Editing Grog (section)

===Serving practices===
====British ships====
Until the daily tot was discontinued in 1970, Royal Navy rum was 95.5 [[Alcoholic proof|proof]] (54.6% ABV);<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-17 |title=Navy Rum Strength isn't 57% |url=https://cocktailwonk.com/2021/08/navy-strength-isnt-57.html |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=Cocktail Wonk |language=en-US}}</ref> the usual ration was {{convert|1/8|imppt|ml|spell=in|adj=pre|of an}}, diluted 4:1 with water. Extra rum rations were provided for special celebrations, such as [[Trafalgar Day]], and sailors might share their ration with the cook or with a messmate celebrating a birthday. Until the early 20th century, weaker "six water grog" (rum diluted with water at a 6:1 ratio) was sometimes issued as a punishment to sailors found guilty of drunkenness or neglect.

Over time the distribution of the rum ration acquired a fixed form. At 11:00{{Nbsp}}am, the boatswain's mate [[Boatswain's call|piped]] "Up spirits", the signal for the [[petty officer]] of the day to climb to the quarterdeck and collect the keys to the spirit room from an officer, the ship's [[Cooper (profession)|cooper]], and a detachment of [[Royal Marines]]. In procession, they unlocked the door of the spirit room, and witnessed the pumping into a keg of one-eighth pint of rum for every [[Naval rating|rating]] and petty officer on the ship aged 20 or more and not under punishment. Two marines lifted the keg to the deck, standing guard while a file of cooks from the petty officers' messes held out their jugs. The [[sergeant]] of marines poured the ration under direction of the chief steward, who announced the number of drinking men present in each petty officer's mess. The rest of the rum was mixed in a tub with two parts water, becoming the grog provided to the ratings.

At noon, the boatswain's mate piped "Muster for Rum", and the cooks from each mess presented with tin buckets. The sergeant of marines ladled out the authorised number of tots (eighth-pints) supervised by the petty officer of the day. The few tots of grog remaining in the tub ("plushers"), if any, were poured into the drains ([[scupper]]s), visibly running into the sea.

The petty officers were served first, and entitled to take their rum undiluted. The ratings often drank their grog in one long gulp when they finished their work around noon.

====American ships====
The practice of serving grog twice a day carried over into the [[Continental Navy]] and the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]]. [[Robert Smith (cabinet)|Robert Smith]], then [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]], experimented with substituting native [[rye whiskey]] for the rum. Finding the American sailors preferred it, he made the change permanent. It is said his sailors followed the practice of their British antecedents and took to calling it "Bob Smith" instead of grog.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} [[File:HMS Cavalier grog tub.jpg|thumb|left|Royal Navy grog tub, found on {{HMS|Cavalier|R73|6}}]]

Unlike their Navy counterparts, American merchant seamen were not encouraged to partake of grog. In his 1848 testimony before a parliamentary committee, Robert Minturn of [[Grinnell, Minturn & Co]] "stated that [[teetotalism]] not only was encouraged by American ship-owners, but actually earned a bonus from underwriters, who offered a return of ten percent of the insurance premium upon voyages performed without the consumption of spirits&nbsp;... The sailors were allowed plenty of [[coffee|hot coffee]], night or day, in heavy weather, but grog was unknown on board American merchant ships."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clark|first=Arthur H.|title=The Clipper Ship Era: An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships, Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews, 1843–1869|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons, The Knickerbocker Press|year=1910|location=New York|page=109}}</ref>