a major role in developing the post-war system of "Universal Military Training" (i.e., the draft) and helping to shape the reserve components, as an advisor to Congress and the Armed Services.